Voltage reading!

[moonbeep]

Have used speccy and speedfan and both are showing my +12V at anything between 1.734v and 3.0v,mother board is only new and fitted on Wednesday as a replacement,surely something cant be right?

 

[TVeblen]

The first thing you want to do is check in the BIOS settings to see what the voltages are there.

Some motherboards don't play nice with speedfan and other software based sensors so that is why you want to check what the motherboard says.

For a definitive test you would want to use a multimeter to measure the voltage on any yellow wire on a spare connector while the computer is running (yellow=12v).

But I highly doubt the PC would even boot with 12v readings that were actually that low!

 

[moonbeep]

Reading 12.048V in the Bios,thanks for the advice!

 

[dsperber]

Reading 12.048V in the Bios,thanks for the advice!

You might try another program (other than Speedfan), which might produce results that match your BIOS values.

I have long used the highly-regarded [but not free] Everest, which last year became Aida64. At that transition there was a free upgrade license given to the initial 1.50 version of Aida64, which certainly worked fine for "older" hardware that was supported by Everest.

Newer hardware, CPUs, GPUs, sensor chips, motherboards, etc., are supported by ongoing evolution of the new active Aida64 product development team. As that is relevant to me I purchased a new license for Aida64 (current version 1.85) that correctly shows all sensor values for the hardware in several brand new machines (which were not showing with the previous 1.50 initial version).

You could certainly try it using the free 30-day trial period, to see (a) if it measures your voltages properly, and (b) if you like it and want to pay $39 to buy it.

Here is my own customized "OSD" presentation:

 

[carwiz]

HWiNFO will do the same for free.

Have used speccy and speedfan and both are showing my +12V at anything between 1.734v and 3.0v

I can assure you that if your 12v readings were that low, you wouldn't be able to read them. Your PC would be dead. :shock:

 

[A Guy]

Suggest d/l OCCT Beta. this is a stress testing tool, but it has a great monitoring feature that opens at startup. No need to use the program, just open it and you will see all your applicable run voltages. It links to version 16 of the beta now BTW

http://www.sevenforums.com/overclocking-case-mods/166950-occt-4-0-0-beta-7-a.html

A Guy

 

[moonbeep]

Suggest d/l OCCT Beta. this is a stress testing tool, but it has a great monitoring feature that opens at startup. No need to use the program, just open it and you will see all your applicable run voltages. It links to version 16 of the beta now BTW

http://www.sevenforums.com/overclocking-case-mods/166950-occt-4-0-0-beta-7-a.html

A Guy

Current 12v on OCCT is 1.34v and max is 3.49v,as stated reads 12v in the bios and mother board is new and only fitted by a technician last Wednesday,PC seems to be running fine though!


12v reading just says Trial on AIDA64

 

[A Guy]

As stated, your 12 volts could not be that low, or the PC wouldn't work at all. Since multiple programs are reading the voltage wrong, but BIOS is apparently ok, it is the monitoring sensors somehow. You can d/l HWMonitor (it is free), but I suspect it too will have the incorrect readings.

A post at another forum by a former member here seems to say this isn't uncommon, and is a windows issue (see last post in thread).

Sensors reporting incorrect values

A Guy

 

[moonbeep]

As stated, your 12 volts could not be that low, or the PC wouldn't work at all. Since multiple programs are reading the voltage wrong, but BIOS is apparently ok, it is the monitoring sensors somehow. You can d/l HWMonitor (it is free), but I suspect it too will have the incorrect readings.

A post at another forum by a former member here seems to say this isn't uncommon, and is a windows issue (see last post in thread).

Sensors reporting incorrect values

A Guy

HWinfo reports 12v as 11.922v!

 

[A Guy]

Interesting. I do believe this is a windows monitoring issue rather then hardware, although the new MB may be what started it. The voltages are clearly correct. I do think it is important that you can monitor voltages and temperatures when necessary. Hopefully HWMonitor will continue to be a program you can count on. Maybe another member will have suggestions why the others reported incorrect voltages. They should be compatible with your new MB. A Guy

 

[Comp Cmndo]

...I do believe this is a windows monitoring issue rather then hardware...

You didn't see the previous post (reply #9).
"HWinfo reports 12v as 11.922v!"

 

[TVeblen]

From what I have gathered over the years is that the temperature and voltage sensor monitoring chips used on motherboards are very simple and very cheap components. When the chip is good it works well and when it is bad it does not affect system performance, so they just do not warrant any labor-hours to test on a production line. You've got that 5%-10% manufacturing defect chance that your motherboard has a faulty sensor. The argument over whether you can trust them at all has been the subject of many a flame war on newsgroups for years!

There is very little argument that the best way to test voltages is physically, using a digital multimeter.

The tech keeps changing too. It drives software programmers nuts. Ideas like this: Enthusiast System Architecture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia can turn a formally reliable piece of software bad in a hurry.

Speedfan begs off with this disclaimer, found in their Frequently Asked Questions section:

Hardware sensor chips are generic devices that can be used to measure voltages from anywhere. The measured voltage must be converted to the range required by the sensor chip. Standard monitoring chips specify which external circuitry must be used in order to measure voltages outside some range. Voltages like 12V, -5V, -12V and some others need this external circuitry. Some manufacturers chose not to follow datasheets. If this is your case, then you will read unusual values from SpeedFan. Since this custom circuitry is not known, SpeedFan does not try to "guess" it as any reading wouldn't be safe. If you get really odd voltage readings, simply enter configuration and uncheck the relevant ones.
​

And the beat goes on!

 

[A Guy]

...I do believe this is a windows monitoring issue rather then hardware...

You didn't see the previous post (reply #9).
"HWinfo reports 12v as 11.922v!"

I did see that post, it was I that suggested HWMonitor And since BIOS reports 12v, and now HWMonitor only reports an almost correct voltage, it confirms for me that it is a windows monitoring issue. IE: the sensors cannot be monitored correctly. A Guy

 

[dsperber]

And since BIOS reports 12v, and now HWMonitor only reports an almost correct voltage, it confirms for me that it is a windows monitoring issue. IE: the sensors cannot be monitored correctly. A Guy

I'm disappointed that Aida64's trial version has certain functionality disabled, and in particular apparently the voltages (or at least 12V) is one of those that does not perform as it will in the licensed version. I'd like to share my own license key just for the test on the problem machine, but that would be a no-no.

But if we had at least one (or more) other hardware monitor product (like Aida64) that DID show 12V results on this particular motherboard and PSU (and it would be helpful to see what value displayed), that would be very interesting and informative.

In my experience using Aida64 on a number of different Win7 machines (the most recent just this past week, on a Lenovo K330 IdeaCentre i3 desktop) the sensor voltage readings have never failed to display correctly. I suspect the licensed Aida64 version would, like HWMonitor, show correct 12V voltage values for the current problem machine, but of course that's just speculation. I don't consider Speedfan to be in the same class as these products.

(I am particularly a fan of Aida64 because of its configurable OSD display of lots of hardware information in a small desktop object, as shown by my screenshot earlier. It also has extensive larger system information presentations like HWMonitor if I want to probe very deeply with large open windows, but for a 24/7 desktop "gadget" this little OSD is ideal for me.)

It's just honestly hard for me to believe that this problem is actually rooted in Win7, rather than something odd or unusual in the motherboard hardware or BIOS. I had a problem on my Supermicro C2SBX mobo a few years back with temperatures being reported by Aida64/Everest way off after I upgraded BIOS (because I felt I should "keep current"). Speaking with their tech support, they contended the problem came from Intel, with a new method of reporting temperatures being simply "low, medium or high" rather than the true numeric values. Reverting to the previous BIOS of course fixed the problem and the temperatures were now once again reported accurately... though I really never knew if it was Intel or Supermicro who'd messed up for real in that updated BIOS version. I'm still running just fine with the original prior BIOS version.

I've got to believe it's something like that in the current story.

 

[carwiz]

The OS shouldn't make any difference. Some of the monitors may not be interpreting the PECI interface data correctly. HWiNFO is probably pretty accurate. It's one of the best monitors I've seen. Here's what mine shows.