[Dylanear]

My head hurts. Is there a Fuel PSU FAQ anywhere?

[Noguri]

So finally I had some time to work on this issue.

I bought an ATX power supply converter from Kuba and an FSP460-60PFN ATX power supply to get along with it.
Kuba's converter is seemless to install and the manual is really well made so it was finally a very straightforward job.
As there were still 5V aux warnings, I decided to replace the PIMM board too.

But my Fuel is now up and running .
So many thanks to you all and especially Kuba!

One last question if I may:
Kuba was mentioning the possibility of using the L1 USB-B connector with the L2/L3 SGI software to get access to L1 controller. Any idea where I could get this L2/L3 software?

[weblacky]

Very interesting, from looking at SGI Fuel PIMM boards on Google Image, it appears there are a few dual mosfet buck converter circuits on it to produce lower DC voltages (standard modern design used in PCs too) from higher DC voltages. There aren't that many. Just for a lark, I'd do a cap replacement on all those SMD mounted solid electrolytic caps (there didn't seem to be that many, like 5?).

In a buck converter, (anybody correct me if I'm wrong) the caps are responsible for smoothing the chopped up DC after the coil (inducator), bad smoothing will equal a LOWER overall voltage output (10% sounds completely likely). These caps should be between the ground plane and the output leg of a coil, they help "fill-in" the missing DC between "cuts" of the mosfet. They charge and discharge very rapidly, a cap that has lost capacitance or otherwise diminished, will very much affect DC voltage output in that section of the circuit.

Upon initial glance, this looks pretty doable.

At most save the PIMM board and write the PIMM 5v error 10% on a note with it for future reference. But if that's all the problems you had with it, I'd say it's great candidate for a repair attempt.

This would also explain why the 5V you found on your PSU appeared to have no bearing on the PIMM 5V error. The PIMM card is making its own lower voltages (kind of like a VRM) from a higher voltage. Likely because it needs a lot more current. Processors tend to work at very voltages, but need a lot of power. So the designers wouldn't have tapped your 5V of the PSU because there is not enough power, it would come from a main 12V rail, and be stepped down.

[Noguri]

@weblacky:
I won't do anything good with my faulty PIMM. If you are interested, I can give it to you. Just PM me

[weblacky]

PM Sent.

[kubatyszko]

So finally I had some time to work on this issue.

I bought an ATX power supply converter from Kuba and an FSP460-60PFN ATX power supply to get along with it.
Kuba's converter is seemless to install and the manual is really well made so it was finally a very straightforward job.
As there were still 5V aux warnings, I decided to replace the PIMM board too.

But my Fuel is now up and running .
So many thanks to you all and especially Kuba!

One last question if I may:
Kuba was mentioning the possibility of using the L1 USB-B connector with the L2/L3 SGI software to get access to L1 controller. Any idea where I could get this L2/L3 software?

Do you still need the software ? let me know.

[Noguri]

Hi Kuba,

Actually I did not find the software yet...
If you have some clues on where to get a copy, I would definitely be interested

Thank & best regards!