Bitcoin Forum

We have an issue with possible 160W picoPSU-s and Biostar TB250-BTC motherboard compatibility... and we are looking for some help.

We have set up hundreds of rigs with the following set up:

Biostar TB250-BTC
HP 1200W server PSU
Breakout Board 12 PCIE
PCIE to pigtail connectior (to connect to picopsu)
160W picoPSU
various vga cards

We just had an issue with a recent shipment of over 150 pieces of 160W picoPSU-s. 

The first box of 50 worked like a charm, all mining rigs were working fine.  Then when we started trying the second two boxes of 50 picoPSUs none of them were able to power up the motherboard and CPU.  The CPU spun up briefly, never stayed on.

We tried all variations on changing different parts of the rigs, but came to the conclusion that it had to be the picoPSUs.  When changing the picoPSU on functioning rigs with the ones from the last two boxes the rigs also did not turn on.

We even had the picoPSU sent to the lab where we checked them.  They passed the lab tests and seem to have the performance they are advertised at.

So we are a bit clueless... Thought maybe someone could give us some guidance.  Read somewhere about possibly soldering the picoPSU to add more resistance to it... Any ideas are welcome.

Thanks,

Psyience

I use the breakout board to power the motherboard, not the pico's supply.  I have a special cable with a 6 pin that plugs into the breakout board and the other end is an 8 pin which plugs into the motherboard (8 pin cpu power connector).  There a two wires that branch out from the 8 pin to attach the 12v dc barrel plug from the Pico.  This take the load of the CPU off the Pico and puts in onto the Server supply.  Also if you are running OS from flash drive, the breakout cable of the Pico is not even needed.
You can also just use a 6pin to 8 pin cable to plug from breakout board into the motherboard (which you may be doing already).  Good luck.

I have the same setup as above. 6pin to 8pinEPS with a pigtail to power the psu via the barrel jack. Works great and as said the main load is on the 8pin EPS straight from the 6pin cable.

I too as well, use this type of setup, mobo 12v is powered right off the breakout board, theres a pigtail coming off that 12v with a barrel jack for the pico psu that way the pico isn't running full load, more like half load, I also custom make my own 12v cables with a pigtail for the pico

https://www.amazon.com/inch-6PIN-PCIE-P4-12V-Adapter/dp/B01EEOW3CA

where can i get one of these cables? Like that but male on both sides

i did a setup like this with the 250btc and fried alot of boards, pcie barrel jack with an adapter to power the 8pin from the same pcie cable from the breakout board. i just ended up buying small psus to run the boards but i recommend using the power plug from the pico 4 pin to power cpu even thought it will draw more from the pico, hopfully the cpu is a low power one so you wont require the 8pin. i also think that these motherboards are built way too cheap and the power is too unstable from a pcie for a board like this, if it was a gaming board then it would have better components and would be able to take that power. just my thoughts tho

any luck?  I am seeing this issue too with my pico psu not being able to power up the board.  The cpu fan spins but thats it.  Also I have a usb watchdog that starts flashing rapidly when powered on so I'm guessing some overcurrent protection is kicking in and these psu's might not be actually performing at the rated capacity.

Have you got a picture of your cable?