Internal IDE DVD Burner

[Robin Laing]

Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> Robin Laing wrote:
>> Actually, the sensors which are on the mother board can only tell the
>> correct voltage if they are accurate.  In my case, the sensors were
>> reading +5.4V when the DVM was telling me +4.7 at the mother board
>> connector.
>>
>> Reading through the sensors setup I found that the sensors are not
>> accurate.  I was not impressed in this day and age.  If I had not had
>> issues with a new DVD burner I would never had checked the voltages
>> because the BIOS reading was giving me a green light.
>>
>> I should compare my new system to the sensors reading.
>>
> One other thing to keep in mind - the DVM reading may also be off.
> You may need to have the DVM calibrated - most low priced DVMs are
> not calibrated from the factory. Even high-end DVMs should be
> calibrated if high accuracy is important. They should also be
> calibrated periodically to make sure they are still reading
> correctly. I have seen that much variation in brand new DVMs just
> out of the packaging. I am surprised that the motherboard sensors
> are as accurate as they are. As far as I know, they are not
> calibrated at all. (Maybe server motherboards, but not consumer
> quality boards.)
> 
> Just for fun, grab 3 DVMs at random, and hook all 3 to the same
> source, and see if they read the same.
> 
> Mikkel
> 

I agree.  I run into this at work all the time.  We do have a reference 
here for checking meters.

It was both the BIOS and the sensors that said the voltage was correct. 
    I did a search and found that the BIOS readings are not that 
accurate either because the load on the system can change the actual 
working voltages.

Sensors needs to be calibrated but I never really got around to it as 
the voltages were within .1 volt between sensors and BIOS.  At least 
that is what I believed from checking the BIOS voltage and the sensors 
after Linux was loaded.

-- 
Robin Laing