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General discussion

Hooking up a new power supply

Aug 23, 2004 8:18AM PDT

Before I took the old one out, I color coordinated etc. It looks like I have the new one in right but the monitor, though it has power, won't start up. I must be missing something. I have the main plugged into the motherboard, one in the CD Rom, one in the hard drive and a little one in the floppy drive. Nothing in the modem card. Can anyone surmise from what little I've told you, what I need to do?

Thanx, I hope! Valerie

Discussion is locked

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What won't start up, the Power Supply or
Aug 23, 2004 8:30AM PDT

the monitor. Not trying to be a wise **** but did you turn the switch on the rear of the supply ON??? It really isn't clear as to what won't start up.

Did your Video card require a separate power connector? Many newer ones do. Did you accidently dislodge the AGP card? It's easy to do.

Do any of the voltages come up???

Simply plugging the supply in to AC power [with switch on the rear ON] should put 5 volt logic voltage on the mobo. Many mobo's have an LED on the mobo that lights when that 5 volts is present.

Does your mobo require the separate 4 pin 12 volt connection for CPU power connector???

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Re: What won't start up, the Power Supply or
Aug 23, 2004 11:19AM PDT

Thanks for the prompt answeer Ray. Yes, the switch to the power supply is on. I'm not sure if the video card needs a separate power connector (maybe that's my problem.) The green computer light is on and a yellow light below that one flashes (looks like a drawing of a can.) Also, the CD Rom light flashes and it won't open. There was only one connector to the motherboard and that's plugged into it. The monitor light stays yellow and becomes green only when I disconnect it from the PC.
I have an ATX mid tower, pentium ll. I know I've done something stupid here but I was hoping there was a way in which I could find a diagram to follow.

Valerie

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Keep in mind hat there is no correct way to
Aug 23, 2004 11:52AM PDT

connect the power connectors. You can connect any of the hard drive type to whatever device you want. The choice is really to dress the wires so that they don't block too much airflow. So if the connector fits on, it's the correct one [as long as you don't force one on backwards [they are only plastic].

If the video card needed an additional power connector it would be near the top edge of the board. With your careful color coding I think that you would have noticed it.

The light by the "can" should be the hard drive light. . It is possible that it is blinking because the system is actually booting up. [if so it should stop after some time]

Did you do anything else when changing the power supply?

Is the CD light contnuously blinking???

Let's try unplugging the power and signal to the Hard drive and CD Drive. Make certain that the AGP video card is fully plugged in [AGP slot takes some force to fully engage the card]. Put a boot disk in the floppy drive and then turn power on and if you get video, see if you can get into the BIOS.

I hope that you observed good ESD pratice when inside the case [grounded yourself immediately and frequently.

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Re: Keep in mind hat there is no correct way to
Aug 23, 2004 1:37PM PDT

make shure memerys secure plus video card might knocked lose

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Aug 23, 2004 3:59PM PDT

Im a little confused here, if nothing is coming on the monitor, that could mean any number of things, not just video is off. besides, the monitor gets its own power from the wall, not from the PS.

on startup, are there any beeps??

was the computer working when you pulled the old PS out?

loose agp card is comon issue, it will not make a " no video" beep but won't work either. do a nice reseat of it. good luck, I hope you didn't kill the mobo/cpu. - fj

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Aug 24, 2004 6:30AM PDT

I now have a bunch of suggestions and I thank you all. It'll take a while for me to try everything (not too wise) and so far I've had no luck. I think I might have fried something. If I can't make it work, I shall remove the hard drive to install in another PC as a slave and hopefully retrieve all treasures therein! Any reason why that wouldn't work?

Thanks guys. I don't know what I'd do without this forum and the help I get here.

Valerie

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Aug 24, 2004 6:40AM PDT

Only issue hooking up as a slave would be an ntfs formatted drive onto an older FAT formatted system that might not see it. Otherwise it should be visible enough to get what you need off.

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Aug 24, 2004 12:28PM PDT

even if you fried your mobo and chip the hard drive most likely survived. just be sure to set jumpers to cable select on the drive. --fj

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don't learn the hard way
Aug 24, 2004 12:31PM PDT

I hope you don't have to learn the hard way the lesson we all learn one way or another: BACK UP YOUR DATA -- fj

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Re: don't learn the hard way
Aug 24, 2004 10:17PM PDT

I did indeed. I'm fanatical about it. I did learn that lesson a long time ago. However, I'd still like to see if my hard drive is in tact.

Thanks! Val

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Additional info (Bob, I stand corrected!)
Sep 1, 2004 12:03AM PDT

I'm back after working on a few of your ideas and have a couple of things to add. My monitor is powered but no picture. I'm assuming this is a video card. I have reseated it. My CDROM blinks but won't open. The machine turns on and all of the led lights work. It makes a long beep and a few short ones and then I hear the familiar noise of the hard drive starting up. I think this computer has had it but I hate to give up and waste any good parts. Is there a 'tester' of any kind that I can use to test all of the devices. I did try starting up with floppy start up disk but since I can't see anything on the monitor, this doesn't help me. I hope you guys will be patient enough to give another shot at this problem I have.

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As Robert said, you should
Sep 1, 2004 12:04AM PDT

have posted in this thread. See it's now on top again.

Have you tried the obvious, a different video card even a cheapo PCI type???

Noting that the monitor has power is somewhat meaningless since it gets power by being plugged into an AC outlet.

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You can buy a program called
Sep 1, 2004 12:09AM PDT

Tuff Test Pro [do a google search] It runs from a floppy to test various components and mobo functions.

BUT ALAS you still need a working video screen to use it.

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Re: You can buy a program called
Sep 1, 2004 12:13AM PDT

Ah! Therein lies the problem. I'd gladly get that. Another problem is this. I can certainly buy a cheap video card but that won't make my CDROM work will it???

I appreciate you trying. Keep up the good work!
Val

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We are troubleshooting. Mostly
Sep 1, 2004 1:24AM PDT

remove and replace type troubleshooting. Somemes one thing at a time. Without the video, the conversation gets boring. LOL

BTW, twere me, I would unplug the power and signal cable to the CD-ROM until the video problem is solved.

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Re: We are troubleshooting. Mostly
Sep 1, 2004 1:38AM PDT

Ray, if I get a new cheap video card, how will I install it without a CDROM?

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If it's a cheapy, means older model, Win 98 or XP
Sep 1, 2004 1:47AM PDT

will probably recognize it and install the correct driver [older versionof course]. They both have a large battery of drivers in their database.

The worst that could happen is that Windows would force the default VGA driver to be used. It would look as if you are in safe mode, but you will be able to do whatever you want.

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Re: If it's a cheapy, means older model, Win 98 or XP
Sep 1, 2004 2:24AM PDT

I'm gonna try that. I've just sent for a cheap video card. I'm sure you'll be hearing from me again!

Thanks Ray. Val

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 1, 2004 2:51AM PDT

Valerie,

Followed all other post and you are going in the correct direction. As another possibilty look at the top of the Capactors. If they are crowned then your M/B is gone.

Bill

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 1, 2004 3:33AM PDT

Hi Bill, I have mentioned that I fear the motherboard might be done in. However, I don't know what Capactors are or how to tell if they're crowned. Could you please explain that to me in layman's terms?

Thanks, Val

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 1, 2004 3:45AM PDT

Val

Round cylinders near CPU. Good capactors are flat on top.

This area is located near the ports (where mouse/ K/B, video plug in).

Close enough?
Would invite you to the shop and show you if you were close to Zephyrhills.


Bill

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 1, 2004 5:36AM PDT

OK Bill, found those. My husband, after reading your description, thinks a couple of them are 'crowned'. I have already sent for cheap video card and so I'll try that. If that doesn't do anything, I'll take out the hard drive (which I hope is in tact,) and write this machine off. It's good to know how one can tell in the mobo is defunct. Thanks for your help and anything you can add will be greatly appreciated.

Val

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 1, 2004 6:47AM PDT

valeve

Depending on your systems age and case you may
be able to replace just the M/B. From all the posts it appears that most of the components are good.

Have a system here now that lighting struck.
Lost M/B, H/D and one optical device. Total cost of replacing burned components and labor will be less than $200.00 us. Something you may want to look at.

Bill

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 13, 2004 1:07AM PDT

Hi! It's me again. I bought a cheap video card and installed. Now I can see the PC start up but it won't go beyond the dos mode. It says it recognizes the master hard drive, the floppy drive, the modem and it tells me that it's loaded a driver for the CDRom. However, the cdrom, although it lights up, won't open. I've tried updating the windows boot disk etc., but can't get beyond the A:\ prompt. Has anyone any suggestions of where I might go from here.

Thanx! Val

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 13, 2004 5:23AM PDT

Val,

"A" prompt meaning that you are using the boot disk?

Is their an operating system on the H/D?
(Win98 - ME - XP)

Have you attempted to boot without the boot disk?

If system does not boot please post error message.
Two possible solutions in correcting boot issue depending on error message.

CD-ROM drive lights flashing indicates that drive can receive and send data, drawer not opening indicates mechinical failure. Action to take is replacemeant.

Bill
.

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 13, 2004 6:06AM PDT

Hi Bill,

I'm obviously in over my head here. However, I like to learn as long as I can find someone with enough patience to teach me. Thank you! Yes, I used a boot disk. Yes, I tried without one and get the following message: "Disk boot failure. Insert sys disk and hit enter". I also get a nmessage saying that "not found any active partition in HDD." As I boot up, I see that there is a master LBA, UDMA 2, 8455MB. Also listed as primary slave disk is CDROM, mode 4. The CDROM drive does flash but won't open. Since all of the other things seem to work, I'm assuming the mobo is OK? Right? What would be your next recourse?

Thanks, Val

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 13, 2004 6:52AM PDT

Val,
"Disk boot failure. Insert sys disk and hit enter"
This message states that the O/S is gone.

"not found any active partition in HDD."
This message states that the Boot Partition is gone.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/structBoot-c.html
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/booterr.htm
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/comp/hdd/fail_Failure.htm

Absorb this knowledge to decide if you wish to contuine
--------------------------------------------------

All your data may be gone and clean re-install of system may be needed. Partition recovery is iffy, if you have files you wish to keep slave this drive to another system and pull your data off or take it to a shop.

First boot with floppy -
at prompt type C: -> press enter
At C:\ prompt -> type DIR/w -> press enter
You should see a list of files, one of these files will be [windows]. If this is so then MBR is damaged.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/structMBR-c.html

>>> no files then do a clean install<<<

To repair MBR
At the C:\ prompt type A: -> press enter
at the A:\ prompt type fdisk/MBR -> press enter
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q69/0/13.ASP&NoWebContent=1
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/progFDISK-c.html

Please read information first.
You are now getting deep in the swamp of recovery and Operating System/drivers/application installation.

------------------------------------------------

M/B may be OK. But I question why on-board video and CD-ROM is not working. Re-post why power supply was changed.

Bill
.

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 13, 2004 8:05AM PDT

Very interesting and I'd love to try all that. However, I've been playing around with it and have now got stuck on "verifying DMI pool data". Get can't get out of that. As for the original power supply problem. During a storm, we had a short power cut. I went to check on that PC and it smelled slightly of burning. I turned everything off until after the storm, which happened to be 'Charley'. When I turned it back on, all of these problems were here. I thank you Bill but I'm afraid you're right and the PC is beyond help. I shall take out my hard drive and new video card and give it up. I have two other PCs but this one was my favorite.

Thanks again. Val

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Re: Hooking up a new power supply
Sep 13, 2004 8:18AM PDT

Val,

Charlie, direct path or glancing blow?

Use E-mail -> click on billzhills at posted by

Bill
.

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"verifying DMI pool data"
Sep 13, 2004 9:00AM PDT

You may not like the usual fix for that. It's usual a failed hard disk. Unplug all IDE devices and test boot from a diskette.

Bob