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General discussion

I fried my comuter(i think) :-) HELP!

by kandi707 Jun 25, 2006 2:55AM PDT

Hi I bought a dell dimension 8200 in the states and brought it to my dad in europe (220v outlet) and plugged it in to the wall(with an adapter) without setting the switch on the comp to 220v. There was a bang! and a spark and I immediately pulled the comnputer out of the wall. How do I know if the motherboard was fried or just the power supply bewcause I don't want to buy a new power supply to find the motherboard dead. After replugging the computer in to the wall it still doesn't work.
Please Respond
Kevin

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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You may never know. Here's why.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 25, 2006 3:17AM PDT

With out putting in a new supply, you can't tell unless you found scorch marks or burnt chips on the board.

This is where a service shop can come in handy. They'll have spares and do the test without you having to buy the supply.

Bob

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It's TOAST
by Scrotes4Life Jun 25, 2006 5:47AM PDT

Must have been Germany - they run everything on 220. My 1960 Telefunken Reel-to-reel runs off of that.
That was a careless error.

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may not be toast...
by PKsteven Jun 25, 2006 5:48PM PDT

May not be, do as Bob said first. With that much voltage it may have blew the psu components before it was able to get to the motherboard. Not saying it isn't possible with all the pretty lights and pow, but it may be in good order. Do as Bob said, have a check done with a different psu.

Paul

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Thanks
by kandi707 Jun 25, 2006 6:43PM PDT

Thanks guys. btw the reason why I didn't notice the switch was that i have brought tons of stuff (that said 110/240v)to him and i just used an adapter without changing voltage on the appliance itself.
I think I will take it to a service center anyways.

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hard to replace
by angryfirelord Jun 26, 2006 6:24AM PDT

If the repair guys do find the problem, there may not be much they can do because Dell uses proprietary parts so you may end up having to ship your system to Dell.

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Not so...
by PKsteven Jun 26, 2006 4:17PM PDT

if it is simply the power supply you can use another brand. If it is more serious, well one would probably have to ship it anyway or send out for a part.


Paul

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