Re: hardware help Off Topic

ATX technology is kind of funny and it makes me wonder why the designers 
decided to still feed power to the mobo when the pc is shutdown.  Your 
situation is fairly common.  Since ATX technology has come out, I have 
always unplugged the power supply when I work on the computer.  Not to 
save me from excessive amprage (spelling isn't my strong suite), but to 
save the electronics that I am trying to revive or upgrade.  Whichever 
the case may be.  Anyways the power supply may have been and probably 
was on its "last leg" and upgrading to a higher wattage would be of 
great benefit.  The goal is to prevent brownouts otherwise know as low 
power wattage, it is the biggest hazard to hard drive info and is 
usually the cause for data corruption on the hard drive.  During periods 
of brownout, the hard drive "misunderstands" the data being sent to it 
and writes incorrect data to the hard drive.  Scandisk and other 
utilities simular try to correct the data corruption before it gets 
serious.  It isn't such a big deal to a desktop, but it is a big deal to 
a database server.  Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox now.  ~Anne

bruce wrote:

>Lots of good help from all of you.  
>
>Some clarification and more information.  The bios and Windows reported 
>64MB memory.  When I opened it up, it had two 128MB dimms and one 
>unidentified dimm.  I tried swapping them around and found exchanging 
>the 128MB dimms caused the computer to not boot up (but the power 
>supply still came on).  
>
>There were no new dimms; I was just swapping the dimms that were in it 
>originally, trying to figure out why 256+ MB of ram was reported as 
>64MB.
>
>At least once, I am sure I swapped dimms without turning off the switch 
>in the back.  OOOPS!!!  (This wouldn't be a problem with the old 
>computers I am used to.  Welcome to the newer technology.)
>
>I did try cleaning the dimm slots and reseating the dimms.  No help.  
>Checked and reseated all the cables.  No help.
>
>On tip number 5, below, the power supply "power-on" pin reads 42 ohms 
>to ground with switch off and 13 mv with switch on.  So grounding it 
>wouldn't be right.  I tried +5 volts from +5VSD to the "power on" pin 
>and nothing happened, so I am guessing that the power supply may be bad.
>Don't have another computer to try it in so Anne's suggestion of 
>getting National Computer to test it looks like a good idea.
>
>Thanks to all of you,
>bruce
>
>On Thursday 03 April 2003 01:19 pm, you wrote:
>  
>
>>You said you swapped DIMMs.
>>
>>some trouble shooting tips would be:
>>
>>1.  check and reseat the DIMMs, making sure they are fully latched
>>into place.
>>(A DIMM that is not fully seated can cause this.  This includes
>>making absolutely sure the dimm slot is clean)
>>
>>2.  remove the new DIMMs and reinstall the original
>>(Newer MOBOs should be able to configure whichever type you have, but
>>there are several different types of memory and not all MOBOs support
>>all types)
>>
>>3.  verify the new DIMMs match the original.  ( pc100 vs pc133, 
>>parity vs non-parity, etc )
>>
>>4.  check any cable connections you might have disturbed
>>(a loose cable may interfere)
>>
>>5.  if all of the above don't fix the problem then consider the power
>>supply as Anne suggested. You can test the one you have by jumpering
>>the power-on pin to a ground pin and then testing the other output
>>voltages, or better yet, try it in another computer you know is
>>working so the only change is the power supply.
>>
>>6.  As a last resort you might replace the mobo, but only if it can
>>not be gotten to work when in the exact original configuration where
>>it was previously working.
>>(a broken trace on the MOBO can prevent power on, and replacing DIMMS
>>does cause some stress on the board)
>>
>>If the new DIMMs you are installing are not supported by the old MOBO
>>then there will be no option but to get different memory for the
>>upgrade, or get a MOBO that supports what you have.
>>
>>bruce wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>After swapping memory DIMMS on a friend's computer, the computer
>>>refuses to power up.  It has a push-button switch on the front which
>>>has to be held in for four or five seconds to power down and one
>>>push normally powers it up.
>>>
>>>The power cord on the back is okay (tried another cord) and the
>>>front panel switch is working (used an ohmmeter) and the power
>>>supply is at least partly working as there is 3.7 volts on the pin
>>>labeled "power on" on the power supply when it's unplugged from the
>>>motherboard.
>>>
>>>Can't seem to find any help on the web.  Does anyone know enough
>>>about these newer power supplies and how they are turned on to
>>>suggest a solution?  I don't want to have to buy a new motherboard.
>>>bruce
>>>
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>>>
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>
>  
>


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