Did I kill my computer?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:19 pm

So I had a PII motherboard that my friend had given me, and I wanted to see if it worked (he didn't know). It used an ATX power connector, but I didn't has a psu with an ATX connector, except the psu from a dell. I plugged it in, and the psu made a high pitched sound (kinda like a crt makes) and the computer didn't start. I thought the psu was dead, so I got a different ATX psu from a thrift store. Now it still doesn't work. I read that dell psu's have a custom pinout, so is the motherboard dead, or is it just the new (to me at least) psu I got? If the dell psu did kill the motherboard, what are the chances that the cpu, ram, and pci cards still work?

I hate dell, they should have a different connector or have it labeled that it doesn't work in non-dell motherboards.

Nucklez · Post by **Nucklez** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:00 am

All of the Dells that I have experience with use normal PSUs. I've had some that make the PSU's hum like you mentioned, and yes it ended up being the motherboard. I have had one motherboard that wouldn't boot and simply reseating the CPU actually fixed it.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:31 pm

Nucklez wrote:All of the Dells that I have experience with use normal PSUs. I've had some that make the PSU's hum like you mentioned, and yes it ended up being the motherboard. I have had one motherboard that wouldn't boot and simply reseating the CPU actually fixed it.

When were those Dells made? The site I saw the thing about the pinouts being different said all dells made after 1998 had the different pinout, but it was a few years old.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:09 pm

The newer Dell power supplies don't output some voltage normal ATX PSs do (-5Volts maybe?), but that voltage is rarely needed.

Did you try different cards (video and other) in it? I've had various PCI cards that have prevented boards from POSTing.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:13 pm

tom61 wrote:The newer Dell power supplies don't output some voltage normal ATX PSs do (-5Volts maybe?), but that voltage is rarely needed.

Did you try different cards (video and other) in it? I've had various PCI cards that have prevented boards from POSTing.

Ok, nice idea. Will it still beep if I take all the boards off (cpu, ram, pci cards, etc) just to see if it works?

Nucklez · Post by **Nucklez** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 7:00 am

Yes, it should still beep. I administer over 400+ dell computers, and I've learned A LOT about them. These are Pentium 4 1.6Ghz - 3Ghz computers, so they are newer than the Pentium II. I've always just bought any power supply that doesn't have the On/Off switch on the back when I need to replace one. Dell isn't very nice after your computer goes out of warranty.

tom61 · Post by **tom61** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 3:44 pm

Leave the CPU and RAM, and it should still beep.

Removing the CPU and/or RAM sometimes cause boards to not to beep at all.

Also, have you tried reseating (pulling out and putting back in [while off]) the CPU and RAM?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:59 pm

I think the psu I got was dead, I shorted pin 14 with ground and it didn't turn the fan on, and I had a floppy and hard drive plugged in, so it would have something pulling current. Maybe I could try to use the 60w psu I have, I'd have to rewire it because it doesn't have an atx plug. I could even take the one from the dell psu...