Erock600

I wish I was more computer savvy but I am not so please help. I was recently given a computer that wont start up. I opened the power supply and it was CAKED with dust so i am asuming it is the reason why it wont start. I am currently pulling the battery and waiting to try it agian while I write (and it did nothing).

My question is, if I install my psu from my current system to the new one and I works can I also install my old hard drive to keep all my files. They both curently have Xp pro but my old comp mobo is an AMD 965. The new is pentium. What should I expect to happen? I scanned the forums but did not see anything that would help me.

Can someone give the basic steps to get me started?

Dirty_Al

Alright, when you press the power button do you hear 1 beep?
Does it load something then stop or does nothing at all?

Erock600

The power button lites up but there is no activity beyond that. Any thought about the using the mobo and my old psu and hd? Also, there is a test switch on the psu and when I use it it wont lite up.

dai

disconnect the 2 wires from the case button to the m/b and then touch the 2 pins with a small screwdriver for a fraction of a second and see if it boots up

Erock600

I opened the psu agian and took a closer look and it is torched black, I guess I didnt see that last time. I hooked up the psu from my other comp and got partial power. I wanted to use that mobo but the psu from my AMD doesnt have the 20/4 pin, just the 20. So for now until I replace the other psu I will use the the other hd as a slave drive.

dai

when you look at the power plug to the m/b
with the clip on top move it all the way to the right leaving the left 4 pins empty and plug it in

Erock600

I replaced the psu and now I am back to the original problem that it wont come out of standby mode. YUCK. I get the monitor screen test whenever I boot it up which is what the previous owner told me about.

dai

it sounds underpowered,put your specs into here
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp
based on a quality psu and add 30% to the end result and that's the min. you need

Erock600

The psu that was in it was only a 150 and I replaced it with a 350. I did the bench test on it and I cant get it to power up all the way. I used the hard drive as a slave in my other computer and the operated fine. On the initial start up after I reseated everything reset the bios and it wont post. No beeps. The cpu fan comes on as does the psu but nothing els. I can get lights on my drives and a light on the mb. Some one told me that the MB is fried. The cpu fan was clogged with nasty smokers dust. I have a feeling that its fried. Can anyone comfirm so that I dont waste anymore time and money on it?

dai

put the power plugs that go into the m/b from both power supplies,alongside one another and check that the same coloured wires go to the same pins on both plugs

Erock600

Yeah its exact. I am currently wrestling the mobo out to check it.

Erock600

My wife is pissed that our dining area has been rendered useless but my computer bumbling so I am scapping it. Bench test failed agian to post with mutiple tries. The MOBO gotta be fried. Thanx anyway.

Erock600

I calculated my system on the site you recommended and it said that I only needed 138watts and I currently have a 350. But I am pretty sure now after browsing other articles that the MOBO is fried. Thanx all.

dai

post the specs of the computer,you don't appear to have entered them correctly to come up with a figure of 138w for a computer capable of running xp,you would have to go back to win 3 or 95 for that figure

Erock600

Yep, you were right. The specs I put in were wrong. Not much difference anyway because I found three spots on the mobo that were scorched. Into the recyclin bin it went. Thanks Dai for your help.

dai

the psu probably went taking the m/b with,when you put in the new m/b,you will have to run a repair install of windows and then run the new m/boards setup disk
this will leave all your files intact