Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!!

kevalb · 10-27-2007, 06:37 AM

Hi again.

So, I've received some advice regarding power supplies for my Dell Dimension 9100 (which currently has a 375 W supply in it).

I've purchased the Corsair HX-520 unit. Pretty hefty beast

What I'm wondering now is: I have 2 comps, the Dell 9100 and a Dell XPS Gen3 which I use for gaming almost religiously. The 9100 sees light use, email, some apps, some graphics, but nothing really power demanding. *(I think by now you probably see where this is going....)*

I'm wondering if I should take the 460W PSU out of the XPS, put that in the 9100, and use the new Corsair for my gaming rig.

Can anyone tell me if this is a smart move or if it's idiotic? Or if it won't work, or if it's risky..... whatever.

As usual, any and all advice is appreciated.
KA

dai · 10-27-2007, 01:11 PM

good move

HawMan · 10-27-2007, 01:15 PM

Put the More Powerful PSU in the Most Demanding Rig.

**linderman** · 10-27-2007, 03:53 PM

is this a trick question ?????????????????

the corsair belongs in the gamer

smart move to ask first though

enjoy

kevalb · 10-28-2007, 06:35 AM

LOL thanks all. Not a trick question tho. I'm prone to get bright ideas and wind up screwing up things worse than they were when I started. So, I just wanted to get expert opinions.

I appreciate the replies, and I'll be swapping them out tonight. Wish me luck and I'll post back with the results.

**linderman** · 10-28-2007, 07:28 AM

thats an easy task; not much room for murphy's law to squeeze in there

**speedster123** · 10-28-2007, 11:51 AM

both of these dell boards have the same power leeds from the supply?

**linderman** · 10-28-2007, 02:14 PM

they should speed

Dell hasnt made a proprietary psu system in quite a few years

both of his systems are fairly recent so I would say he is safe

**speedster123** · 10-29-2007, 03:11 AM

thanks joe

kevalb · 11-05-2007, 04:40 PM

OI! Well, bad news on two fronts.....

The XPS power supply is a LOT different from the Corsair, so I couldn't put that in there. So, I decided to put the Corsair in the 9100 and test the system. Installed no problem, but the same thing happens, which is nothing. I get a green light on the motherboard, and when I push the switch on the front of the machine, it just blinks amber at me. I'm getting nothing other than that. No fans, no HDD spin up, nothing. Not even the Dell diagnostic lights are coming on. I just played around with the connections on the switch a bit to see if maybe something was loose and I noticed that when I hit the power button on the front of the machine, the fan on the video card 'tries' to spin for a millisecond, then just stops. I'm beginning to wonder if there's something wrong with the switch?

Anyway, just talking to my wife about what happened, she said she was using it at night, it was fine. She turned the monitor off and left it. When she woke up the next morning, it was off. Tried to turn it on, nothing happened. My computer was on as normal, so it wasn't a power failure.

I'm at a loss here. Dunno what I should do next. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

**linderman** · 11-05-2007, 05:16 PM

you could try by-passing the case switch

to do this you follow the case switch wires back to the motherboard, remove the two wires from the motherboard that are the power switch wires

touch the two pins on the motherboard with a paperclip or very small screw driver for one second , the contact for those pins has to be only for a split second to activate the power supply (only touch those two pins) you wont get juiced either this test will by-pass the case switch

make sure the four pin power plug going to the cpu is the correct one it should have two yellow wires in it and two black wires, and the plug should have a snap lock ?????

keep us posted

kevalb · 11-09-2007, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linderman

you could try by-passing the case switch

to do this you follow the case switch wires back to the motherboard, remove the two wires from the motherboard that are the power switch wires

touch the two pins on the motherboard with a paperclip or very small screw driver for one second , the contact for those pins has to be only for a split second to activate the power supply (only touch those two pins) you wont get juiced either this test will by-pass the case switch

make sure the four pin power plug going to the cpu is the correct one it should have two yellow wires in it and two black wires, and the plug should have a snap lock ?????

keep us posted

OK So, I see the power plug, and yes, it has 2 yellow and 2 black wires and the snap lock. I removed that plug and there are 4 individual pins. Which two am I supposed to touch? Thanks!

kevalb · 11-09-2007, 06:06 PM

Oh... and just to be 110% clear.....

There are two 'connectors' going from the switch to different places on the rest of the computer.

The first, is a gray ribbon wire that runs from the switch board to the motherboard. This has small square holes (39 of them?). Then there's a side connection that runs from from the switch to the sound card, and this is white and has 10 square holes.

The four pin power plug you described above runs from the power supply into the motherboard (two yellow and two black wires).

Just wanted to be clear which ones were looking at.

**linderman** · 11-09-2007, 06:12 PM

dont "touch" the four pin power plug (thats the 2yellow wires and two black wires / thats the cpu power >>>>>> just make sure that plug is well connected and you can hear the lock " snap" when put together

the wires I speak of are the case switch wires >>>>> that big plug that goes to the wiring header on the motherboard is a hinderence

see if you can figure out which wires in the plug go to the case switch ????

10-27-2007, 06:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
kevalb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 19 OS: Win XP Professional SP2 My System	Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! Hi again. So, I've received some advice regarding power supplies for my Dell Dimension 9100 (which currently has a 375 W supply in it). I've purchased the Corsair HX-520 unit. Pretty hefty beast What I'm wondering now is: I have 2 comps, the Dell 9100 and a Dell XPS Gen3 which I use for gaming almost religiously. The 9100 sees light use, email, some apps, some graphics, but nothing really power demanding. (I think by now you probably see where this is going....) I'm wondering if I should take the 460W PSU out of the XPS, put that in the 9100, and use the new Corsair for my gaming rig. Can anyone tell me if this is a smart move or if it's idiotic? Or if it won't work, or if it's risky..... whatever. As usual, any and all advice is appreciated. KA

10-27-2007, 01:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 38,561 OS: vista 32x ultimate retail	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! good move __________________

10-27-2007, 01:15 PM	#3 (permalink)
HawMan Liam Join Date: May 2006 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 2,295 OS: Win XP My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! Put the More Powerful PSU in the Most Demanding Rig. __________________ Please Consider Donating to keep the site free.

10-27-2007, 03:53 PM	#4 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,473 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! is this a trick question ????????????????? the corsair belongs in the gamer smart move to ask first though enjoy __________________ IF YOUR HARD DRIVE DIED RIGHT NOW; WOULD YOU CRY ??? ASK US FOR HELP DEVELOPING A DATA BACK-UP METHOD

10-28-2007, 06:35 AM	#5 (permalink)
kevalb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 19 OS: Win XP Professional SP2 My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! LOL thanks all. Not a trick question tho. I'm prone to get bright ideas and wind up screwing up things worse than they were when I started. So, I just wanted to get expert opinions. I appreciate the replies, and I'll be swapping them out tonight. Wish me luck and I'll post back with the results.

10-28-2007, 07:28 AM	#6 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,473 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! thats an easy task; not much room for murphy's law to squeeze in there __________________ IF YOUR HARD DRIVE DIED RIGHT NOW; WOULD YOU CRY ??? ASK US FOR HELP DEVELOPING A DATA BACK-UP METHOD

10-28-2007, 11:51 AM	#7 (permalink)
speedster123 Mentor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: United States-New York Posts: 3,819 OS: xp pro My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! both of these dell boards have the same power leeds from the supply? __________________ Infection Detection and Removal Thermal Grease Instructions Bench Test

10-28-2007, 02:14 PM	#8 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,473 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! they should speed Dell hasnt made a proprietary psu system in quite a few years both of his systems are fairly recent so I would say he is safe __________________ IF YOUR HARD DRIVE DIED RIGHT NOW; WOULD YOU CRY ??? ASK US FOR HELP DEVELOPING A DATA BACK-UP METHOD

10-29-2007, 03:11 AM	#9 (permalink)
speedster123 Mentor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: United States-New York Posts: 3,819 OS: xp pro My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! thanks joe __________________ Infection Detection and Removal Thermal Grease Instructions Bench Test

11-05-2007, 04:40 PM	#10 (permalink)
kevalb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 19 OS: Win XP Professional SP2 My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! OI! Well, bad news on two fronts..... The XPS power supply is a LOT different from the Corsair, so I couldn't put that in there. So, I decided to put the Corsair in the 9100 and test the system. Installed no problem, but the same thing happens, which is nothing. I get a green light on the motherboard, and when I push the switch on the front of the machine, it just blinks amber at me. I'm getting nothing other than that. No fans, no HDD spin up, nothing. Not even the Dell diagnostic lights are coming on. I just played around with the connections on the switch a bit to see if maybe something was loose and I noticed that when I hit the power button on the front of the machine, the fan on the video card 'tries' to spin for a millisecond, then just stops. I'm beginning to wonder if there's something wrong with the switch? Anyway, just talking to my wife about what happened, she said she was using it at night, it was fine. She turned the monitor off and left it. When she woke up the next morning, it was off. Tried to turn it on, nothing happened. My computer was on as normal, so it wasn't a power failure. I'm at a loss here. Dunno what I should do next. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

11-05-2007, 05:16 PM	#11 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,473 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! you could try by-passing the case switch to do this you follow the case switch wires back to the motherboard, remove the two wires from the motherboard that are the power switch wires touch the two pins on the motherboard with a paperclip or very small screw driver for one second , the contact for those pins has to be only for a split second to activate the power supply (only touch those two pins) you wont get juiced either this test will by-pass the case switch make sure the four pin power plug going to the cpu is the correct one it should have two yellow wires in it and two black wires, and the plug should have a snap lock ????? keep us posted __________________ IF YOUR HARD DRIVE DIED RIGHT NOW; WOULD YOU CRY ??? ASK US FOR HELP DEVELOPING A DATA BACK-UP METHOD

11-09-2007, 06:06 PM	#13 (permalink)
kevalb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 19 OS: Win XP Professional SP2 My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! Oh... and just to be 110% clear..... There are two 'connectors' going from the switch to different places on the rest of the computer. The first, is a gray ribbon wire that runs from the switch board to the motherboard. This has small square holes (39 of them?). Then there's a side connection that runs from from the switch to the sound card, and this is white and has 10 square holes. The four pin power plug you described above runs from the power supply into the motherboard (two yellow and two black wires). Just wanted to be clear which ones were looking at.

11-09-2007, 06:12 PM	#14 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,473 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Switcheroo on the Power Supplies? attn: Linderman!! dont "touch" the four pin power plug (thats the 2yellow wires and two black wires / thats the cpu power >>>>>> just make sure that plug is well connected and you can hear the lock " snap" when put together the wires I speak of are the case switch wires >>>>> that big plug that goes to the wiring header on the motherboard is a hinderence see if you can figure out which wires in the plug go to the case switch ???? __________________ IF YOUR HARD DRIVE DIED RIGHT NOW; WOULD YOU CRY ??? ASK US FOR HELP DEVELOPING A DATA BACK-UP METHOD