[Volt-Schwibe]

heh

actually not all of them have that switch, i know none of mine do...

but powering it down, and then unplugging it is the equivilent to flipping that switch off.

~BoB~

 

[Volt-Schwibe]

hmm

i would suggest a different power supply as well.

one can usually be found for between 30 and 40 bucks.
unless you go way budget or high end...

and what light are you referring to?

some motherboards have an led on the motherboard itself, but i am not sure you arent talking about the light on the tower.

when you have it unplugged, then plug it in, and hit the button, does the light come on?

if so, are the fans/hard disk spinning?

if not, do they even twitch?

does it make any odd noises?

will the cd-roms open if you try to open them?

these are all the things i know would be helpful.

chances are, the supply is dead, or there is a peice of hardware thats halfway plugged in. (or fried)

try a new power supply before you rip into it too far though.

after that, you might try speedo's fail safe plan, and try to start it with the mobo laid out, only cpu/fan, and ram, and video, and see what it does.

then one by one, put stuff back and see what stops it.

ive seen a fried pci/agp card stop a machine from booting, as well as bad cpu.

~BoB~

 

[Volt-Schwibe]

hmm

and yes, even if a power supply is bad, it can still power the little led on the motherboard. the power supply isnt as simple as a battery, it in fact has several seperate branches that can die, and if one of these lone cowboys dies, the others may still work, so it is possible for the 5v or the 3.3v to die, and im sure that light could still work if only one branch or the power died.


the light on the board is simply to let you know that it has some sort of power. yet, it doesnt mean it has all the branches of power that it requires to start.

but, seeing how you have tried a different power supply, i would suggest you try and reseat your cpu and ram. also, the video card and other cards can sometimes be partially unseated, and they can also stop the machine from booting.

~BoB~

 

[Volt-Schwibe]

heh

alot of people dont even realize that the power supply is really like 5 or 6 power supplies inside...

get a schematic for a pc power supply, and you will see all the different districts on the board. those are the different branches for different voltages and wattage loads.

a shematic for a simple power supply (like the transformer type that power things like walkmans, and your pc speakers, and a cordless phone for example) would only have one main district.

~BoB~

 

[Volt-Schwibe]

hmm

i am still fully considering the power supply to be the problem, although i am not saying it definately is.

that is really the problem with a proprietary machine, nothing is made to swap.

if the fans on yours didnt come on, whereas the fans on the other one did, then i would still consider that your power supply may be bad.

you just might have to pay a tech to bench test the supply.

unless you have a tech in your area that is good and honest and cheap, it might be cheaper to buy a new supply instead.

~BoB~

 

[Volt-Schwibe]

hmm

i didnt actually notice you said yours worked in his.


that does change some things.

still could be a fried cpu or ram stick.

still might be a fried pci or agp card...



but yeah, i hadnt noticed.

~BoB~

 

[Volt-Schwibe]

hmm

ok, i am going to try to clear this up...

the wires on the power supply that plug into the motherboard...

im not sure what you meant by two different ones...

as far as power wires, some of them have a single plug with approxamately 18 wires, and some have a set of two plugs with 6 or so each...

on top of that, some have a small wire set of wires that come out of the supply, and plugs into the board, and this one has two or three wires. this on plugs into the board to control the power supply fan.

on top of those, they all have the wires that power the hard disks, floppies, and cd-roms.

older ones also have a set of 4 wires that go to a physical switch on the front of the tower, whereas newer ones have a small set of wires from the motherboard that go to a set of soft off switch and reset switch.

what type is your supply, and what type is your cousins' supply?

if your supply actually made his turn on, and actually showed the bios boot screen where it tests ram and stuff, but did not do the same thing on yours, then i would maybe assume that it might be a working supply.

booting all the way into windows is a better test though.

you mentioned some white stuff on the power supply board, but im not sure this came from the caps. usually a swollen leaky cap will be covered with a brown resinous substance, almost like terriaki sauce. i did say usually.

sometimes oxidization can form on a circut board, if the unit has been exposed to moisture.

you mentioned having a way to take a picture...

perhaps you could set your power supply, and your cousins power supply next to each other and take a picture of the difference in the cables you mentioned.

it might also help to see a pic of the plugs on his and the sockets on your board that his plugs wont fit into.

again, this is why i hate stuff that is made proprietary, like dell, and gateway, and sony, and hp.

i like things that are swappable.

now as far as a fried cpu keeping the machine from booting, i have seen some fried cpu's simply not go past the boot test, and i have seen some not even start at all. (meaning the monitor never showed anything at all)

i have also seen ram sticks do both of these, and pci cards, and agp cards, so you shouldnt ever simply say that it cant happen.

~BoB~