i hate dells

BudBud Chesterfield, Va
edited January 2006 in Hardware
im working on my friends dell its a dimension 2400. It wasnt booting, well at random times. I used a power supply tester and it tested okay, same with hard drive. I cant get it stable enough to run memtest but i put in a stick of ram i know is good. After looking at it i said motherboard and ordered one though dell. Installed the new motherboard and no go. The led on the motherboard for power lights up just like on the old one. I hit the power button and nothing. Can I use another power supply or is it one of those dell only units? Any ideas appreciated thanks guys cause im stuck

Comments

  • gtghmgtghm New
    edited January 2006
    Dell only PSU... any other and you'll fry the board and maybe even the PSU.
    They changed the pin out order on PSU's for Dell.
    There was a place on the net that gave instructions on how to re-wire a normal PSU to work on a Dell MB, don't know if its still out there or if it's still good information.
    Dells are good, but the key to them is you gotta get the warranty at least for the parts replacement. I know it sucks but then again you can't put together a box any cheeper than a Dell and that includes the warranty, MIHO...

    "g"
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    Amber power light instead of the normal green light? PSU on many of the Dells I support have gone out. Did you test both PSU connections (the 4-wire one)? The 4 wire lead has gone out on most of the Dells I've seen.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2006
    i have this nice power suplly tester from pc-doctor and it says the 20pin connector, 4 pin connector, and the molex connectors are fine. So i dont think its that. Could dell have sent a bad mobo (its a refurb) also should i look at the cpu
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited January 2006
    Bud, not all of Dell's machines use a proprietary pinout on the psu; some of them actually are standard ATX. You will need to look on Dell's website to download the manuals for that particualr Dell Dimension series and it will show the pinout on the psu and you can then reference it to a regular ATX psu. That is one thing I will say for Dell; they do have good online documentation on their machines and are much better in that regard than HP (and Compaq).

    If it's a Dimension 2400 (not a 2400C) the following is a page that will show the pinout on the psu. - http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2400/en/sm_en/techov.htm
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2006
    how do i get a standard pin-out of a regulaur atx psu
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    Here is a nice one:

    http://www.meadow.net/pinouts.html#atxpower
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2006
    according to the diagrams it looks like on on the dell there's nothing, but on a normal power its a -5Vdc. Would that make a difference to hook a normal power supply up?
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited January 2006
    No, -5vdc is not normally used on modern stuff AFAIK. As long as all the other pinouts are the same as a regular ATX psu, you should be good to go for testing.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited January 2006
    Straight_Man wrote:
    Here is a nice one:

    http://www.meadow.net/pinouts.html#atxpower

    Nice find, John!:thumbsup:
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2006
    thnaks guys for all the help
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2006
    okay got a new motherboard from dell(my second one), tried another cpu, and memory and it doesnt even post. It turns some fans on with a antec power supply.But with the one thats in there nothing. What im i doing wrong
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2006
    Have you tried resetting the BIOS? You may also have to (at least temporarily) disable the "CPU Fan Shutdown" setting, if applicable.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2006
    i cant get a post screen or any beeps. I did pull the battery though no luck
  • rykoryko new york
    edited January 2006
    you can find the dell to regular atx adapters on ebay....but it sounds like you don't need it.

    i would jumper the psu and double check all atx pwr connections with a DMM just to be sure that the right voltage is going to where it should.

    kinda sounds like the cpu is fried though.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2006
    i tried changing the cpu and still no luck
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited January 2006
    Have you tried a barebones configuration? MB, RAM, CPU & Video only? (No drives of any kind; no extra cards.)

    Is the video onboard? If not, I'd try a different card.
    ryko wrote:
    ...kinda sounds like the cpu is fried though.
    Good idea.

    Do you have a spare CPU you could throw in there? It would only take a few minutes and might save you hours of grief in the long run.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2006
    yea i tried bare just mb, cpu, mem. Video is onboard but even if i take the ram out i get no beeps. I tried a diff cpu too and still same issues
  • rykoryko new york
    edited January 2006
    have you tried another video card besides the onboard one? i have seen many older mobos from oems where onboard video died for no reason.

    so at this point you have tried..

    2 different mobos
    2 different cpus
    a few different sticks of ram
    2 psus

    video is the only thing i can think of...

    have you tried pulling it all from the case and laying it on cardboard? maybe a standoff or something is grounding it out. could also try a different wall socket?
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2006
    i tried it on cardboard and diff outlets. Ill go try another video card thanks
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