Pc Failure, not booting

tweeter

Reading from the instructions that came with a Thermaltake psu. It says make a u shape of a paperclip and insert one end into a green lead and one end into a black lead of the main motherboard lead to test it. You should see the fan spin after turning on. I've since used this method on other psu's.

peter999

tweeter wrote: »

Reading from the instructions that came with a Thermaltake psu. It says make a u shape of a paperclip and insert one end into a green lead and one end into a black lead of the motherboard lead to test it. You should see the fan spin after turning on. I've since used this method on other psu's.

Don't understand.

If you put paperclips into plug, it wont plug in.

Which fan are you talking about, the power supply fan or processor fan ??

tweeter

The main plug that goes into the motherboard not the processor fan. The u shaped paperclip is pushed into psu 20 pin motherboard plug- the green wire and black wire of the pin holes of the motherboard psu lead. Then turn on to see if the fan in the psu spins. You obviously don't have the psu lead plugged into the motherboard as you will have removed the psu from the computer to test it. HTH

peter999

tweeter wrote: »

The main plug that goes into the motherboard not the processor fan. The u shaped paperclip is pushed into psu motherboard plug- the green wire and black wire of the pin holes of the motherboard psu lead. Then turn on to see if the fan in the psu spins. You obviously don't have the psu lead plugged into the motherboard as you will have removed it from the computer to test it. HTH

PSU fan spins when supply plugged into motherboard & Pc switced on.

But there are 20 pins on plug supplying motherboard.
Not sure what voltages they are, what they supply on motherboard, but maybe only 1 has failed.

peter999

tweeter

Then ignore this if the fan is going. Maplin sell a tester, but I don't know how much they cost off hand.

tweeter

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=48647&ForceUpdate=Y

HTH

peter999

tweeter wrote: »

Then ignore this if the fan is going. Maplin sell a tester, but I don't know how much they cost off hand.

Ok I'll have a look.

I bought 2nd hand motherboard & cpu to pin down fault, might need to find replacement PSU somewhere.

I have an old 486 computer, not sure if PSU is same on that.

peter999

tweeter

I usually google for manuals, maybe you can find one for your old 486 computer and see if the values are the same. HTH

peter999

tweeter wrote: »

I usually google for manuals, maybe you can find one for your old 486 computer and see if the values are the same. HTH

Good idea, I think it's coming back to me.

I now remember the 486 computer had 2 separate power connectors you could put in wrong way, not one connector like on ATX form factor.

What are the differences between AT and ATX form Factors?
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_differences_between_AT_and_ATX_form_Factors

ATX uses one 20-pin connector to attach to the motherboard. The ATX connector is also keyed so that it will only go in the correct way. This is easier than the two separate connectors of the AT form which look almost the same. It also gets rid of the problem of frying the board due to misplacement of the connectors on the motherboard.

peter999

Psychofly

A 486 PSU will be hugely underpowered and won't be the right shape plug. Definitely sounds like you PSU has gone but really the safest way to check is to borrow someone else's. Make sure you get a decent one though and it's got a high enough wattage output for your PC. The paperclip trick is really just designed to short out the live wire to ground and turn the PSU on, it in no way tests the functionality of the supply. It only checks if the fan spins up and if the PSU comes on. Doesn't mean it works enough to run a PC through.

DON'T BUY CHEAP AND POWERFUL ! I can't stress that enough. The last thing you want is a £30 700W PSU, they're useless. A £60 550W one is going to be a million times better and will power most PCs, even fairly high spec gaming machines. If you need to replace your existing one it's worth posting here and getting some recommendations on power and make but you'll need to post your full spec up for this.



*EDIT* Actually come to think of it, what USB devices have you got plugged in ? Have you recently added one ? Any external drives or anything like that ?