Dead computer?

[Patty]

Oh yea? Well top this! I have a couple of 286s up in the attic! one is a
blazing 12 mhz and the other is a 20! I think I still have isa video for
them and add in controller cards for the monsterous 40 mb hd! and if i look
around I think I still have some old 5-1/4 and possibly some 8" drives
around. Also, I think in the storage room at my parents house, they still
have an old IBM PC jr.! 8086 cpu and no ram to speak of!!!!!

Oh wait, I found an 8088 in my attic.

S

I just found a 5 1/4" floppy drive in my collection. I also have a 3 1/2"
- 5 1/4" floppy combo drive somewhere around here. I don't have the 286
anymore though, got rid of that along with the 40MB hard drive a few years
back. Still have my DOS 3.1 floppy disks, though. <vbg>

Patty
(got to stop being such a packrat, but I'm afraid it runs in the family)

 

[Patty]

DELL swears they have free on-site tech support
Seriously, you are going to regret this one !!!

johns

I'm wondering if the tech support person is going to fly in from India.
;o)

Patty

 

[manny]

As far as I understand from reading the info at
Tom's Hardware, the Antec ATX Power Supply Tester
allows you to check the various voltages using a
meter.

With a meter, so does a bent paperclip.

 

[David Maynard]

I just found a 5 1/4" floppy drive in my collection. I also have a 3 1/2"
- 5 1/4" floppy combo drive somewhere around here. I don't have the 286
anymore though, got rid of that along with the 40MB hard drive a few years
back. Still have my DOS 3.1 floppy disks, though. <vbg>

Patty
(got to stop being such a packrat, but I'm afraid it runs in the family)

Don't worry about it. I've got things here that would make your stuff look
positively modern.

 

[Sam]

I just found a 5 1/4" floppy drive in my collection. I also have a 3 1/2"
- 5 1/4" floppy combo drive somewhere around here. I don't have the 286
anymore though, got rid of that along with the 40MB hard drive a few years
back. Still have my DOS 3.1 floppy disks, though. <vbg>

Patty
(got to stop being such a packrat, but I'm afraid it runs in the family)

You mean I can send you my collection of 5 1/4" floppies and have you
transfer them to 3 1/2" ones? ;-)

Sam

 

[w_tom]

Rip open hard drives. Great refrigerator magnets are
inside. Hard disk platter makes shiny ornaments for next
year's Christmas tree.

 

[w_tom]

It may be a motherboard problem, or a peripheral problem, or
a memory problem - but unlikely a CPU problem. What does the
green wire do? Makes no sense to print out those posts. Too
much paper and too little to remember. What was posted takes
two minutes to accomplish because the principle is simple and
applies to all electronic repair - need not be read again.
Nothing posted (other than the voltage limit chart) is worth
keeping in print. Once done, you should have learned basic
power supply principles and how the motherboard power supply
controller works.

 

[Patty]

It may be a motherboard problem, or a peripheral problem, or
a memory problem - but unlikely a CPU problem. What does the
green wire do? Makes no sense to print out those posts. Too
much paper and too little to remember. What was posted takes
two minutes to accomplish because the principle is simple and
applies to all electronic repair - need not be read again.
Nothing posted (other than the voltage limit chart) is worth
keeping in print. Once done, you should have learned basic
power supply principles and how the motherboard power supply
controller works.

Green wire tested at 1.92, but I didn't check with the computer switched
on. I still believe the power supply is good, what are the odds it will go
bad just sitting packaged up in a box? I'm done with this, I can try
another power supply in the unit, but I just don't want to bother with it
anymore. The computer switch does switch on the power supply and fans, so
I think the switch works.

The RAM DIMMS fit very strangly in this motherboard. You know where those
side notches are that the clips usually clip into? Well the clips on the
board do not reach there. As far as I can tell, the DIMMS are in the slots
as far as they will go. I just think the whole thing is odd. For what the
computer is too, it's just not worth all this bother... Old 266Mhz system
with 32MB RAM, 2.5Gb hard drive. The inside was so filthy (and smelled
strongly of cigarette smoke). I'm also wondering if she got hit with a
surge or something. I know the floppy drive is fine since I've put it in
another system and checked it. When they got the system back from the
first guy they took it to, not only was the power supply missing, but the
video card was not screwed down. Just stuck into the motherboard. Who
knows? Could be anything wrong with this thing.

Patty

 

[Patty]

You mean I can send you my collection of 5 1/4" floppies and have you
transfer them to 3 1/2" ones? ;-)

Sam

That's why I've kept the combo floppy drive. I got a few of those old
floppies laying around, I figure one day when I retire and have time, I can
stick the drive in a system and copy them to 3 1/2" floppies. ;o)

Patty

 

[sbb78247]

I'm wondering if the tech support person is going to fly in from India.
;o)

Patty

might as well, the village idiot that paid our office a visit could not
speak English very well. and he did more damage than good as an added
bonus to the on site service.

S

 

[Guest]

Green wire tested at 1.92,

It's an input line (Power_On signal), so officially it has to be 0.8V
or less to be turned on. Grounding it will normally turn on the power
supply.

What happens when you try the motherboard with no DIMMs installed but
with the speaker connected? It should still beep.

The RAM DIMMS fit very strangly in this motherboard. You know where those
side notches are that the clips usually clip into? Well the clips on the
board do not reach there. As far as I can tell, the DIMMS are in the slots
as far as they will go. I just think the whole thing is odd.

Are the notches at the same height as the bumps in the clips? If not,
then the DIMMs aren't seated. A motherboard that flexes too much can
make insertion difficult, and it may help to support it from below with
some nonconductive material, such as wood or an eraser. Some silicone
spray on the edge connectors of the DIMMs can help if the sockets are
very tight, but I'd first look for any bent pins in the sockets.
Slightly bent ones may be repairable with needle nose pliers.

 

[Patty]

What happens when you try the motherboard with no DIMMs installed but
with the speaker connected? It should still beep.

Haven't tried that. I know it should do some long beeps if the RAM isn't
installed or seated correctly.

Tried it. No RAM -- no beeps or anything. Same reaction, fans run, on
light comes on and that's it.

Are the notches at the same height as the bumps in the clips? If not,
then the DIMMs aren't seated. A motherboard that flexes too much can
make insertion difficult, and it may help to support it from below with
some nonconductive material, such as wood or an eraser. Some silicone
spray on the edge connectors of the DIMMs can help if the sockets are
very tight, but I'd first look for any bent pins in the sockets.
Slightly bent ones may be repairable with needle nose pliers.

No, the little clippy things are very short. If you set the RAM on the
motherboard next to the DIMM slots, they do not reach the notches. That's
what I think is so very odd.

I still think it's a dead board.

Patty

 

[Patty]

One more note... it's an old Gigabyte board... GA-686LX4, manufactured
sometime in 1998.

Patty

 

[w_tom]

From that last post describing green wire. What happens
when power switch is pressed? How other voltages react would
have answered the question about RAM and other peripherals.

Yes it appears to take hours to do this testing. Learning
useful tools that take seconds often can take an hour to first
learn. The actual procedure described in so many posts (once
the concept is learned) requires less than two minutes.

Next post would have been about the beeps if it was
appropriate - based upon what the meter reported. As I said,
you don't have numbers to say it was the motherboard or to
suspect anything else. Reasons for failure are still numerous
- and yet the list is about to get very short. Based upon
what you have reported, only power switch integrity appears to
be known.

When switch is pressed, then 1.98 volts must drop to less
than 0.8 volts. Does it? Other poster takes longer to do
equivalent by disconnecting the power supply and using a paper
clip. What happens to red, yellow, and orange wire voltages
in less than 2 seconds after the power switch is pressed? We
are about to identify the failed part or system.

 

[Patty]

From that last post describing green wire. What happens
when power switch is pressed? How other voltages react would
have answered the question about RAM and other peripherals.

Nothing, since I've not been able to test any wires with the power supply
connected to the motherboard. I can't fit the meter probes into the
backside of the connector to hit any metal from the wires to get a reading.

Yes it appears to take hours to do this testing. Learning
useful tools that take seconds often can take an hour to first
learn. The actual procedure described in so many posts (once
the concept is learned) requires less than two minutes.

Next post would have been about the beeps if it was
appropriate - based upon what the meter reported. As I said,
you don't have numbers to say it was the motherboard or to
suspect anything else. Reasons for failure are still numerous
- and yet the list is about to get very short. Based upon
what you have reported, only power switch integrity appears to
be known.

When switch is pressed, then 1.98 volts must drop to less
than 0.8 volts. Does it? Other poster takes longer to do
equivalent by disconnecting the power supply and using a paper
clip. What happens to red, yellow, and orange wire voltages
in less than 2 seconds after the power switch is pressed? We
are about to identify the failed part or system.

Nothing for the same reason as I noted above. I am NOT able to test any
wires that are connected to anything because the probes for the meter are
too large to insert on the backside of any plugs. Besides, I am so slow at
this, it takes me much longer than 2 seconds to try to get any reading of
anything. I have to hold both meter probes on a wire (they don't just stay
there by themselves), press the computer switch and with only two hands,
this is difficult for me.

Thanks.
Patty

 

[Matt]

Nothing, since I've not been able to test any wires with the power supply
connected to the motherboard. I can't fit the meter probes into the
backside of the connector to hit any metal from the wires to get a reading.

After I and at least one other poster went to the trouble to tell you
how to do it, you are still unable?

 

[Patty]

After I and at least one other poster went to the trouble to tell you
how to do it, you are still unable?

Sticking paper clips into the #13 and #14 or 15 pin? But it's still not
connected to the board that way, is it? I tried sticking a paper clip into
the backside of the plug while it was plugged into the board and that
didn't work well. I don't want to screw up my perfectly good power supply
by messing up the wires in the plug by cramming paper clips in all over the
place.

Patty

 

[David Maynard]

Sticking paper clips into the #13 and #14 or 15 pin? But it's still not
connected to the board that way, is it? I tried sticking a paper clip into
the backside of the plug while it was plugged into the board and that
didn't work well. I don't want to screw up my perfectly good power supply
by messing up the wires in the plug by cramming paper clips in all over the
place.

Patty

You're over complicating it. All the voltages are relative to ground (the
black wires) so you find a nice convenient ground location and connect the
negative (black) of your meter to it (the black wire on a hard drive
connector is a good spot and the probe tip usually just goes right into the
open end). Then you just need to probe the wire in question with the meter
positive lead. Your problem is getting to the 'backside' of the power
connector when it's plugged in, which is where the paper clip comes in. You
can try holding the paper clip onto the meter probe and touch the other end
to the wire in question or, what I do is get a jumper wire with alligator
clips on each end (radio shack has them) and clip one alligator onto the
probe tip and the other to the paper clip. Then you use the paper clip as a
probe (or any other small enough conductive object).

 

[JJO]

A tester such as the following is not only cheap but very easy to use. I am
not sure if it was suggested but for what it's worth, I'll add this link.

http://www.atruereview.com/powersupply_tester/index.php

Regards,
John O.

 

[Patty]

You're over complicating it. All the voltages are relative to ground (the
black wires) so you find a nice convenient ground location and connect the
negative (black) of your meter to it (the black wire on a hard drive
connector is a good spot and the probe tip usually just goes right into the
open end). Then you just need to probe the wire in question with the meter
positive lead. Your problem is getting to the 'backside' of the power
connector when it's plugged in, which is where the paper clip comes in. You
can try holding the paper clip onto the meter probe and touch the other end
to the wire in question or, what I do is get a jumper wire with alligator
clips on each end (radio shack has them) and clip one alligator onto the
probe tip and the other to the paper clip. Then you use the paper clip as a
probe (or any other small enough conductive object).

Tonight I thought about just using black electrical tape and taping a
paperclip to the probe to make it longer and thinner. You think that would
work?

Patty