> Craig McCluskey wrote: > I brought the computer with the smoked power supply in, > removed the power supply (a custom type for the VIA Sereniti > mini-ITX case), patched a full-sized ATX supply in, connecting > all the cables, and pressed the go button. > > Nothing. > > Ended up connecting the ATX supply to its original bad > motherboard in the computer that my neighbor gave me (the bad > motherboard is why he gave it to me). There it worked. > Hmmm ... Disconnected it and jumpered pins 14 and 15 on the > 20-pin ATX connector and it worked, too.
I put together a couple load resistors and a switch so I can test supplies without motherboards attached. Not foolproof, but low risk to complex motherboards. > So, I figured, something in the mini-ITX computer is keeping > the power supply from starting. I jumpered pins 14 and 15 with > a paper clip and tried the two disks and DVD-ROM drive one at > a time. One of the disks kept the supply from starting. > Scratch one disk. > > So I connected up the mini-ITX motherboard and booted the > computer. Motherboard is still alive. Good. > > Put in a Windows install CD. Tsk, tsk. > Tried a Linux install CD and that booted just fine. (Boy I > hate Windows.) But I did want to use Windows on this computer > (which will NOT connect to the network!). Now your doing better. Why not use a virtual machine for those situations where MS Win is required? > Disconnected the IDE cable to the dead disk and tried again. > No change. Disconnected the IDE cable to the second disk and > connected a disk from the neighbor's dead computer. It boots > the Windows install disk just fine. Hmmm ... Scratch two disks. > But the dying power supply killed two disks. I do have the > ones from the neighbor's dead computer, but I'm still not > happy about the performance of the VIA Sereniti's power supply. Wow. I've never seen a power supply kill harddrives. Quite conceivable, voltage goes up and "poof!" Use two supplies? Years ago I had a HP desktop with some weird form factor power supply. I wanted more harddrives on it than the supply could support, so I tagged an ATX onto the case and supplied the drives from the 'external' supply and the rest of the machine from the internal. Had to be careful to power up and down in the correct order. Otherwise worked well for over a year. -- Philip _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
