[catlady13]

Hi .. I have a friend's very old Dell Dimension XPS R400 here . I blew the major dustbunnies out of it and went to boot it up to take her old files out to tranfer them to her new computer.. The blasted thing won't post BUT that is not the immediate problem. It won't shut off with the power button at the front and it doesn't have a shut down switch at the back. Is there anything else I can do but unplug it ? I sure do hate to do that but right now I can't see anything else. Thank you...

 

[brianF]

Did you try holding the power switch button in for 5 or 10 seconds.

 

[catlady13]

THank you yes I did ..

 

[catlady13]

Well I finally got it turned off .. took the hard drive out for now to get the information off of it .. but I would like to get it up and running and I have a feeling it is the power supply unit.. Does anyone know if the older Dells' psu are proprietary? It doesn't say much on their site about that that I can find..
1 06081 Power Supply, 200W, 3.3V, 20+6P, SS, World Wide
That's about all I could find..
It does have the extra motherboard connector and looks like an ATX ..
The model number is DImension XPS R400
Thanks for any information ..

 

[Lurker1]

Yes older Dell powersupplys are proprietary and don't try a different (non Dell) supply in your system even if it looks like an ATX connection.

http://www.hardwareguys.com/dellwarn.html

 

[~Candy~]

Does the power supply power up at all? Fan spin? Anything?

 

[pronute]

Yes Dell ATX PSUs are proprietary; the really older AT PSU is not. The way to tell them apart is AT PSU are directly switch to the unit and the Main connector is single row pin split in two (two connectors single row 2X 6 pins) ATX PSU is a momentary contact connected to the motherboards front panel connectors, and the main connector is a double row pin single connector (one connector double row 20 pins)

 

[~Candy~]

And don't put those two connectors backwards



Been there Blacks to the middle, right Bob

 

[pronute]

yes blacks in the middle, however they where designed with the novice in mind and it will not hurt to get them backwards (*as long as the key tabs are the right way around*) the computer just wont boot.

 

[catlady13]

HI , thanks for all the replies.. yes it "appears" to be an ATX with the double row connector .. not the two single connectors back to back. That I am kind of familiar with .. and it has another motherboard single connector with six pins.. three black wires and three blue wires.
Yes it the fans do spin up .. and such but no post beep and nothing else.. hard drive doesn't start to spin .. nada .. I have it out right now and got information off of it so I know the hard drive is okay ..

 

[~Candy~]

yes blacks in the middle, however they where designed with the novice in mind and it will not hurt to get them backwards (*as long as the key tabs are the right way around*) the computer just wont boot.

Lol, I guess I had a 'special' day, all I got was a poopfh and the motherboard was put to a restful sleep.........

 

[pronute]

Probably a bad power supply, however it's not worth replacing IMHO dell charges $150 for a replacement 230W PSU (a standard 230W ATX PSU goes for $12).

Don't feel bad Candy I blew up an AT motherboard with a keyboard once

 

[~Candy~]

Lol, I'd like step by step instructions on that one!

 

[pronute]

Step one: get a PS2 Keyboard monitor mouse switch.

Step two: Connect it up with a AT keyboard At to PS2 adaptor and 4X 3 foot patch cables then an PS2 to AT adaptor.

Step three; turn on the computer with this nest of wires switch to the B position turn your back for a few seconds

Step four; turn around when you smell smoke frantically look for the fire extinguisher put the fire out.

After the smoked cleared I figured out that the switch coupled with the 3 foot patch cables drew about 23 amps from the keyboards 5V power supply it happen so quickly that the protection diode on the AT keyboard port did not blow fast enough and took out the whole motherboard.

 

[~Candy~]

Lol, now why didn't I think of trying that

 

[pronute]

good thing you didn't, I still can smell that burning insulation smell every now and then on my bench and this was 6 years ago.

 

[catlady13]

Thanks Pronute I think you are right.. rats was hoping to resurrect it with a power supply but not at Dell prices. That is out and out highway robbery. I will just part it out then .. and thanks for everybody's trouble ..