|
Here's an odd one...
A coworker brought in a relatively new Dell that would not respond in any way to pressing the On switch. I tested the switch - works great. I jumpered the PS-ON pin on the power supply to ground and it fired up perfectly. I reconnected the switch, removed all the loads (disk drives, unnecessary expansion cards, RAM, etc) and tried again - no response. I measured the voltage at the PS-ON connection to the MB while pressing the ON switch - no change. I reported all the symptoms to Dell, having decided the the MB has a problem, and they agreed. A replacement MB and power supply were shipped and installed. The same problem continues.
Am I missing something obvious, or is this box infected with gremlins?
"...putting all your eggs in one basket along with your bowling ball and gym clothes only gets you scrambled eggs and an extra laundry day... " - Jeffry J. Brickley
|
|
|
|
|
Roger Wright wrote:
Am I missing something obvious, or is this box infected with gremlins?
Did you check for continuity in the wires going from the connector to the switch? Also, have you inspected the connector to verify that the little prongs are making contact with the pins on the MB? Probably really hard to do though.
Marc
My website
Latest Articles:
Undo/Redo Buffer
Memento Design Pattern
|
|
|
|
|
Marc Clifton wrote:
Probably really hard to do though.
Yup! With what I have available, impossible. What I might try, though, when he brings the box back in, is shorting the pins on the motherboard that the switch should connect to. I can get on those - should have thought of it earlier...
"...putting all your eggs in one basket along with your bowling ball and gym clothes only gets you scrambled eggs and an extra laundry day... " - Jeffry J. Brickley
|
|
|
|
|
Roger Wright wrote:
I measured the voltage at the PS-ON connection to the MB while pressing the ON switch - no change
Does this mean when you press the power on switch the voltage on the switch line (measured on the motherboard) doesn't drop to ground ?
It would be as simple as a dodgy connection and when it's at the angle to fit onto the motherboard the conenction is bad.
Oh the joys on intermittent connections
The tigress is here 
|
|
|
|
|
That could be, but there was no way to get on the switch connection other than the connector itself. At the MB end of the switch connection, the signal drops to ground correctly, but at the PS-ON connection to the power supply there is no response. I also removed the switch connector and manually shorted the pins with a paper clip - no response.
From the results of this I decided that the MB is probably bad, and contacted Dell support. They walked me through several other steps, then told me that the MB was probably bad. My buddy ordered a new MB and the power supply, then installed them himself. No joy. Ah well, can't win them all, I guess.
"...putting all your eggs in one basket along with your bowling ball and gym clothes only gets you scrambled eggs and an extra laundry day... " - Jeffry J. Brickley
|
|
|
|
|
We did have a computer here that wouldn't start at all. Very puzzling. No heatsink on the processor (we were building it from bits, and wanted to make sure it worked, and were planning to turn it off straight away, so assumed we could do without the heatsink for testing).
Then we put the heatsink on the processor, and it worked.
|
|
|
|
|
Now that's just plain weird! It should have at least started, then fried in the first 30 seconds.
"...putting all your eggs in one basket along with your bowling ball and gym clothes only gets you scrambled eggs and an extra laundry day... " - Jeffry J. Brickley
|
|
|
|
|
Now this time, really.
What's the difference between the two? Why are there two?
Pandoras Gift #44: Hope. The one that keeps you on suffering.
aber.. "Wie gesagt, der Scheiss is' Therapie"
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygen
|
|
|
|
|
Socket 939 supports dual-channel RAM, while socket 754 allows only a single memory channel.
|
|
|
|
|
Socket 754 is the first format that AMD released for the AMD 64 ...it only lasted a few months and they came up with 939.
Socket 939 is the current 'De Facto' socket format for AMD and will for a little while as AMD plans to release their new Dual Cores AMD64-X2 processors in that format as well.
If you don't already own a 754 motherboard, go with Socket 939.
Dewm Solo - C# Developer
|
|
|
|
|
Or how do they not work?
Recently I had a problem with 19" Acer LCD where 1/4 of the screen dissappeared at the bottom. (I mean dissapeared no distortion) When the blonde took it to the purchasing shop it worked for them, then it worked back at her office. Two days later the whole screen disapeared. We got them to replace it and have had no problems since.
The tech head said it must be a dry joint.
What does that mean ?
(No MJ jokes please) 
Regardz
Colin J Davies
The most LinkedIn CPian (that I know of anyhow)
|
|
|
|
|
I believe it means the solder didn't set properly, and as it warms up, the connection is lost.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++
|
|
|
|
|
Ok that makes sense to me,
which is why the problems are intermitent.
Thx
Regardz
Colin J Davies
The most LinkedIn CPian (that I know of anyhow)
|
|
|
|
|
ColinDavies wrote:
No MJ jokes please
What does Micheal jackson have to do with it?;)
"You're obviously a superstar." - Christian Graus about me - 12 Feb '03
"Obviously ??? You're definitely a superstar!!!" mYkel - 21 Jun '04
Within you lies the power for good - Use it!
Honoured as one of The Most Helpful Members of 2004
|
|
|
|
|
Maybe I should have said
"No MJ jokes please and no PJ relies."
Regardz
Colin J Davies
The most LinkedIn CPian (that I know of anyhow)
|
|
|
|
|
Actually its when a leg of a component goes through the PCB and does not get soldered. This causes the two components to only make a connection due to them touching each other. As a PCB flexes and warms up etc, this can cause the components to move and thus break the connection between them.
Also, they can be affected by vibration.
If you vote me down, my score will only get lower
|
|
|
|
|
Pay for it.
|
|
|
|
|
Pay for what?
/\ |_ E X E GG
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes! 
Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is. -- GWB, 1999.
|
|
|
|
|
Intel of course
"Go as far as you can see,and when you get there you’ll see further" - Unknown
|
|
|
|
|
|
peterchen wrote:
LongHC wrote:
ok.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beat me to it - I was going to vote 'Zilog' 
Okay, then I'll nominate Rabbit2000! With Dynamic C or without.;P
"...putting all your eggs in one basket along with your bowling ball and gym clothes only gets you scrambled eggs and an extra laundry day... " - Jeffry J. Brickley
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
