The current machine is about 3 years old, so any warranty is long gone. About
all I use it for at home is email and web surfing, iTunes and occasionally to
edit work-documents using Open Office. So, I don't need anything very
powerful. I'll do a little searching for motherboards, but based on the cost
of a new board vs. a new PC, it sounds like my best bet might be to just buy a
new box and either swap my old hard drive over or turn it into an auxiliary
drive.
> Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2012 02:05:58 -0400
> From: wmc_st@xxiii.com
> To: jandkstone99@msn.com
> CC: shop-talk@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Dead PC
>
> I have the identical Thermaltake tester, and it seems to work well. I
> use it in conjunction with the trusty Fluke 117 to make sure things are
> good.
>
> The negative 5 volt line is OK. Those were deprecated some years ago,
> and are usually not on newer power supplies. If you want all the gory
> details, punch up ATX on wikipedia. It sounds like your PSU is OK. Which
> sucks, because that would be the easy fix.
>
> If you've never installed or swapped a mobo, it can be a little hairy.
> You have to properly configure all the BIOS settings, and lay down the
> heat sink grease on the CPU properly, and not zap anything with static.
> Assuming you're running Windoze? It will freak out if you put in a
> different mobo. Easiest fix would be to try to find an identical board
> on Ebay. Or, if your PC is on the older side, might just be time to
> upgrade. Current tech like DDR3 memory is dirt cheap, while stuff for
> older hardware is NOT.
>
> My current work & home standard and favorite machine, though it's
> getting elderly at this point, is a Dell Precision 390. They were high
> end engineering workstations 5 or 6 years ago, with a Core 2 Duo CPU. I
> don't do video games or CAD/CAM, so they're plenty fast for me. You can
> score them on Ebay, sometimes for under $200. I do custom builds too
> (VortexBox media server) and have -- crikey (?!) -- 5 PCs around at the
> home at the moment.
>
> -Wayne
>
> On 8/16/2012 11:01 PM, Jim Stone wrote:
> > Well, I have more information, but don't think it is good. I didn't want
> > to wait a week to get the cheap tester from eBay and picked one up today
> > at a computer supply store. Here is the one I got:
> > http://thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1405&ID=1545#Tab0. It comes
> > with no information or instructions, other than a sticker on the back
> > saying to first plug in the 20/24 pin connector. I pulled that from the
> > motherboard and plugged it into the tester. I then plugged the power
> > supply in and it instantly came to life, or at least the fan started
> > spinning. The tester chirped and all of the lights except for the -5V
> > one came on. I also unpluged one of the 4-pin connectors and it lit up
> > the proper +5V light. I unplugged the SATA power connector and tried to
> > plug that into the tester, but for some reason couldn't get it to
> > connect. Still, I would guess that the power supply is not my problem;
> > the motherboard is.
> >
> > Is that correct, and if so, how big a deal is it to replace the board?
> > It doesn't look like it would be that difficult, but I am a complete
> > neophyte at this, so....
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