Bringing and old pc to life.

[therealazmyth]

I just built a new machine. I realized I didn't need such a high end gaming machine.. and so I sold it. Well.. now I am still needing to upgrade, but not to the extent I did before. I am eventually going to change out the motherboard (for one with PCI-e and dual core compatible/Vista) but in the meantime. I just want to get this old pc up and running so I can use it. I used the Power supply that was in it, for the one I sold (450w).

the computer I am trying to save is this..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16813130519 - MSI motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16819112196 - Prescott Celery D
VGA = Radeon 9600 Pro AGP 128mb

it has 2 sticks of 512mb corsair value ram, a 80 gig HD, and a DVD drive. Thats pretty much it. Pretty basic machine. I'm planning on redoing the whole thing.. new mobo, new cpu, new everything. But until I can afford that. I want to get this one running.

Now, like I said.. I took the power supply from my old pc, and put it in the new one that I sold. So my pc is now power supplyless. All I have laying around the house is a few 250 watts. I tried one of those, and the motherboard lights come on, and the power comes on.. but no beeps, no post. I stripped it down to the bare minimum with no drives, 1 stick of ram and still wouldn't post.

Is it looking like the power supply is the culprit, and a higher powered PSU will do the trick?

thanks!

 

[QueBert]

how old are the PSU's, and do they have the 4 pin power connector? with a system stripped down to nothing 250 is plenty to get it to post. If the PSU has the 4 pin and it's connected and still no post with a stripped system, bad psu not underpowered.

 

[robisbell]

ypu'll need at least a 350, would recommend a 400 or 450 watt psu. 250 will not cut it.

 

[therealazmyth]

these came out of like old emachines type pcs.

- ATX 20-Pin power connector
- 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
- CPU / System fan connectors
- CD-in connector
- Clear CMOS jumper
- SPDIF-out connector
- Chassis intrusion switch connector
- Serial port connector (COM2)
- 2 x USB 2.0 connector support additional 4 ports
- Front panel audio connector
- Front panel connector
- 1 x Floppy disk drive connector
- 2 x Ultra DMA 133 IDE device connectors
- 2 x Serial ATA device connectors

(above is the system specs for the board) I'm gonna say right now since I am at work and cannot look at either of the power supplies, that they may not have a 4 pin connector.. however the board does.

could that cause the power supply to fire up, but not the board?

 

[QueBert]

if the PSU doesn't have a 4 pin connector that's absolutely going to be the problem. As long as you have the main ATX connector hooked up you should get the fan on the PSU spinning up, no 4 pin = no boot.

but as said in another post, 250 won't cut it, it might squeak by but you don't want to ever just barily squeak by when it comes to power. On top of it being low, it's a crummy brand which is another problem. You don't have to spend a lot on a decent PSU, but I recommend you go 350 or better, and get a solid brand not a generic one.

 

[therealazmyth]

I bet thats what it is
(I apologize.. I get stupid with these things sometimes. I really should have known that lol)

the power supply comes on, and the cpu fan spins... thats all it will do.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: therealazmyth
I bet thats what it is
(I apologize.. I get stupid with these things sometimes. I really should have known that lol)

the power supply comes on, and the cpu fan spins... thats all it will do.

if you didn't know you didn't know, doesn't make you stupid. If you build PC's all the time like me you should know, but if you work on them occasionally not remember this isn't a big deal really. And it sucks that without it connected you can still get the psu fan spinning up so can tend to make you think something is wrong with the PSU or MB.

 

[therealazmyth]

I only build pcs when I upgrade..

since technology changes a good bit in between that time. I have to relearn alot of stuff the next time I do it.. 🙂

 

[robisbell]

I told you that the 250watt PSU would not work.

 

[therealazmyth]

yeah, thanks rob. I'm gonna pick up a 500 watter today on the way home.