Dumb Question - please don't flame me. ;)

[WJB2002]

Hi all,

I am going to ask a newbie question here, so please be kind and don't make me feel even dumber. Also note that while I was a real wiz at building PCs back when a 386 was bad ass, I haven't put on together in a long time!

I am in the process of building a system and wandered across a great deal on a case today, so I picked it up. It is a standard Antec (model SX1035 for those who care) and on unpacking I have a concern. I unpacked the case to look at it and test it out, but when I plug it in I get no indication that the power supply is working.

Now the only reason why I am puzzled is that the case has a switch on the back (small switch on the back that is auctually ON the power supply) and the fan doesn't turn when it is in either the on or off position. I have no motherboard in the case, so the front switches are not hooked up to anything. Is this normal? I am worried that the P/S isn't working since the fan ON THE P/S isn't turning when powered. HOWEVER - the whole reason why I am not sure is that this unit has "Smart Fan" printed on the side, so I am thinking maybe it is activate only when needed. I just can't imagine why the P/S fan would ever need to be off when the case had power. So....

I hooked up another fan to the P/S and it had no juice either. I called Antec and got an answering machine telling me to leave my number, and that was hours ago.

So in all your expert opinions, does this sound like I have a bad case, or is it normal for it to act like this with no motherboard installed? Any answers would be appreciated, and thanks for your expertise.

 

[Gaard]

It's normal. You're probably fine.

 

[boi]

ummm... Im pretty sure you have to power on the power supply using the motherboard. I you connect the green wire on the power supply with a ground(black) wire, then that will turn on the power supply.

 

[SWScorch]

Two wires on the ATX connector have to be shorted in order for the power supply to turn on. Its a safety precaution, the supply will not power up unless it thinks it has load attached to it. The switch on the back is a "hardware switch;" it completely disconnectes the power connector sfrom recieving any juice at all. Unlike the old hardware power switches computers used to have, they now have software switches; when you turn a computer off, it is still getting power. So if you were installing memory or something, there would be a chance that the computer could power on in the middle of the process. So power supply companies have put these hardware switches on their power supplies so there is no danger of accidentally triggering a power surge when installing components.

PS- welcome to Anandtech forums!

 

[WJB2002]

Ok - you guys kick ass. 3 informed and courteous responses within 15 minutes of my post. Much better than waiting days to hear from Antec. And Scorch - your post was exactly what I was looking for. Not only solved my problem, but taught me by explaining why it was doing what it was doing.

Thanks so much to all of you for your help. Now I can put the case away with peace of mind while I shop for a motherboard/CPU deal!

Great forum with great peeps and looking forward to all the help available here!