I have an ATX POWER SUPPLY UNIT that my DELL computer rejects as its not DELL?

[VladKEasternTiger]

Hi, I connected a small piece of wire to the green wire and black wire and pushed the main connector in the motherboard so it fits in, I CONNECTED the other 4 block connector and turned on the PSU from its switch on the casing, and I have power to the Motherbord, the fans run on the board, the 2 lights are on on the leds at the front of the unit, I heard 1 beep sound when I turned it on for the first time, the problem is Nothing on the Monitor 


Nothing on the keyboard no lights, nothing and when I pressed the power button on the unit and hold it nothing happens because I shorted the green/black wire

So what next?

You all been a great help for these
ideas

[VladKEasternTiger]

Im also wondering if I can boot up the pc without a hard drive installed because the hard drive I connected to the motherboard was from another machine, so I got 1 beep when I turned it on for the first time, I get 2 led lights on the front of he unit and the fan runs on the MOBO. Nothing on the screen its not recognising a monitor or keyboard

[embedded]

As Long as ALL the BIOS is in a chip you can boot without a hard drive.  You will just get to a no disk prompt unless you hit F2, DEL or other method of entry into the BIOS.

If you can boot from CD/DVD please consider booting "System rescue CD".  A very useful Linux based CD with rescue tools.

http://www.sysresccd.org

I tend to use this or Clonezilla all the time for preparing, cloning and fixing hard drives.

Please note the extensive documentation on the page.  In the mid 90's HP and Compaq put some of the bios on the disk to save money but these units can not boot a CD.  (The first 286 AT's had the bios setup menu on a floppy.)  Since then the all in one standard BIOS has been the norm.

If the actual motherboard, CPU or RAM are bad rescueCD will fail mid way.  Never try and fix a Hard drive with a dicey motherboard.

[VladKEasternTiger]

Hi Embedded, thanks for your reply, im tired and gonna hit the bed its 20 past miidnight zzzzzzzz

when I turn the PSU Switch I get the fans running on the MOBO, disc drive opens, the lights on the mobo and led at the front light up, only nothing on the screen, my computer
is not recognising my monitor? yellow light on monitor

no recognition 

[fsleeman]

What kind of monitor do you have? Is your video card built into the motherboard or is it a stand alone card? I would try an different video card if you have available. I have gotten a motherboard before that had a bad PCI-e slot but the integrated video worked, so its good to check everything.

[djsb]

Hi,
Have you got any RAM installed?

David.

[VladKEasternTiger]

Hi,
Have you got any RAM installed?

David.

Hi David, yes I have 2 sticks of the original ram installed, I then did different combinations of taking one ram out and starting the pc, I also took out the CMOS battery, still nothing on the screen

[VladKEasternTiger]

What kind of monitor do you have? Is your video card built into the motherboard or is it a stand alone card? I would try an different video card if you have available. I have gotten a motherboard before that had a bad PCI-e slot but the integrated video worked, so its good to check everything.

Hi on this Dell pc the video card is built into the Motherboard, on my other pc which is old the video card is separate with a heatsink on it, It looks like I will have to try another video card but the question is how if it is built in the MOBO? The monitor connector on the unit is connected directly to the mobo.

[djsb]

Hi,
1/ Check the motherboard for a jumper that turns on/off the integrated graphics (information in manual link given earlier).
2/ Turn off the integrated graphics card and insert a card in a PCI slot (if available).
3/ Also remove and replace memory chips just to make sure connections are secure.

David.

[fsleeman]

Is the internal PC speaker connected and do you hear any beeps?

You might want to just plug in a PCI-e video card and see what happens. Many motherboards will default to the PCI-e card if there is one present without changing the BIOS or jumpers.

[VladKEasternTiger]

Hi Finally I get the Computer working thanks to you, and the others, My friend just gave me a DELL Power supply unit and boom it worked, so simple but these silly companies like to use proprietary components. Once again let me take this opportunity to thank you flseeman and the others 

Thanks

[Ed.Kloonk]

It begs the question then... What's in the Dell psu that allows it to work when other ones do not?

 

[VladKEasternTiger]

It begs the question then... What's in the Dell psu that allows it to work when other ones do not?

 

Thats the 64k dollar question my friend, if anyone knows even thoe Im glad to see the back of that dell tower id still be interested to know why, as for dell well they have lost me as a customer for good how dare they only use proprietary parts for their equipment 

[Pyr0Beast]

You could start by measuring voltage when on and when off on the ATX connector.

Some PC's (esp. Compaq's) had PS-ON signal inverted - PSU was turned on when there was 5V on PS-ON pin, different from usual ATX PSU's where they turn on with PS-ON pin at 0V.

[fsleeman]

It begs the question then... What's in the Dell psu that allows it to work when other ones do not?

Most likely they have a different pin outs. Checking the voltages would certainly work and comparing wire colors (as long as they are still standard) could work too.