At 02:07 PM 7/29/99 , you wrote:
>Dear List:  Does anyone know if changing the types of power supply your computer uses
>(ATX v. AT) can effect operation of other components, such as hard drives and more
>specifically, the Windows 98 system registry?  Thanks.  Gina Hunkins, Georgia


Both types of power supplies provide identical output to hardware
devices, such as hard drives, CD Roms and so forth.  That should
not be a concern.  The power management in Win98 will deal with
ATX differently, based on the motherboard and the registry will have
changes to support these differences.

Your motherboard must support ATX if you are going to switch...  there
are some boards around that use both AT or ATX power supplies.  The
difference is in the way the BIOS deals with power management events
and shut down.

If you have an exiting AT motherboard, you intend to switch out the motherboard
for an ATX model and wish to upgrade the power supply for the case, be
sure the case will accept the differences in the motherboards external porting
out the back plane of the case.  Often if you are switching to an ATX
motherboard, the old AT case will not have the proper openings for onboard
ports, like parallel ports, serial ports and USB ports.

If in fact you are only considering changing the power supply to receive the
advantages of ATX, remember the motherboard must support the ATX
connectors which are different from the AT connectors.

AT connectors:   Single row, two connectors, 5v and 12v
ATX connectors: Double row, single connector, 3.3v, 5v and 12v


                 Bob Wright
        The NOSPIN Group, Inc
http://nospin.com - http://nospin.org

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