Computer power supplies are pretty sophisticated ......they take AC power
in and put out 12 something volts on the yellow wire and 5 something volts
on the red..... DC. As the draw increases they put out more power until
they reach their capacity which is why if you heat up a power supply and
take a reading .....your meter will show no power....you need to plug a fan
or a hard drive in to produce a draw which will get the current flowing.
Your mother board ....or other devices you plug into it may make further
voltage changes but  PC motherboards comply with this 12 / 5 DC supply.

If your Dell is remotely switched to your motherboard how do you turn it
on.....with a remote  signal device ? I find this hard to believe. Check to
make sure one of the power cords coming from the power supply does not look
like a standard black power cord which goes to the front of the case where
the on off switch is undoubtedly is located.
Power supplies usually come with a switch attached....there are three
different types, push, toggle and  the old 286 386 boxes had a large red
toggle. Just about everything in the last few years has been push button
which is probably what you have. There are not that many different styles
of power supplies and you can view the different styles from Dalco's
catalog  at http://www.dalco.com/ and match the one you have.

m


>I removed the power supply, thinking that I'd find someone in town
>where a new (or used) one could be purchased.  The supply looks very
>much like an ATX type, single 20 pin connector to the mother board
>and various power cables for peripherals.  There is no on/off switch
>on the unit, but is remotely switched through the mother board.  The
>problem is it only supplies +/- 5 volts and +/- 12 volts.  There is a
>5 volt to 3.3 volt converter on the mother board to supply the cpu
>and other parts.
>
>The question(s), does anyone know the pinout values for this supply
>and/or know if a standard ATX type of supply (that does provide 3.3
>volts) will work for this computer.
>
>I've, already, looked through Dell's web site and talked (several
>times) with Dell service technicians for this information without
>success.  The tech said the connector is standard ATX so any standard
>ATX supply will work, but in the same breath said they will not be
>responsible for any adverse reaction the supply should cause any of
>the components.  It took this to mean, it should work, but we don't
>know for sure and if it doesn't too bad.
>
>Thanks for any help you can provide,
>Bill
>

                                  -----
       **Need help with PCBUILD mailing list? Send an Email to:**
        Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]> or Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>