At 08:07 PM 10/17/2006 -0700, Randall R Schulz wrote:
Content-Disposition: inline
Greg,
On Tuesday 17 October 2006 19:30, Greg Wallace wrote:
...
Randall: I don't have any electronic gear, so I'd be starting from scratch. Sounds like you're saying that to do the testing you unplug each wire one at a time and plug some device into that socket to test its voltage, repeating the process until you've tested each socket, is that right?
Absolutely not! If you don't have hardware problems now, you will after you're done with that. And it won't be power supply problems, it'll be mainboard component damage.
No, what I'm saying is that the tip of the multimeter probe can be inserted at the top of the power supply connector (the side opposite from the PC board, which which the wires leave it) to contact the exposed upper end of the connector's pin.
I'm sorry if this is confusing or I'm not being clear. I've been doing this kind of thing since I was 10, so I probably take too much for granted.
Greg Wallace
Randall Schulz
-- Randall is right, but he doesn't explain things as well as he might. Do not, under any conditions, pull the wire out of the connector, even if you can. It must be connected to the motherboard, so it is under normal electrical load.
You need a multimeter of some kind, with test leads that have thin, sharp-pointed test probes at the end. These test probes can be inserted right next to the wires that go into the power connector that hooks up to the motherboard. The color code for the computer is standardised. Black is ground, and red +5 volts. Yellow is +12, blue is -12, purple is +3.3 (not necessarily standard), white is -5. These values should be within about +/- 5%, maybe a little bit worse, but not much. Since the +3.3 voltage is new, it may also be orange. On a Frye's computer it's purple, but the standard seems to be orange. A switch voltage should be green--don't measure it. A multimeter is a device, analog or digital, which can measure voltage, current, and resistance, and sometimes other parameters. What you need to do is measure voltage, if you have reason to believe there is a voltage problem from the power supply. (I haven't been following the whole thread.) In a recent flier, Harbor Freight advertised a Cen-Tech 7 function multitester, item number 90899-1YKA for $2.99. This is a digital voltmeter and VOM. (Volts, Ohms, Milliamps.) I'm sure it will also read your AC line voltage, and tell you if you're getting 130 Volts AC, which will cost you more than if you only got 120 VAC, and your light bulbs will burn out a lot quicker! (Yes, this has happened to me.) For this price, you may have to buy a battery--I don't know if it comes with one. 1.5 volt or 9 volt, or perhaps both. The catalog was sent to me with these numbers in the address: ID=117680931 and KEY=YK2752 These surely identify me to the people at Harbor Freight, but I have no reason to believe they won't sell to you also. Make sure to tell them you're not me, otherwise I may get another multitester! A lot of their stuff comes from China, and most of their tools work fine. I've got a meter that looks like the one here, but I paid $10 for it a few years ago. It seems to be adequate, if not a lab instrument. You can contact them at www/HarborFreight.com or at 1-800-423-2567 They're in Camarillo, CA, and I have no financial interest in them, or friends working there. Good luck-- doug