RE: [SLE] Need help diagnosing hardware problem

On Wednesday, October 18, 2006 @ 12:27 AM, Doug McGarrett wrote:

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.

As I recall, all of the wires came out of one round hole, so it probably
wouldn't be possible to do this without pulling the lid off of the power box
to get to the source of the wires.

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

Thanks for the info on where to get the tool. If the problem wasn't solved
by my re-seating the vide card, I'll be looking into the power supply as the
next likely source and will need to buy one of these probes.

Greg Wallace


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