My "fried" PC story- Answers needed

[jlc]

Hi to all:

Two weeks ago, an old PC I had (which I do turn on every week) exploded, with sparks and all. It smelled burnt in my power supply (200 Watts, ATX), so I went and purchased a new one. The guy at the computer store sells me a 250W supply, telling me it doesn't matter if I have the extra power (the connectors were all identical, with the exception of the separate P4). I buy it but it doesn't work, so I'm thinking I've fried my computer. I talk to a computer tech I know and he says to buy the power supply straight from Dell, and to make it 200W (exactly like the original one). It worked. Why??

 

[jihiggs]

the motherboard connector between standard and dell systems look the same but they arent.

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[jlc]

Thanks for that. Does this mean only "Dell purchased" power supplies work on their PCs? Doesn't really suprise me...

Jlc

 

[jihiggs]

correct, might have changed recently.

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[schu]

welcome to the world of proprietary hardware

 

[Crashman]

The guy at the computer store was an idiot, that's why. He didn't even ask you what kind of system you had. Dell power supplies were ALL proprietary up until they needed the ATX12v connector for P4's, that's when they finally went standard.

You're lucky you didn't blow something else up using a standard power supply in your Dell. The guy in the computer store would have told you it was your fault and tried to sell you more hardware!

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[jlc]

Schu, crashman:

Thanks for replying. What pisses me off even more is that I found NO articles about this crap in Dell's support section. I also called on the phone (twice) and the guy NEVER mentioned this. These guys aren't even on top of their own products.

 

[Crashman]

Hah! You expect Dell to say something? You put on a standard ATX supply and they HOPE it blows up, to teach you a lesson about Dell's superior quality. They think you'll assume that the one you tried was not "good enough".

This information is all over the web, you just have to know where to look. Probably 20 or 30 regular members here know about that problem.

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