Possible PSU Problems????

You can buy a 20-24 pin adapter for a few bucks. As for the boot issue, I'd start by making sure memory, processor, etc. are all well seated on the motherboard. Has your friend upgraded any components recently? How did the problem start?

The machine has not started in three years? Possible that corrosion has occured in the electrical components. The CPU fan sounds like the center bearing has gummed up. It might start to work if you spin it by hand a bit, but it could well need to be replaced. You can get adapters for the 24 pin/20 pin connector, as Detson wrote, but sometimes the 24 pin connectors are made so that they can be attached with the extra four pins just hanging in the air, or even can be broken off the connector.

Some of those old motherboards had strange circuits built in, integrated wiring and all, so they may not be compatible with anything exept what the factory installed. That might explain why it doesn't match the power outlets of the new power supply. Don't know for sure. As to using a Windows 98 machine, its getting more and more difficult. Probably not be long until none of the browsers will install, same as anyone trying to use an old Win 2.1 system. Even if you get the computer physically working, it might not be usable in the rest of the world.

Linux? I thought this was a Win 98 OS. The only way a floppy drive would kill the PSU would be if it had a short. Maybe the reason the machine hasn't been used in three years is that someone tried to install Linux, but failed to complete the installation, perhaps because of incompatible parts. That could well explain why the machine won't boot up. Now all you can get are error messages. You might try to reinstall the win 98 OS and see what happens then. Used to be that some power supplies included fuses or circuit breakers, but I don't know of any that do now.

There is a green wire on the 20 ATX connector, if you remove the 20 pin ATX connector from the MB & jumper it to a black wire the PSU should start.
I have seen several cases of this green wire coming loose in the 20 pin ATX connector & you have to widen the retention clip/s on the wire & re insert it into the 20 pin connector.
Anytime the 20 pin ATX connector is removed & replaced this possibility exists,,,,, specially if you notice you have some difficulty reinserting it on the MB.

This might just be another case of the green wire coming loose in the connector.

Did you try starting the psu with a jumper between thr green & a black wire?
If it starts at least that will rule out the PSU to some extent..

Your power switch does the same thing but if you should it for more than 4 seconds it will usually shut down so its no problem.
That said I have only seen 1 PSU that would power up that way but still would not power the MB. If you have another try swapping it to see what happens. .... or put that psu in a similar pc & see what happens.

What are the full specs?

It sounds like the motherboard or CPU may be toast.

If you can ship it to me I can fix it.

lol linux, i dont think anyone would, lol funny thought if u kno whereim heading.


awww i should try that with a noob on the CPU forums

"so, ur FX-60 isnt working right you say? u only get 20 frames with ur 7600GT? here send me ur FX-60 i'll fix it. "


lol just kidding, linux is really helpful, and anyways if ur parts dont work whats the diff


lol :-D

It's a broken obsolete system which has a market value of - $xxx so I guess it doesn't matter.

An FX-60 on the other hand is worth $1k

Thanks for the vote of confidence :-D