Was it Faasse, P.R. who wrote on Thursday 19 September 2002 10:48:
> Hello Declan,
>
> You mention an ATX supply, so i'll assume that the whole rest of the system
> is not too antique...
>
> It definitely looks like you have a spare ATX connector :-) 

Yep, I'll go with that.

>You could cut
> it loose from the ATX supply, look up the specs for the voltages -> pins of
> the ATX supply output and then go to work on the mainboard. Remove all that
> you can from the PC (video card -if there-, other I/O boards, CPU, memory,
> disks, whatever else is connected to the supply :-) and then try to supply
> each of the board's voltages with the lab-supply you mentioned and the ATX
> connector.

I gather you share my hesitation just to plug in another psu
>
> You *might* burn something on the mainboard that way, but the chances of
> that i would not guess to be that high. 

I'll take my chances here :). I kind of know what I'm doing there. Divide and 
conquer.

Besides, you just removed all
> 'salvageables' from the system :-) If any of the 5.0V, or 3.3V voltages are
> shorted: despair. These voltages are used all over the board, and you'll
> have a ball finding out which of the chips has burned, not to speak of any
> attempts to replace them (have you ever replaced ball-grid chips with
> d.i.y. means? I tried and fried the result... you can't really see *what*
> you have just interconnected). The + or - 12 Volts are usually only used
> for the RS232 buffer chips and perhaps a few other places (CPU 'internal'
> 2.0 .. 3.5 Volts supply), so if they short there is hope yet.
>
> NB: a ATX supply needs to be 'switched on' from a signal on the board. You
> might well find that the 5.0 V will draw ~0.0 mA because the 'switch'
> signal is not on. There ususally is a jumper connection of the board that
> must be shorted for a moment to switch 'on' the supply.

I'd like to find that.....

>
> Another note: when the 12V and 5V are ok, you should have a look at the CPU
> voltage(s): they are usually made from the 5 V and/or 12 V, and these
> modern s/m 5.0 -> 2.0 .. 3.5 Volts converters are ticklish... Not so
> difficult to analyse (AD1148 controller chip + a few mosfets), and usually
> quite possible to repair.
>
> If you get through that, then you can start trying the I/O, disk etc...

Funny, I thought the peripherals could be checked easier and would have gone 
there first, trying to get a feel for the damage. If the disks are blown 
away, I won't give much fot the m/bs chances

>
> NB: Thing just might be less grim than they look: If one of the secondary
> elco's blew when you switched the thing on, then that may well be because
> it got the heat when power was drawn from the supply. In my experience
> burned elco's are the #2 reason for defect s/m power supplies. Elco's seem
> to be designed for 50 Hz recification, and the >40 kHz may well make them
> develop 'series resistance'. When the power drawn from the supply goes up,
> then the dissipation in this 'series resistance' goes up, and your nice
> explosion could well be the result. One more reason to mistrust ATX
> supplies is that they keep the supply 'dormant' all the time instead of
> really taking the power off. The dormant state means that the s/m part of
> the supply keeps working, and banging on the elco's. I have developed the
> parctise of putting 1.0 or 2.2 uF non-electrolytic capacitors in parallel
> to the output elco's of any s/m supply that i am fond of. The non-elco
> capacitors 'eat' the high-frequency currents, so that the elco's can do the
> low-frequency filtering without getting all of these high peak currents..

ELCO? Are we talking about output capacitors and ESR? I didn't get this.

>
> W.r.t. your PC: another matter is how much trust you will have in the
> components of a 'refurbished' PC should you get the thing on the road
> again... Some of the parts of the PC might well have gotten a 'kick' that
> brings them on the edge of breakdown, so they die on a quiet moment later
> on.

That's fine - It's the lousiest m/b ever - SiS 5513/5591 & with onboard SiS 
6326. Lovely bios - shame about the rest of it. I'll gladly sling it and buy 
new. I don't care if it dies - it's function in life was to keep my kids off 
MY pc. The only 'important' things on that were mp3s of 'music' lacking 
finesse, and games

>
> hope it helps,
>
> Peter
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Declan Moriarty [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: woensdag 18 september 2002 20:19
> > To: Multiple recipients of list CHIPDIR-L
> > Subject: Best approach to a dead atx pc?
> >
> >
> > I powered up an atx pc here, which ran for three seconds
> > before there was a
> > LARGE flashand everything went quiet.
> >
> > Picking over the entrails of the psu, I find a capacitor case
> > (100uF  10V)
> > empty and loose. It apparently lived in the output area of
> > the power supply
> > on the low volts side. The fuse is vaporised. It looks grim -
> > like some HV
> > got accross. Capacitors don't normally do that!
> >
> > What's the best route now? The psu is toast - I'm wondering
> > about the m/b
> > and hesitant to slap another psu on it, as I have enough
> > toast. But it might
> > be OK, or some of it might.
> >
> > I have a lab supply here (2 x 30V 2.5A @ 1x5V 2.5A or 1-15V
> > 1A), a Signature
> > analyser even, but I'd like to hear opinions. How do you
> > trick an atx board
> > into life anyhow?
> >
> > --
> >     Regards,
> >
> >
> >     Declan Moriarty
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Applied Researches - Ireland's Foremost Electronic Hardware Genius
> >
> >     A Slightly Serious(TM) Company
> >
> > Experience is like a comb,
> > that Life gives you - AFTER all your hair has fallen out!
> > --
> > Author: Declan Moriarty
> >   INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > Fat City Network Services    -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com
> > San Diego, California        -- Mailing list and web hosting services
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>
> --
> Author: Faasse, P.R.
>   INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Fat City Network Services    -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com
> San Diego, California        -- Mailing list and web hosting services
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message
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-- 
        Regards,


        Declan Moriarty




Applied Researches - Ireland's Foremost Electronic Hardware Genius

        A Slightly Serious(TM) Company

Experience is like a comb, 
that Life gives you - AFTER all your hair has fallen out!
-- 
Author: Declan Moriarty
  INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Fat City Network Services    -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com
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