Hello Declan,

W.r.t. 'elco': Apologies, a Dutch abbreviation that slipped through the 
Dutch -> English converter: In dutch an electrolytic capacitor is
called ELectrolytische COndensator, commonly abbreviated to ELCO.
It is such common slang that i never realized that it's not used
in the English-speaking fraction of the world ;-)

Sorry about the confusion i caused,

Peter

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Declan Moriarty [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: donderdag 19 september 2002 13:09
> To: Multiple recipients of list CHIPDIR-L
> Subject: Re: Best approach to a dead atx pc?
> 
> 
> 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

Not 100%, if you have one you can afford to lose, the results 
might not be that bad. But i do agree: a 5.0V supply that is willing 
to blast some 20 Amps into a non-too-reliable circuit like your
mainboard could well end up in another fireworks display.

> >
> > 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.....

It's usually the jumper that connects to the 'on/off' switch
on the ATX board. Short pulse on the button for on/off (= sleep),
long press to 'really' switch off (more or less suspend..)

> 
> >
> > 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
> 

Agreed, but the only way to check them more or less reliably would
be to connect them to a -known-good- system. My reservation about that
is that, when the I/O is burned badly, you just might end up with *two*
damaged computers and/or supplies... 

> >
> > 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.

elco = Electrolytic capacitor: the output/etc capacitors of the supply..

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

( Picking over the entrails of the psu, I find a capacitor case )
( (100uF  10V) )

^^^^^^^^^ those kind of buggers are called elco's in dutch

> >
> > 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

Good luck then :-)

> 
> >
> > 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
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>
> --
> Author: Faasse, P.R.
>   INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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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]

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--
Author: Faasse, P.R.
  INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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