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Anonymous
Unregistered
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I have a computer that seems to be okay, except a fried power switch. It happened last year when my wife turned on the computer. She yelled me to take a look as she saw smoke coming out of the front of the case. Everything seems to be working fine, system diagonsis didn't reveal any problem so I didn't think too much of it. The trouble is, I could never power up the computer again. I figured the power switch went bad. My question is, has anyone seen anything like this before? If I want to change a power switch, how do I do it? Or do I have to get a brand new case? As I said, everything else seems to work fine. I would hate to lose this one for one lousy power switch. 
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Probably blew a cap or something. Get a new power supply (they are standardized) and make sure you get one bigger than you need. Shouldn't be very expensive, either. Not worth fixing...just toss it.
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16334
Loc: Brooker, FL
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Agree with Tom - doubtful it's the power switch (unless you have an old AT board and P/S, where the power switch is at 120v. ATX boards and P/Ss are at 12v, not very stressful on the power switch. If you have a Pentium 233 or lower or AMD 500 or lower, it's an AT board.
The probability of a cap blowing is high (which is repairable, but not worth the cost), but in any event, toss the P/S and the motherboard. 
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Thanks. It's a shame though to through away an otherwise good computer.
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Don't throw the motherboard away just yet. If the problem occured in the power supply and stayed within the PS, there will be nothing wrong with the motherboard. Try it first with the new PS. Believe me, I've been doing this for literally decades now and even today I hate throwing something away (unless it caused me to loose data, then I throw it away as fast and as hard as I can!  )
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Echo
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/29/03
Posts: 3320
Loc: So Cal
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If you have a local repair shop, have them try a power supply swap for you. Our local store charges $20.00. It's a great way to find out if the mother board and hard drive are still okay. When this happened to our Sony, they had used a brand specific power supply and case and wanted $300 for the power supply alone. You can buy a whole new case with a power supply for as little as $20-30 and just swap everything over. Good luck!
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Ricky
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 09/09/03
Posts: 2169
Loc: Nor Cal
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I find it odd that smoke would be coming out from the front of the pc if the ps was blown. Most fan setups move air from the front to the back. I've had a ps explode on me and it is very loud. This is not to say that the ps isnt bad...it probably is. I would start by replacing the ps as others have suggested. While the chassis is opened you may also want to just give the mainboard a once over looking for any black soot residue. Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Ricky
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Regards Ricky
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Edited by Ricky (01/02/04 06:49 PM)
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Thanks. I will take a closer look. Thanks for all the advice.
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Here is the update. I installed a new ATX power supply and push the power on botton. And there it was, the sweeting humming sound of a machine. I'm back in business! Now I just need to put in the new 120GB hard drive I just purchased, install SuSe Linux and I will have myself a server. Did I ever mention you guys are good? Thank you very much for your help. 
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Great to hear and I hope the P/S behaves itself now!
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