Computer Power Supply & Motherboard Replacing

If your computer is acting up, chances are it may need a new power supply or motherboard.

In this article you'll learn how to replace these parts.

Most computer cases come with a power supply; however, in some cases it is not included, it may be necessary to purchase one separately.

The power supply is a metal box and it supplies low voltage power to the various circuits inside the computer. It also has a fan inside to keep it cool.

The power supply has 4 to 7 connectors that will plug into the mother board and disk drives.

Orient the power supply with its fan so that the fan faces the back of the system case, and place into position.

Fasten it to the case with screws using a non-magnetic screwdriver only!





You are now ready to install the motherboard, also known as a main or system board.

There are 2 types, depending on what system you want to build.

The AT socket 7 and the ATX module slot 1 each using their own power supply and case.

If you are upgrading your present system you'll want to make a diagram of all connections before you remove them.

Carefully remove each expansion card from it's slot, it will be secured by a single screw.

It's ok to seesaw the card end-to-end slightly to loosen it, but don't bend the card sideways.

Set the cards on the power supply with paper separating them.

Leave all cables connected.

After making your diagram remove all cables to the motherboard.

Locate and remove all mounting screws.

Now you are ready to install the new motherboard.

Using the hardware that came with your computer case you will mount the motherboard.

Orient the board so that the power supply sockets are facing the back right corner.

Mount brass and plastic standoffs in the case to match the holes in the board.

Secure the motherboard with screws using non-magnetic screwdrivers only!

For an AT style board connect the two power supply cables to the motherboard.

The black wires go in the center next to each other.

Tilt the connectors away from the power supply and align the hooks on the connectors with the space on the sockets between the metal prongs and the back of the sockets.

Tilt connectors toward the power supply until they are vertical and slide them down over the prongs.

For an ATX style you will only have 1 connector.

Your new motherboard comes with disk drive cables; these are the flat Grey cables with a dotted colored edge, usually red. There are cables for a hard disk drive and a floppy disk drive.

The hard disk drive cable is wider than the floppy disk drive cable.

If you are replacing your current motherboard use your original cables.

If you look closely at your motherboard you will notice that all connectors are marked in white lettering.

Insert the wider hard drive cable in to the PRIMARY IDE socket, the colored edge will go near pin # 1.

Insert the floppy drive cable into the floppy disk drive socket, the colored edge will also go near pin # 1.

There are several wires coming from the computer case, these wires lead to the indicator lights and the speaker.

If you are using an ATX case power supply and motherboard you will have an additional wire that's marked P S for power switch. This wire will plug directly in to the ATX motherboard.

If you're working with an AT style, plug the lead for the power supply directly into the power switch in the computer case.

The remaining wires are marked on their connectors as follows:

TURBO LED

TURBO SWITCH

SPEAKER

RESET

KEYLOCK

And IDE or HD for HARD DRIVE

These wires connect to their associated sockets on your motherboard.

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About The Author;

Manuel Rose is a long time Computer enthusiast, entrepreneur, and video producer.

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Motherboard - CPU Damage From Power Supply

The number one cause for damaged motherboards and/or CPUs is a faulty power supply. Several years ago my home PC's power supply literally caught on fire. When the power supply went it took my motherboard and both hard drives with it. Needless to say I lost a lot of data I did not have backed up.

When customers bring in their PC's to get repaired with the "I push the power button and nothing happens" symptom, it is all too evident what happened. Whether it was some kind of power surge or an internal fault with that power supply, it doesn't matter, that PSU is toast. Now you need to figure out if the damage is limited to the power supply or if it took out other key components as well.

First thing, change the power supply. The PC will get power and the fans will spin, but will the motherboard POST? If it doesn't you have to eliminate other components first. If you have two sticks of memory remove one stick at a time and attempt to start again. If it fails reinstall the one you removed and then remove the next one. If start up still fails remove both sticks of memory and install another stick that wasn't in the PC originally. If that fails, then you can eliminate memory from being the problem.

Next thing to do is to reset the CMOS to default settings. This can be accomplished by a reset jumper on the motherboard. The jumper should be located very close to the CMOS battery. The battery is the size of a quarter. Close by you should see three pins with a jumper on two of those pins. To reset the CMOS, move the jumper over one slot. If you have difficulty with this, an alternate method is to just remove the battery itself for a minimum of one half hour. Please consult the motherboard's manual for exact instructions. If you don't have the manual, it can be found online with a little bit of research.

If the CMOS reset worked, GREAT! All you have to do is reset your clocks and you should be in business. If it did not work you can try disconnecting your hard drive and see if the motherboard will post. From experience, this is a long shot, but you must try it first. If you are still not having any luck, then either the Motherboard or the CPU or both are damaged.

Now there is no sure fire way of determining which of the two is bad without replacing one of them. The dangers of this is that if you guess CPU and it was the motherboard, when you replace the CPU with a new one you WILL most likely damage the new CPU. Therefore it is wise to replace them both. If you don't, you could end up spending a lot more money than you originally planned.

Of course, now that you've changed the motherboard and CPU all the hardware is working, and you think that you are out of the woods. BUT, that is not the case. When you try to start Windows, 9 out of 10 times, the operating system will not load because of the new motherboard. If you replaced the motherboard with the exact same model, you probably won't have this problem. If you replaced the motherboard with a different model then you have two options:

1. Try doing a repair installation of Windows. You will need the Windows disk to accomplish this.

2. If the above fails, then you will have to reformat your hard drive which means wipe everything off the drive and do a clean installation of Windows.

If you have valuable data on your drive that is NOT backed up, you are going to have to start looking at ways to retrieve that data BEFORE you reformat.

Good Luck!

More information can be found at PC Tech Solutions - Computer Repair, Sales and Networking

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