Hi there , I don't really know much about computers but decided to
change the noisy psu on my PC which is about three years old with a
low noise psu from maplins . The problem I have is that although the
noisy psu is an atx psu and the psu I've bought is described as an atx
psu ( sounds straightforward so far ) on inspection some of the
motherboard connector wires are different colours or, the same coloured
wires are in different pin positions on the connector . The guy I spoke
to at maplins said manufacturers sometimes use different colour coding
and it won't make any difference , I'm not sure I'm convinced , and
don't want to toast my motherboard . Any advice would be appreciated

ross ha escrito:

Hi there , I don't really know much about computers but decided to
change the noisy psu on my PC which is about three years old with a
low noise psu from maplins . The problem I have is that although the
noisy psu is an atx psu and the psu I've bought is described as an atx
psu ( sounds straightforward so far ) on inspection some of the
motherboard connector wires are different colours or, the same coloured
wires are in different pin positions on the connector . The guy I spoke
to at maplins said manufacturers sometimes use different colour coding
and it won't make any difference , I'm not sure I'm convinced , and
don't want to toast my motherboard . Any advice would be appreciated

You didn´t provide us with enough information. What motherboard do you
have? What CPU your computer uses? Is your computer a clone, or a DELL?

"ross" ) writes:
Hi there , I don't really know much about computers but decided to
change the noisy psu on my PC which is about three years old with a
low noise psu from maplins . The problem I have is that although the
noisy psu is an atx psu and the psu I've bought is described as an atx
psu ( sounds straightforward so far ) on inspection some of the
motherboard connector wires are different colours or, the same coloured
wires are in different pin positions on the connector . The guy I spoke
to at maplins said manufacturers sometimes use different colour coding
and it won't make any difference , I'm not sure I'm convinced , and
don't want to toast my motherboard . Any advice would be appreciated

If you have a connector that is fairly standard, and you change the
pinout, you risk getting in trouble when someone connects up that
power supply to their motherboard assuming that common connector is
indeed using the common pinout.

Most people won't notice the color coding, but will make sure
the connector is what they need.

Thus, changes are pretty high that the coloring of the wiring won't
mean a thing, but the power supply is using the standard connector
pinout. If they didn't want to be standard, they'd use a different
connector.

If you want to be sure, then put a load on the power supply, a hard
drive for instance because you can be even more certain that the drive
connectors are standard, and then start up the power supply. Use a voltmeter
to make sure the voltages are what they should be on the pins they should
be.

Michael

Michael Black ha escrito:


If you have a connector that is fairly standard, and you change the
pinout, you risk getting in trouble when someone connects up that
power supply to their motherboard assuming that common connector is
indeed using the common pinout.


Well, Dell computers in the Pentium 3 era used a dedicated PSU with a
conventional ATX connector but the pin assignment was different from
the standard. They made an arrangement with Intel to get motherboards
using that non standard ATX connector.

Most people won't notice the color coding, but will make sure
the connector is what they need.

Thus, changes are pretty high that the coloring of the wiring won't
mean a thing, but the power supply is using the standard connector
pinout. If they didn't want to be standard, they'd use a different
connector.


I wouldn´t be so sure. Better to be safe than sorry.

ross wrote:

Hi there , I don't really know much about computers but decided to
change the noisy psu on my PC which is about three years old with a
low noise psu from maplins . The problem I have is that although the
noisy psu is an atx psu and the psu I've bought is described as an atx
psu ( sounds straightforward so far ) on inspection some of the
motherboard connector wires are different colours or, the same coloured
wires are in different pin positions on the connector . The guy I spoke
to at maplins said manufacturers sometimes use different colour coding
and it won't make any difference , I'm not sure I'm convinced , and
don't want to toast my motherboard . Any advice would be appreciated

The guy at Maplins is right. The pin out of the connector is standard not the
wire colour.

Graham

lsmartino wrote:

Michael Black ha escrito:


If you have a connector that is fairly standard, and you change the
pinout, you risk getting in trouble when someone connects up that
power supply to their motherboard assuming that common connector is
indeed using the common pinout.

Well, Dell computers in the Pentium 3 era used a dedicated PSU with a
conventional ATX connector but the pin assignment was different from
the standard. They made an arrangement with Intel to get motherboards
using that non standard ATX connector.

Really ? Good Lord ! That's *insane*

Graham

On Mon, 29 May 2006 02:59:58 +0100, Pooh Bear
wrote:



ross wrote:

Hi there , I don't really know much about computers but decided to
change the noisy psu on my PC which is about three years old with a
low noise psu from maplins . The problem I have is that although the
noisy psu is an atx psu and the psu I've bought is described as an atx
psu ( sounds straightforward so far ) on inspection some of the
motherboard connector wires are different colours or, the same coloured
wires are in different pin positions on the connector . The guy I spoke
to at maplins said manufacturers sometimes use different colour coding
and it won't make any difference , I'm not sure I'm convinced , and
don't want to toast my motherboard . Any advice would be appreciated

The guy at Maplins is right. The pin out of the connector is standard not the
wire colour.

As you noted previously, insanity. However, insanity is not precluded.
Google for "Dell nonstandard" for a slice of the horror stories. There
is indeed a standard connecter and pinout. Some manufacturers cough
apparently use the standard connector but a non-standard pinout.
Clever, eh?

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

Rich Webb wrote:

On Mon, 29 May 2006 02:59:58 +0100, Pooh Bear
wrote:

The guy at Maplins is right. The pin out of the connector is standard not the
wire colour.

As you noted previously, insanity. However, insanity is not precluded.
Google for "Dell nonstandard" for a slice of the horror stories. There
is indeed a standard connecter and pinout. Some manufacturers cough
apparently use the standard connector but a non-standard pinout.
Clever, eh?

That's very interesting and I'm grateful for finding out.

We have a Dell in the office that blew its PSU a few yrs ago. It was just out of
the first year warranty so we paid Dell to get an onsite extended warranty so as
to get it replaced. For reasons of Dell's incompetence it took them nearly a week
to do this since they initially 'diagnosed' a motherboard fault over the phone
although it obviously wasn't so to us.

Anyway, I remember thinking it would have been quicker and cheaper to fit a
generic psu but I'm glad we didn't now. Only reason was we thought it looked
non-standard when we saw it but I forget why.

Graham

Pooh Bear wrote:

lsmartino wrote:

Michael Black ha escrito:

If you have a connector that is fairly standard, and you change the
pinout, you risk getting in trouble when someone connects up that
power supply to their motherboard assuming that common connector is
indeed using the common pinout.
Well, Dell computers in the Pentium 3 era used a dedicated PSU with a
conventional ATX connector but the pin assignment was different from
the standard. They made an arrangement with Intel to get motherboards
using that non standard ATX connector.

Really ? Good Lord ! That's *insane*

Graham


It 'is' true. It was pretty a pretty hot topic at the time on
motherboard ng's.

Why did they do it?

Should be obvious: they wanted a captive customer base for replacements.
In this case, the poor semi-informed dude who thought he only needed a
replacement supply soon found out he also needed a new motherboard...and
both had to be purchased exclusively from Dell.

jak

On Mon, 29 May 2006 00:52:03 -0500, jakdedert wrote:

Pooh Bear wrote:

lsmartino wrote:

Michael Black ha escrito:

If you have a connector that is fairly standard, and you change the
pinout, you risk getting in trouble when someone connects up that
power supply to their motherboard assuming that common connector is
indeed using the common pinout.
Well, Dell computers in the Pentium 3 era used a dedicated PSU with a
conventional ATX connector but the pin assignment was different from
the standard. They made an arrangement with Intel to get motherboards
using that non standard ATX connector.

Really ? Good Lord ! That's *insane*

Graham


It 'is' true. It was pretty a pretty hot topic at the time on
motherboard ng's.

Why did they do it?

Should be obvious: they wanted a captive customer base for replacements.
In this case, the poor semi-informed dude who thought he only needed a
replacement supply soon found out he also needed a new motherboard...and
both had to be purchased exclusively from Dell.

Actually when you get to the point where the magic Dell smoke has escaped from
the mobo *and* the PSU, their hold on you has diminished dramatically in a
desktop box.

On Mon, 29 May 2006 02:52:10 GMT, Rich Webb
put finger to keyboard and composed:

On Mon, 29 May 2006 02:59:58 +0100, Pooh Bear
wrote:

The guy at Maplins is right. The pin out of the connector is standard not the
wire colour.

As you noted previously, insanity. However, insanity is not precluded.
Google for "Dell nonstandard" for a slice of the horror stories. There
is indeed a standard connecter and pinout. Some manufacturers cough
apparently use the standard connector but a non-standard pinout.
Clever, eh?

I recently tried to use a 4-pin HD power cable that I'd salvaged from
an Apricot (?) some years ago. I noticed that the red and yellow wires
were interchanged. I've heard that Commodore used to do things like
this, too.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

"ross" wrote in
ups.com:

*trim*

The problem I have is that although the
noisy psu is an atx psu and the psu I've bought is described as an atx
psu ( sounds straightforward so far ) on inspection some of the
motherboard connector wires are different colours or, the same coloured
wires are in different pin positions on the connector.

*snip*

Do you know what version of ATX the power supplies are compliant with?
(WHAT? ATX has versions????? Stupid but true.) At about version 2.0, the
ATX motherboard connector was changed from a 20-pin to 24-pin system.
One pin was also moved.

If you have standard ATX connectors on your motherboard and power supply,
you should be able to use either without difficulty. If they're non-
standard you may run in to problems.

My advice is to save yourself the time and grief and purchase a power
supply tester. It will easily allow you to see good and bad, from both
your old and new power supplies.

Puckdropper
--
www.uncreativelabs.net

Old computers are getting to be a lost art. Here at Uncreative Labs, we
still enjoy using the old computers. Sometimes we want to see how far a
particular system can go, other times we use a stock system to remind
ourselves of what we once had.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

In addition, you may take a look at different ATX pinouts
http://pinouts.ru/pin_Power.shtml