OT: hardware question

[Vaughn Treude]

Vaughn Treude wrote:
> Hello, everyone. Here's an OT question that is at least 
> computer-related.  :-)
>
> I'm trying to resurrect an old 300 MHz PC I was using to run an ISA 
> scope card, and to run an old test suite that only works on - get ready 
> for this - Windows 95.  (It worked fine for that.) I was having trouble 
> with the CD-ROM drive. I replaced it with four others from my "old 
> hardware" supplies in my closet, and none appeared to work. The drives 
> would power up and the BIOS would recognize them but none wanted to 
> eject the tray. (Actually, one one of them, the tray would work a couple 
> times and then be stuck closed until I cycled power.) Could all these 
> drives be bad, or could it be that the old generic 300W power supply was 
> flakey?
>
> I happened to have a relatively new Antec supply; I'd swapped it out on 
> a newer machine on which I'd suspected supply problems. Well, the 
> problem wasn't the supply, but I was too lazy to return the new supply 
> to Fry's, so I kept this one as a spare. So I thought, good opportunity 
> to test my theory.
>
> Turns out that is is an old PC Chips M565 motherboard, sort of an AT/ATX 
> hybrid. It has both types of power connectors, so was able to hook up 
> the Antec. Then I discovered that the little switch connector on the 
> corner has NO remote power switch pins. It has suspend, reset, turbo 
> LED, etc. But no pins marked power or PS or RPS. I even downloaded the 
> manual, which was no help.
>
>   
Never mind, I re-read the manual. Supposedly the suspend switch input 
can work as a power switch, if you hold it down for several seconds. 
That didn't work, of course. I like to think I'm being frugal by 
reclaiming old PC's, as I did with this one a few years back. But - 
there's a reason computer hardware is cheap. :-)
Vaughn

> So this is weird. They _have_ an ATX power connector, but no switch 
> pins. The Antec has a rocker switch on the back, but switching that does 
> nothing, as I expected. Do I now have to swap the old supply back in and 
> hope the problem was something else? (Like four bad drives? Perhaps the 
> IDE2 port is malfunctioning and somehow confusing the drive? Maybe, 
> though I was actually able to access the CD during the brief time the 
> tray worked on one of them.)
>
> Or is there some sneaky way to make the Antec power up?
> Thanks for any help I can get from the hardware hackers among us.
>
> Vaughn
>
>
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