So, I've been drafted again as the tech for diagnosing all my parents' computer woes. The sad story I got was their Dell box is now completely dead. There's not even a LED glowing or gentle whirring sounds when they hit the power button. Nothing. Since this box is about two years out of warranty, calling Dell will be quite a bit out of pocket. I've done all the obvious stuff over the phone (power cords, surge protector fuse, circuit breaker, etc) and still nada. The only guess I've got is that the power supply is burned out or the switch has been damaged.

So, I guess I need parts. I don't know what I'm going up against, but I'm about to find out next weekend. I'd rather have a few parts on hand than nothing at all.

I'm looking for a Dell Optiplex case (I guess...) from about 3 years ago. Really, all I'll probably need is the switch and power supply, but heck, might as well get it all. I'm looking to get this on the cheap, so I'm hoping one of you out there has acquired a few dead systems the university may have thrown out or something. I don't need a fully functional system.

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Why would you want a new case?

dell likes to keep their shit proprietary, especially on the optiplexes. if you were somehow by some freak accident get another motherboard in there without breaking stuff, the power supply would fry it the moment you hit the button (due to some wires being *accidentally* wired back-assward on the ATX connector) because surprise surprise, it's a proprietary PS. same with the motherboard. if you were to shoehorn another power supply in there, it'd fry the dell mobo, because surprises abound when the ATX wires are flipped *accidentally* by the dell engineers.

To check if it is simply the switch use a screwdriver to short the two pins where the switch is connected. I don't know if wssy87's claims are true, but it is Dell, so it wouldn't suprise me. You could replace the mobo and PS for around $80. I'd just salvage the processor, RAM and HD.

I've got an update to my little situation.

First off, the unit was a Dimension 4400, not an Optiplex like I had previously thought. This is actually a welcome change, since I've verified the D4400 does not use a proprietary power supply. Unfortunately, I found the issue wasn't the power supply. The PS checked out okay on another ATX machine I had kicking around the house. When it was in the Dell, I shorted the green wire on the ATX connector to force the system to power on, but even after that there was no response from the machine.

So, the best I can figure out is the motherboard decided to head south. After whittling away at Google for a while, I found other people with computers showing the same symptoms. It seemed that every page on Dell's Dimension/General Hardware forum had at least one topic regarding the same issue.

The ideal solution is to scrap the Dell board and transplant everything into a decent case with a new off-the-shelf motherboard. The alternative is to find a drop-in numbers-matching replacement. Both paths are going to involve the purchase of a motherboard and time to ship. The drop-in route would save me the hassle of XP whining over a new motherboard, I'd keep the stock "quiet" case, and everything in theory would "just work." Getting all new parts means it won't possibly have the same problem down the road, but I'm having trouble pricing it to be reliable, quiet, and cheap.

So, I'm stuck at a fork in the road. What do you all think?

Oh, I guess if you've got a motherboard for a similar Dimension you'd be willing to sell, that'd be nice too.

Well, you could always just get yourself a slab of silicon and a trace pen, and just start drawing.

Just kidding....

Find a used computer store and see if there's something there you can slap in the board.