Ok, this is odd.. I bought this system from a buddy of mine, it died.. I narrowed it down to the psu. Upon switching towers and psu's, I noticed I could not remove the 20 pin plug from the motherboard. It seems as if some adhesive has been laid down, for what reason I don't know. I tried using a razor blade, a screwdriver, NOTHING has detached it.. what options do I have?

Are you saying that you actually see the glue? Or are you guessing that is was glued down because it's so hard to remove?

i assume you know it has a catch on the side you need to release.
But also, it is possible that one or more connections within the plug got hot and melted the plastic together

To expand on cliffpage's comment. You must squeeze in the release while pulling up and sometimes wiggling at the same time.

yes.. I'm very well aware of the "release" So much so that I have cut it off. It seriously looks like the pieces are glued together. It seems that there is an adhesive between the plugs. It very well could be melted white plastic, for the mobo side of the plug has brown streaks inside of it. But how the hell do I remove it whether it's glue or melted plastic?

It sounds like the PSU died and possibly took other hardware with it.

If the system is dead how did you narrow the problem down to the PSU?

Try forcing a small screwdriver or knife blade between the connector parts.

just the way it died seemed indicative of the power supply, it would start up then lose connection to the monitor while the cpu fan kept spinning. I'd unplug internals and then it'd run longer, then lose signal to the monitor. All the while, the fan making a loud noise. First the video card fan wouldn't spin, then peripherals were giving out. All seemed indicative of a psu failure. I have tried the knife and screwdriver approach... any liquids safe to use?

Well, after pulling and struggling, I see a bit of the culprit. The red power cords all have burn marks, and the mobo connecters are brown. Is it safe to plug in a new power supply and test it? Should I clean them, and then try? Before this happened the mobo's light would turn on and the fan would be spinning, thanks

Connecting anotherPSU to that MBoard is a crapshoot.

What MBoard and processor do you have? The Moard model and version should be printed somewhare on the MBoard.

Gigabyte 7vrxp and Athlon 1800+ XP

Basically do I run the risk of damaging my new power supply if I clean the ATX mobo connectors and plug it in?

Yes, the normal way the damage occurs is from the wall plug inward. So the first thing is the PSU then the MB, then the cards, RAM, drives. In your case it could have stopped at the PSU but the burned and melted plastic is an indication the MBoard is also involved.

Might be time for a new system.

well, the motherboard piece in and of itself isn't burnt, it's solely the plug from the PSU. And in that, pieces of it are stuck in the ATX connector.. how to get them out?

The back of the mobo does not have any burn marks, and the capacitors look fine

Hey, its your cash. Socket 462 MBoards are out of production, for the most part. But used or refurbished boards would run about $20/30 plus shipping.

What do you use the computer for? You may be able to build something for a couple of hundred if reusing case and drives. You already need a new PSU. Depending on what you go into you would at least need a MBoard/ CPU. Probably RAM and video card, unless onboard is OK for you. If interested post back and I will give you some suggestions.

well i already bought a new psu, and a new case.. and i've AGAIN realized something for the first time... the psu lacks the white cable that is bundled with the 20 cable ATX connection. Upon reading, that cable is the -5v connector, and I guess newer ATX boards don't require it. Well my old PSU had it.. and once i plugged everything in.. it didn't start up. This is a lovely day indeed :(.

I have a video card, hard drive, ddr 333mhz pc2700 ram, surely outdated. A case, and a psu... damn

so here's what I own:
ATX Case
400watt PSU
6600GT Video Card
Hard Drive.
DVD drive
DVD/RW
Guess I need a new mobo and processor :/

You need a new PSU too. If you want to buy something that isn't already obsolete you will need to lose the AGP graphics card and probably the memory too.

What kind and how much RAM do you currently have?

yeah.. got a new psu.. never used it.. my ram is ddr 333mhz pc2700.. and yes obsolete, only 256mb

You need TWO IDE controllers in order to use your three drives. Most new chipsets have only ONE IDE controller and 4 to 6 SATA ports. Look at the features, decide what you need and then go to Newegg.com and use thier advanced motherboard feature to find available boards. Below is a link to nvidia AMD chipset comparison chart. Below that is a link to the page that has a link to the equivilent Intel chipset chart. What you want is a chipset that supports 4 PATA drives. Everything else is up to you.

http://www.nvidia.com/docs/IO/35382...

http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce5_...

bah.. wouldn't know where to start.. thanks anyway, guess this project is a wash.. Not very familiar with this sort of thing, thought i could transfer things over from one case to another, but obviously not. Nor do I have the resources to fund for a new board and everything. *sigh*

I only suggested that you look because I don't know what your needs are.

What do you mean "thought i could transfer things over from one case to another, but obviously not". You should be able to reuse your old case and all drives. The processor is obsolete and the RAM is just about obsolete and you don't have enough of it anyway. Don't know how you managed to run WinXP with only 256MB of memory.

If you want suggestions on the parts we here could do that. You need to describe what you use the computer for. This is to determine how fast a system you need. If you want to fix the old system on the cheap I can point you to a replacement MBoard or two.

Forgot to ask you what country are you located in?

I'm in the U.S.

I use it for a variety of reasons, mild gaming, internet, some photoshop. Nothing terribly intensive. Hell, this system ran Doom 3 on medium resolution with no hiccups. The video card is pretty solid, even though it's AGP. How with such low ram? I don't know :)

I guess I just seek something upgradeable really. So, what I have doesn't have to be terribly fancy, as long as when I'm ready to upgrade I can add a piece instead of ousting the mobo. I know with time everything becomes obsolete, just saying.

I bought a new case and psu to fix the problem. I had not known the ATX connectors were burnt until I pulled the motherboard out. If they hadn't been, this exchange (removing from one case and putting it into another) should/would have been flawless. Now it's all astray. At least I have a new Case and a new unused PSU to work with.

Is the new PSU a 20 or 24 pin power connector. 400W is kind of small by todays standards. What brand and model is the PSU?

"as long as when I'm ready to upgrade I can add a piece instead of ousting the mobo". That ain't gonna happen. The best you can hope for is a window of maybe 2 years if you get the latest technology.

There are a couple of new Socket A (462) MBoards available. Problem is they will run even slower than what your old board ran.

You could pickup a board on Ebay or an on of the trader sites.

I just gave away an AthlonXP 1800 & MBoard. That is what they are worth now.

Will the case you bought accept ATX as well as mATX MBoards? ATX is the full size MBoard with usually 5 PCI slots. mATX usually has 2 or 3 PCI slots. Everything else is the same as far as features go.

Going back to the PSU, newer systems may require a 24 pin power connector. Thay DO require a square 4 pin aux. power connector to plug into the MBoard near the CPU.

yeah.. it's 24 pin.. the case and psu i got off newegg by a company called Rosewill. Not a big name, but they both had great reviews by a large amount of people, thus I got it.. I'll post the link on my next post

I am familiar with Rosewill.

How much cash are you willing to spend on parts?

eh.. I dunno.. it'd be nice if I had killer credit and I could finance something.. Oh well, I prefer AMD based for they're cheaper

Here is a suggestion for pretty cheap parts.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

Total $196

I wrote down all those parts, and those, it seems will be part of a future upgrade. Well I went to ebay and bought some outdated stuff =/.

for 25 dollars I got a Gigabyte GA-7VAX board with a Athlon XP-2000+ chip in it, heatsink fan, and a 350w psu.. all guaranteed to work. The board can handle a Barton 3200 and then overclocking comes to play. I feel this is what I can afford atm. Furthermore, the same guy was selling reputable RAM for cheap, thus got a 512mb of DDR 333mhz pc2700 for 14.00. Thus 39.00 is what i spent. Your links above will not go to waste. I just started a business and paid for school (4,000.00 GONE) and I needed something cheap, yet functional. Thanks again, lemme know what you think about my cheap buy :p

Glad to hear to got parts to get running again. As I mentioned in an earier response, these older parts don't have much value. As far as a future upgrade goes don't bother saving those links. The MB and processor I linked ard both at the end of lifecycle.

hehe i don't particularly mind where the computing community considers what's still being produced or not. I mean a Athlon 3200+ 1gb of ram and my video card can play nearly any game on the market. I'm not terribly concerned :)

The question isn't what works but rather what is available. If you look on eBay for an EXACT match to your MBoard you might need to pay a premium for it. The seller knows they have you over a barrel.

i feel confident that for 39.00 a mobo, chip, heatsink, fan, 512mb of ram and a 350w psu isn't bending me over anything :)

"i feel confident that for 39.00 a mobo, chip, heatsink, fan, 512mb of ram and a 350w psu isn't bending me over anything :)"

I could toss that in a used case with a CD burner and get a couple hundred bucks for it locally.You did just fine.