Re: Re: How many PCs are sold in the UK (and by whom)

[Kim Wall <kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

michael.furlong wrote:

> An example of this was a few years ago when they produced PCs with a
> non-standard power supply (I don’t recall if it was the connector or
what
> but it sure wasn’t standard). Imagine the problems this caused.

Standard ATX power supply with standard ATX connector, but the pins in a
completely non-standard order and a weird and wacky colour code.  I
believe all the 3.3V lines was on the 'optional' intel plug thingy, too.

I discovered this when searching a web for the ATX connector spec in
order to convert an old Dell PSU into a basic bench power supply... It
also explained a couple of 'dead' Dell motherboards I've come across - I
mean, how often do you pay attention to the colours on an ATX power
connector?



> I was working on a recent Dell system this week, upgrading a cd-rom to
a
> DVD-Rom/CDRW, in the end I left the old drive in it as it looked like
it was
> going to take me 30 mins just to get it out!

In my experience, Dell cases are designed to be really quick and easy to
take apart, so long as you know about the secret plastic tab and do
the appropriate freemason's handshake...



Kim.