Resurrecting Old Pc! Doesn't Power On. Trying To Get It To Boot Up. Power Supply Problem?? Help!

Hey guys, I think I've got a pretty old custom-built PC that I dug up out of a room while I was cleaning. I'm looking to give it a second life! Planning to have it around for guests to use in the guest room to play some classic games and etc. Had it since around 2005 I believe, probably running on windows xp. I don't remember what went wrong with it.

So, here's the problem! PC doesn't turn on after pressing the power button.. No fans running and no VGA video display. I double checked and the power supply is on "I" and one of the large ribbons is plugged to the motherboard. Here are some pictures.

The monitor, PC case





The brand name for the power supply is Allied.





This is how the PC looks on the inside.















Man I really want this PC back working! There's some old photos, documents, and other files in the hard drive I really want to check and recover. Also I can't find a new, same brand power supply. Looks like it was in production more than a decade ago or something, so yeah lol, eh not surprised they probably stopped making power supplies for desktop PCs by now. So do I have to use the exact same amount of watts by the way? Could I use another brand? If so, what other brand could and should I use to test things out?

Any help would be super awesome. Any questions or if you see any problems, please let me know.

Thanks a lot guys in advance.

-William

 

You can use any brand as that is a standard ATX power supply. I would stick with the same wattage. You could buy a more powerful PSU but that would just be a waste of money.

 

Hey thanks for your input, Just Playin. So I'm gonna try a new ATX 60w power supply. Hopefully it's just a power problem and not the motherboard or something. We'll see.

 

The PSU in the images is rated at 350W Max.

 

That looks like a fun project. What type of RAM does it take? I didn't see any in it. What OS did it have? I'm guessing with a 60 watt PSU maybe Windows 95?

 

Good call!

 

So are you going to answer my questions? I'm like a 4 year old when it comes to computers. I'll ask questions until you kick me out. lol

 

Oops! Why did I type that. I meant 350W. My brain wasn't working yesterday lol. Thanks for letting me know it's 350W max on PSU. Anyway yeah I'll be getting a 350W probably around later this week.

Hi Geek_Justin, sorry I was catching some zzz's Anyhow, PC's taking 256M of RAM. No brand it seems. Not sure about OS, but probably Windows XP!

Some more pics.

The slot area for rams.



Here's the front and back of the RAM.

 

It all looks pretty clean. Hope everything but the PSU works. Parts might be hard to find. Is this before stata drives?

 

Yes.
Also before SATA drives...

 

I'm a terrible typer. lol

 

Eye due spal thingz rite doe.

 

After all that time cmos battery is probably dead- I cannot see it ther, but thees sort usually had a coin type 3v c2032, I think (cheap to get) Check when removing.
Please remember NOT to handle ram by the metal teeth- static could ruin it,and try to handle by each end to lift in and out.
ddr 2100-266 256mb ram stick - so it will take 2 more (3 slots)
With 256 mb rm I would not think it would take more than Xp at present

 

You need to use Redneck Google.

 

Definitely Replace that!

Here is a link to some. It looks like the first ones will do. Also another link.

As for the power supply here's another link.

HumbleServant1611

 

Awesome links, Humble, thanks a lot dude! Definitely will replace the battery, baklogic. And indeed hopefully it's just the PSU that is the problem, Justin.

 

Aw man.. hey guys here's some more pics but there's still an issue with power I think. The fans won't turn on and nothing powers up.

So I finally got a new power supply.



Here's one of power cables from the psu going to the DVD drive.



One of them going to the internal storage hard drive.



There appears to be a green light on the bottom of the whole motherboard.



So maybe it's not the power supply..? But I got green on the motherboard. I also replaced the CMOS battery. Am I doing anything incorrect in the pics? Please let me know. What I should check and test out next? Thanks

 

Motherboard connection- is there a separate lead, and a larger one to connect,or,is this main lead in one? - some have an extra bit to fit newer motherboards.
CPU -Are leads connected to cpu fan ?- if not it might not power on - is the old connection here 2/3 or 4 connections- check with old psu leads. Some later ones have more connections for sensors.

 

Are you still using the original cord? Might need a different one.

 

Definitely use the new cord supplied. I looked at the sys board pic, and it's pretty simple. ATX connection, and not much else. Are there any beeps? It could also be the power button itself.

You may end up connecting your drive externally to a working machine. Do you have another working machine with IDE ports, or a USB IDE adapter?