Dell Proprietary PSU's

[bygeek]

I know that older Dells used proprietary power supplies with non-standard pinouts. From what I can find, it seems they went back to standard pinouts around 2000. Does anyone have any difinitive answers on this? Can I safely assume that a Dell that came equipped with XP is new enough to have a standard psu that can be tested with a standard tester and replaced with a standard unit?

 

[paparazi]

bygeek
No definitive answer from me I'm afraid, all I can say is the last 2/3 Dells that I've worked on (XP machines less than 2 years old) have had an extra wire or was it a different colour wire, sorry I can't remember exactly, in the main power plug to motherboard, think it's a white wire, when compared with a standard PSU.
I know someone here will have more info, I seem to remember some quite in depth info on this very subject 18months or so back.
Martin



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[NARSBARS]

At least until 2004 bothe the MBs and the PSUs had a reversal so that using either unit with non Dell let the smoke out.

Time for a good PSU tester.

NARSBARS

 

[dglienna]

I took a Dell PSU to the local store, to be replaced. They had the standard 20-pin units. I had the foresight to ask them to test the old one, and found that it was not bad, so I returned it to the client, and had him replace the PC. Tried to add a second HD to one of his other Dells, but found that there wasn't more than one IDE on the MB. Unreal! Then I was going to add it to an HP, but it already had 4 drives hooked up.

-David
2006 Microsoft Valueable Professional (MVP)
2006 Dell Certified System Professional (CSP)