Test-bench

Hi, I hope that I am not pushing my luck to far here. This is a project that I wanted to do long time ago, but I need some (a lot) of help here.
A Test bench is what I would like to set up, I have seen them and used them at Computer Swap Meets when I have purchased used Ram , or a Power Supply for a buck or two you can have them tested at the spot to see if they work. Now all the Guy seemed to have was a old but working Motherboard Power supply and a Monitor I have all these items testing would be with PC 100 or 133 SD Ram. It is a open setup not inside a case.
I know this is a risky business, but I do often buy used sticks of Ram to boost Fam.or Friends old Pc’s. What would be a suitable base to mount the mobo onto and some easy to attach way for the PSU to be able to test such.
Any idea
Hawk22

 

Head over here, look at the construction and build your own.

 

I have a peg board setup at the back of my bench which holds different motherboards with power supplies. To hold the motherboards in place I use machine screws as studs with small pieces of plastic tubing to hold the board away from the peg board. L-brackets hold the PSU in place. I attached some 3.5" Drive to 5.25" Mounting Kits to hold hard drives/floppy drives. I used some small L-brackets to hold optical drives. I have seen some setups that use a removable motherboard tray.

 

Thank you very much for the tips, I think I know what I do know and have made the first moves.
thanks again
hawk22

 

With the mobo sitting on pegs on the board CPU and heatsink installed if I connect the ATX 20 pin connector to the mobo with cpu fan connected to the mobo if I turn on the power on the PSU should the CPU Fan start spinning??
What could be wrong if it does not (dead mobo)??
hawk22

 

Double check that there could not be any shorts/grounding.

Run through the instructions in the motherboard manual in case you may have missed something.

One of the only things you can do is clear the CMOS, there should be a 3 pin jumper near the CMOS battery (disconnect all power, check the instructions in the motherboard manual). From your other threads, you have changed the CPU, so you may need to reset the CMOS/BIOS so that the new CPU will be recognized.

Another thread mentions that you had bent pins on the processor. This may be a possible cause. Don't hesitate to remove the processor and do more work straightening the pins.

Matt

 

Hi Matt and thanks. It appears that the Power Supply that I was using on the Test Bench was dead, When I plugged the PSU into the PowerPoint its internal fan would not spin and I had a sparkey test it and there was no power at any of the cable connections; all dead. Now you mentioned a few very interesting points that I would like to follow up some more. I have a old power supply that is working it came out of a old PC, 250W which I thought might be enough just for a test bench, but the problem is it has no P4 20 or 24 pin connector only the old small one which is ok for some very old mobos but no good for others is there a adapter or something available to switch over do you know.
Also the mobo I want to test, if I connect the PSU (a good 20 pin one) to the mobo CPU with HSF fixed and cpu fan plugged in and turn on the power should the fan on the cooler spin. But more importantly can this damage the mobo or CPU.
In regards to CMOS I was not aware that you actually had to clear it to be able to operate with a different cpu and if in the end all works out this will be the case. I could not see a jumper near the Battery it states in the manual that it is a plug and play.
Yes I did straighten the pins with the mechanical pencil and they did look pretty good and the cpu went into the socket very easy and no force needed to pull the leaver down.
I hope that I can bit by bit pull this thing together.
The Mobo is MSI MS "“ 6340 VER 5, AMD Athlon XP Palamino 1900+, Dr. Thermal CPU Cooler.
Only once I know that all is working ok will I pull my working Machine apart to upgrade from the Duron 800 to this.
Every bit of help is appreciated
Hawk22

 

Yes, there are 20/24 pin adapters and molex/4 pin 12V adapters available.

Yes.

Then yank the power cord. remove the battery and let the machine sit for a few hours before putting the battery back in and reconnecting the power cord to an outlet.

Personally, I wouldn't mess around with an old 250W power supply just because thats what you have available. Get something decent or be prepared for the potential consequences, including trashing the motherboard or processor. It might work, but then again, it might not - if you can afford to lose the MoBo or CPU through "experimentation ", then by all means - have at it if you want to.

 

"Very old" power supply, I think you might be talking about an AT power supply as opposed to an ATX power supply. When you say "single" do you mean a single row of power cables/connectors? There are usually two motherboard power connects for AT.
http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.asp?p=30273&seqNum=4&rl=1

I don't know of any way to use an AT power supply on an ATX motherboard. Rockster a mentioned a 20/24 pin adapter, but I doubt you will find an AT/ATX adapter.

I am rebuilding an older machine at the moment. I just bought a "generic" PS for it. It would not be worth spending a lot of money on a good "brand" PSU unless you might expect to transfer it to a new build in the (near) future. A modern generic PSU should run that system easily (they may be rated at 500W, but I would not try to run my new system on one ). Some other power info:
http://www.journeysystems.com/power_supply_calculator.php
Try using the calculator, it is very handy if you are upgrading.

Matt

 

Thanks Matt and Rockster, that Power Supply is out, you convinced me easily with that one thanks. And yes the old 250W is a AT.
Coming back to a question that I had asked earlier in regards to the cpu fan.
I have the mobo sitting on the test board (wood) on plastic stilts cpu and cooler +fan is connected, I will get a new PSU and attach that also to the board if the mobo is ok should the cpu fan be spinning when I turn the power on.
Is there anything that I should be looking out for in particular while doing this.
I will then proceed with adding a HD, floppy and Monitor.
regards
the links are great heaps to learn there thanks
hawk22

 

Yes, the CPU fan should start up [there may be control systems in the BIOS for the fan (speed), but I doubt it on that system].
Edit: There will be a fan connector for the "system" on the motherboard somewhere, connect to that if the cable will stretch that far.

You can get an adapter to run the fan directly from a 4 pin power supply connector. A local computer suppliers or electronics store (Dick Smith here in Aus) should have one (a 3 pin to 4 pin adapter).

The old original (dud) PSU may have burnt out the power to the fans through the motherboard. There may be other damage (hope not).

I suppose these are the trials that are sometimes encounted. The experience you gain will make up for any material losses

Matt

 

Thanks Matt, I think (hope) the Power Supply was dead before I connected it to that board.
I am sure I will be back here as I progress further.
Thanks again
hawk22

 

Hi, now that I have the mobo,floppy HDD and PSU on the board, how do I replicate the function of the power botton that is on a case.
Just plugging the PSU to the mobo and turning it on is not starting the power on function. Whiskeyman probably uses a screwdriver or the like for a short circuit but I don't know how to, any good or not so good ideas welcome.
hawk22

 

My email reply should give you different options. As I stated in it, I am a scavenger and save the switch/LED setups from old junk cases. I have used the screwdriver on many occasions.

 

Best guidance is to bridge the power header pins on the motherboard with the blade of a small s_crewdriver or, as has been referenced, put a momentary contact switch on the same pins and use that. This is probably redundant information but have no idea what was covered in an email, perhaps its best for Whiskeyman to finish this up for you.

 

Don't forget that you must also momentarily short the power switch pins on the mobo to turn it on before the fans will start to spin. Small s-driver works fine.

Oops. See rockster beat me to it!

 

Thank you Sparrow and Rockster 2U. Whiskeyman has given me some ideas, but I am not to sure yet how to go about it that is the screwdriver method as there are 2 Power pins on 2 rows.
JFP1 & JFP2.
cheers
hawk22

 

Jump either JFP1 or JFP2. Some boards provide two different locations to plug in the power leads.

 

Hi, I am back unfortunately things are not working as I had hoped.
I have build a little start button with a momentary switch as whiskeyman suggested and that is working fine thanks. The system that I am putting together though is not responding. Recapping what I have done straightened 3 slightly bent pins on the AMD 1900+ Palamino CPU bought new Thermaltake 430 W PSU taken Battery out of Motherboard for 5 min. to clear CMOS as this CPU has never been on this Mobo. There is also a Jumper on the board to clear the CMOS, but I could not work out what the meaning is it refers to in the Manual I hope I didn’t stuff this up: A battery must be used to retain the mainboard configuration in CMOS RAM. Short 1-2 pins of JBAT1 to store the CMOS data. Then it says : You can clear the CMOS by shorting 2-3 pin while the system is off, then return to 1-2 position.
What has been happening is when I connect everything up on the test bench press my little start button No.1 there is no beep from the mobo no lights come on on the floppy the Mouse and the Keyboard light up and the CPU fan is spinning, but that is all and this is how it was before I removed the battery for the 5 min.
I do wonder whether it could be that the BIOS ver.1 on this board is not recognizing this CPU AMD 1900+ it refers to up to 1.4 Ghz but ver.3 will recognize up to 2.6Ghz. but wouldn’t I see something on the screen the screen is blank nothing there at all as is the floppy but mouse and keyboard light up.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me (I won’t cry if I stuffed the board up)
thanks
hawk22

 

Sounds like the processor is not functioning or a bad flash of the Bios.