Rumor has it that Jerome H. Fine may have mentioned these words:
>Seriously, is there an easy way to test a PC power supply
>without opening the case?
Sure there is - go into the BIOS of the PC (there's usually a prompt during
POST - it's usually the DEL key, but F1 and/or F2 are becoming more common)
and there's normally a menu entry called "Hardware Monitor" or somesuch. Go
there, and you can see all the voltage levels that the PSU is putting out. [1]
Oh, Waitaminit... You wanted a *usable* PSU test?!?!? Nope; gotta crack the
case. You could possibly test for ripple on the +5v line coming out of the
PS/2 keyboard or mouse ports, but to test 12V & 3.3V you'd have to crack
the case anyway.
BTW, some earlier AT & ATX power supplies were only switching on the 5v &
12v lines, so you didn't have to worry about minimum load on the 3.3v lines
- but all that I've seen over the last 3 years or so are switching there,
also; so when you're testing, don't forget to load 3.3v too.
Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
[1] Should I put an "April Fools" there, even tho I'm a day late? (Not that
that's suprising, tho...)
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers
zmerch_at_30below.com
Hi! I am a .signature virus. Copy me into your .signature to join in!
Received on Fri Apr 02 2004 - 21:30:01 BST