Power Supply Failure?
 

Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP x86,
belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to day and said
"It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button, there's no
sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power supply does not spin,
but the little green light on the back of the power supply does glow green,
When unplugged, the light goes out. Other than that, nothing makes a
sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA

Power Supply Failure?
 

On 10/18/17 2:29 PM, Boris wrote:
Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP x86,
belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to day and said
"It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button, there's no
sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power supply does not spin,
but the little green light on the back of the power supply does glow green,
When unplugged, the light goes out. Other than that, nothing makes a
sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA

For Pete's sake, get her a new computer with a decent operating system.

Sellers like NewEgg or MicroCenter have loads of nice ones for just a
few hundred bucks.

If money is tight, check out the refurbs NewEgg sells. I've picked up
several over the years and they all have been good.

And if you read the ad descriptions very carefully, you can identify the
ones that are in fact new but have been sitting in a distributor's
warehouse for a year of so and the manufacturer forces him to call them
refurb.

--
Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time or money
making it.

Power Supply Failure?
 

Wade Garrett wrote in
:

On 10/18/17 2:29 PM, Boris wrote:
Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP
x86, belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to day
and said "It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button,
there's no sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power supply
does not spin, but the little green light on the back of the power
supply does glow green, When unplugged, the light goes out. Other
than that, nothing makes a sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA

For Pete's sake, get her a new computer with a decent operating
system.

Sellers like NewEgg or MicroCenter have loads of nice ones for just a
few hundred bucks.

If money is tight, check out the refurbs NewEgg sells. I've picked up
several over the years and they all have been good.

And if you read the ad descriptions very carefully, you can identify
the ones that are in fact new but have been sitting in a distributor's
warehouse for a year of so and the manufacturer forces him to call
them refurb.


Oh, please. Calm down.

You don't get it, do you?

Money's not an object. Learning a new OS is very big deal for someone
who is completely pc illiterate. All she uses it for is Solitaire and
email. And she doesn't write email, she only reads it.

She also has a laptop running that ancient OS, Windows 7. It's used for
email and solitaire.

I'm familiar withe the 'refurb' market and have owned many, but all from
Dell Outlet. Never disappointed.

Power Supply Failure?
 

On 18/10/2017 19:29, Boris wrote:
Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP x86,
belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to day and said
"It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button, there's no
sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power supply does not spin,
but the little green light on the back of the power supply does glow green,
When unplugged, the light goes out. Other than that, nothing makes a
sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA



I doubt if it's a PS failure, if there's a green light on the back. It
could be a single faulty component which is preventing a power up, or it
could be a faulty motherboard.

If you have the time, I would recommend you try removing one component
at a time from the PC and then try powering on. E.g. unplug the CD-ROM's
power and data cables, see if it powers up. If it doesn't, replace the
cables and remove the hard disk cables and see if it powers up then.
Just remove one thing at a time and if it still doesn't power up after
you tried removing each one in turn, then remove everything from the PC,
all components, PCI cards, until there's just the power connector and
the front panel switch plugged into the motherboard. If there's still
nothing then, you probably need a new motherboard. You could get one
from eBay.

Steve

Power Supply Failure?
 

Steve wrote in :

On 18/10/2017 19:29, Boris wrote:
Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP
x86, belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to day
and said "It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button,
there's no sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power supply
does not spin, but the little green light on the back of the power
supply does glow green, When unplugged, the light goes out. Other
than that, nothing makes a sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA



I doubt if it's a PS failure, if there's a green light on the back. It
could be a single faulty component which is preventing a power up, or
it could be a faulty motherboard.

If you have the time, I would recommend you try removing one component
at a time from the PC and then try powering on. E.g. unplug the
CD-ROM's power and data cables, see if it powers up. If it doesn't,
replace the cables and remove the hard disk cables and see if it
powers up then. Just remove one thing at a time and if it still
doesn't power up after you tried removing each one in turn, then
remove everything from the PC, all components, PCI cards, until
there's just the power connector and the front panel switch plugged
into the motherboard. If there's still nothing then, you probably need
a new motherboard. You could get one from eBay.

Steve


Hmmm...had no idea it could be other components if the power supply fan
wouldn't go on. However, motherboard was my second guess.

I'll try your suggestion.

Thanks much.

Power Supply Failure?
 

Boris, the power supply is a BESTEC, one of the worst ever. HP and eMachines used them, and some dolt in Dell's purchasing department made the decision to buy them for use in Inspiron 530s and other machines.

Bestec power supplies have a terrible feature. If a Bestec power supply fails, it sometimes takes the motherboard out along with itself. If you are lucky, the 530 motherboard will still be good.

First step, since you do not want to retrain your elderly mother-in-law, is to replace the power supply. The form factor is generic, so any decent power supply with a 24-pin power connector and 4 SATA connectors will do. DO NOT BUY ANOTHER BESTEC.

If the power supply replacement does not do it, contact me at . I have one or two 530 motherboards that I have pulled from 530 systems taken out of service. Will sell it to you at a modest price + exact shipping.

On Wednesday, October 18, 2017 at 2:29:37 PM UTC-4, Boris wrote:
Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP x86,
belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to day and said
"It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button, there's no
sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power supply does not spin,
but the little green light on the back of the power supply does glow green,
When unplugged, the light goes out. Other than that, nothing makes a
sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA

Power Supply Failure?
 

On Wed, 18 Oct 2017 23:08:49 -0000 (UTC), Boris wrote:

Steve wrote in :

On 18/10/2017 19:29, Boris wrote:
Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP
x86, belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to day
and said "It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button,
there's no sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power supply
does not spin, but the little green light on the back of the power
supply does glow green, When unplugged, the light goes out. Other
than that, nothing makes a sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA



I doubt if it's a PS failure, if there's a green light on the back. It
could be a single faulty component which is preventing a power up, or
it could be a faulty motherboard.

If you have the time, I would recommend you try removing one component
at a time from the PC and then try powering on. E.g. unplug the
CD-ROM's power and data cables, see if it powers up. If it doesn't,
replace the cables and remove the hard disk cables and see if it
powers up then. Just remove one thing at a time and if it still
doesn't power up after you tried removing each one in turn, then
remove everything from the PC, all components, PCI cards, until
there's just the power connector and the front panel switch plugged
into the motherboard. If there's still nothing then, you probably need
a new motherboard. You could get one from eBay.

Steve


Hmmm...had no idea it could be other components if the power supply fan
wouldn't go on. However, motherboard was my second guess.

I'll try your suggestion.

Thanks much.
Bulging Caps, probably

BTW could the Green Light be the Network port ? The standby supply runs that
so WOL can function

Power Supply Failure?
 

On 10/18/17 4:57 PM, Boris wrote:
Wade Garrett wrote in
:

On 10/18/17 2:29 PM, Boris wrote:
Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP
x86, belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to day
and said "It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button,
there's no sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power supply
does not spin, but the little green light on the back of the power
supply does glow green, When unplugged, the light goes out. Other
than that, nothing makes a sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA

For Pete's sake, get her a new computer with a decent operating
system.

Sellers like NewEgg or MicroCenter have loads of nice ones for just a
few hundred bucks.

If money is tight, check out the refurbs NewEgg sells. I've picked up
several over the years and they all have been good.

And if you read the ad descriptions very carefully, you can identify
the ones that are in fact new but have been sitting in a distributor's
warehouse for a year of so and the manufacturer forces him to call
them refurb.


Oh, please. Calm down.

You don't get it, do you?

Money's not an object. Learning a new OS is very big deal for someone
who is completely pc illiterate. All she uses it for is Solitaire and
email. And she doesn't write email, she only reads it.

She also has a laptop running that ancient OS, Windows 7. It's used for
email and solitaire.

I'm familiar withe the 'refurb' market and have owned many, but all from
Dell Outlet. Never disappointed.


You're selling the old girl short. She's far from computer illiterate if
she can find her way around Vista and 7. With a little bit of
instruction, she'd do just fine with a current OS.

Better idea: Why not ditch the computers completely and get her an iPad
instead. She'll love it.

Power Supply Failure?
 

Steve Urbach wrote in
:

On Wed, 18 Oct 2017 23:08:49 -0000 (UTC), Boris
wrote:

Steve wrote in :

On 18/10/2017 19:29, Boris wrote:
Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP
x86, belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to
day and said "It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button,
there's no sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power
supply does not spin, but the little green light on the back of the
power supply does glow green, When unplugged, the light goes out.
Other than that, nothing makes a sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA



I doubt if it's a PS failure, if there's a green light on the back.
It could be a single faulty component which is preventing a power
up, or it could be a faulty motherboard.

If you have the time, I would recommend you try removing one
component at a time from the PC and then try powering on. E.g.
unplug the CD-ROM's power and data cables, see if it powers up. If
it doesn't, replace the cables and remove the hard disk cables and
see if it powers up then. Just remove one thing at a time and if it
still doesn't power up after you tried removing each one in turn,
then remove everything from the PC, all components, PCI cards, until
there's just the power connector and the front panel switch plugged
into the motherboard. If there's still nothing then, you probably
need a new motherboard. You could get one from eBay.

Steve


Hmmm...had no idea it could be other components if the power supply
fan wouldn't go on. However, motherboard was my second guess.

I'll try your suggestion.

Thanks much.
Bulging Caps, probably

I'm going to take a close look today. I did have an E520 with bulgers.
BTW, this Inspiron 530 is from 10/30/2008 (not 2012 as I previously
stated).

BTW could the Green Light be the Network port ? The standby supply
runs that so WOL can function
It is part of the power supply case, and not on any other part of the case.
But, it does slowly dim and go out as I pull power.

Thanks.

Power Supply Failure?
 

Ben Myers wrote in
:

Boris, the power supply is a BESTEC, one of the worst ever. HP and
eMachines used them, and some dolt in Dell's purchasing department
made the decision to buy them for use in Inspiron 530s and other
machines.

Bestec power supplies have a terrible feature. If a Bestec power
supply fails, it sometimes takes the motherboard out along with
itself. If you are lucky, the 530 motherboard will still be good.

First step, since you do not want to retrain your elderly
mother-in-law, is to replace the power supply. The form factor is
generic, so any decent power supply with a 24-pin power connector and
4 SATA connectors will do. DO NOT BUY ANOTHER BESTEC.

If the power supply replacement does not do it, contact me at
. I have one or two 530 motherboards that I
have pulled from 530 systems taken out of service. Will sell it to
you at a modest price + exact shipping.

On Wednesday, October 18, 2017 at 2:29:37 PM UTC-4, Boris wrote:
Hi,

Machine is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop, circa 2012, running VistaHP
x86, belonging to my 93 year-old mother-in-law. She called me to day
and said "It's broken".

The power button does nothing. When I hold in the power button,
there's no sound whatsoever. The fan in the back of the power supply
does not spin, but the little green light on the back of the power
supply does glow green, When unplugged, the light goes out. Other
than that, nothing makes a sound, and nothing else occurs.

Here's the power supply:

https://postimg.org/image/4hdxxqbwkr/

Sound like a PS issue?

TIA

Hi, there, Ben,

Yes, I do remember Bestec/eMachines. I will stay away from that brand..
BTW, the 530 is from 10/30/2008, not 2012 as I previously thought.

I've got to get my workbench cleaned off today and I'll take the PS out
and see what's available locally.

Thanks.