how to test a power supply?

My son's W98 Pavilion computer just went totally dead, it won't turn on,
nothing happens. My first guess is the power supply, because the power
supply fan had been extremely noisy recently and cleaning it didn't help.
I've got a multimeter around here somewhere and suppose I can figure out how
to use it. Can one of you experts give me any tips on exactly what I should
be testing? My first notion would be to see if there's any voltage on one of
the power plugs coming out of the power supply, such as plugs into the hard
drive. If not then I guess the power supply is dead, right? Should I be
testing the voltage somewhere else too? And is there anything else (besides
the power supply) that could cause it to go totally dead? Thanx.

Herbie wrote:
My son's W98 Pavilion computer just went totally dead, it won't turn on,
nothing happens. My first guess is the power supply, because the power
supply fan had been extremely noisy recently and cleaning it didn't help.
I've got a multimeter around here somewhere and suppose I can figure out how
to use it. Can one of you experts give me any tips on exactly what I should
be testing? My first notion would be to see if there's any voltage on one of
the power plugs coming out of the power supply, such as plugs into the hard
drive. If not then I guess the power supply is dead, right? Should I be
testing the voltage somewhere else too? And is there anything else (besides
the power supply) that could cause it to go totally dead? Thanx.

This is a simple way of testing them, so long as the wire colours are
the same.

http://modtown.co.uk/mt/article2.php?id=psumod

Regards, Andy

"Andy Cooper" wrote in message
ups.com...
:
: Herbie wrote:
: My son's W98 Pavilion computer just went totally dead, it won't turn on,
: nothing happens. My first guess is the power supply, because the power
: supply fan had been extremely noisy recently and cleaning it didn't
help.
: I've got a multimeter around here somewhere and suppose I can figure out
how
: to use it. Can one of you experts give me any tips on exactly what I
should
: be testing? My first notion would be to see if there's any voltage on
one of
: the power plugs coming out of the power supply, such as plugs into the
hard
: drive. If not then I guess the power supply is dead, right? Should I be
: testing the voltage somewhere else too? And is there anything else
(besides
: the power supply) that could cause it to go totally dead? Thanx.
:
: This is a simple way of testing them, so long as the wire colours are
: the same.
:
: http://modtown.co.uk/mt/article2.php?id=psumod
:
: Regards, Andy
:

Thanks Andy. That's simple enough. I just note that it's for an ATX power
supply, while my son's W98 Pavilion has a MicroATX power supply. Would that
be the same?
i.e. jumper the green wire to any black wire in the 20-wire motherboard ATX
connector