combining parts!

[DLCook]

Hi, let me first say, this is a great site and very helpful!
I have replaced various parts and reformatted my system several times, but now I'm in over my head.
I have an older Packard Bell 486 which is very slow, also a tower with some of the components missing! I would like to combine the two. The tower motherboard has no place to plug internal cables for the hard drive or any other drive, so I removed the processor and put it into the 486 motherboard which fit, but appearently burned something up. The power supply will not even power up now. The 486 has a 101 watt supply, the tower has a 250 watt supply.
Is there danger of burning up something else if I use the 250 watt supply?
The 486 I bought new a few years back and is original except for added RAM. The tower came out of an office and had most of the components stripped from it. It was given to my brother, so I don't know anything about it, except the lack of a place on the mother board to plug in the cable for the drives.
I am trying to learn a little more about building systems and Any help would be appreciated!

DLCook

[xor_chad]

Hey. No, power is a measure of volt and current. Your power supply is CAPABLE of distributing 250 watts. As long as the voltage is correct 110/115 then the only problem would be how MUCH power you computer consumes.

250 watts is the standard for most Mid-Tower computers, meaning you could load it with drives and fans and such and have adequate power. However 300 watts is becoming more commonplace given that new processors draw around 70 watts ALONE! Thats alot.

Smaller desktop and mini-towers have smaller power supplies because they have no room for alot of drives so they would never need to draw 250 watts.

MOre than likely you connected something wrong and that caused your problem. Diving in head first is a GREAT way to learn about PC's BUT unfortunately you learn by trial-and-error this way. If you simply placed the 486 into the previous MB then that alone would cause severe damage.

I encourage tinkering around but if you dont fully understand what you are doing, ask FIRST...not AFTER you blow your power supply! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

There is no simple walk-thru for the task you are doing. Each MB has its on peculiarities. I suggest doing research first and asking questins as you go. Later...

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Chad Wilson
C++/ASM Programmer
PC Support Technician

[This message has been edited by xor_chad (edited 11-25-2000).]

[Paleo Pete]

Chad is correct about the wattage, that won't fry any components, it just lets the power supply run more of them.

I wonder if you put the CPU in oriented wrong...I was thinking the power supply cables might be plugged in wrong, but it sounds like that wasn't changed...The CPU has a corner lopped off, which must be placed in the same location on the socket as a triangle printed on the board, or a diagonal row of pins in the socket. Different ones have different means of location...Some also have one lone pin hole to show where the CPU should be oriented. I'm not sure about voltage settings, as far as I know no other CPU will fit in a 486 socket, and 486 CPU's all used the same voltages. (May be wrong there though...)

The motherboard in the tower case used a controller card to operate the hard drives, not an onboard controller. They can still be found if you look around a bit.

Try the original CPU again, chances are you might have only fried the CPU you put it, and check the orientation closely.

If you did remove the motherboard's power cables, the black wires on each cable MUST be beside each other in the center, not on the outsides.

Check my site, posted below, I think some of the "Build Your Own" links might have some good pictures you can go by if you're unsure of CPU orientation or wiring.

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Soon as I come up with all the answers...they change the questions!!

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)