Computer does nothing

[jaydubb121]

I have an Acer 2100 series computer that I bought for my family three years ago. When ever I press the power button, absolutely nothing happens. In the past few weeks the mouse has been hanging up and the game controller has not worked correctly. Since I know nothing except what I read here about computers I am at a loss for what to do. By reading other posts I expect the power supply is shot. I opened the case and got the numbers off of it and it says it is a 75 watt power supply. One computer repair shop says he doesnt have anything that small and anything bigger would fry everything else. Another shop says it doesnt matter and I could put like a 250w in with no problems. Who is right? I am reasonably intelligent and feel like I could put a new supply in if I only knew which one to put in. Or should I just grab my ankles and take it to a shop. I know I could solve it all by just getting a new computer but my bank account says otherwise, besides this computer has been great and have had no problems for as little as what we do on it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[NewBritG44]

Holy Cow!!!! 75 Watts that is small. I'm sure Paleo Pete or anyone on this forum will advise you wisely. What is the speed of your computer? How much ram do you have? A 250 watt will only help but you need to know whether you need an AT or ATX power supply. Also, you will need to know what you are doing or you will be buying a new computer. There are plenty of sites to help you out if you decide to do yourself. Good luck!!

Originally posted by jaydubb121:
I have an Acer 2100 series computer that I bought for my family three years ago. When ever I press the power button, absolutely nothing happens. In the past few weeks the mouse has been hanging up and the game controller has not worked correctly. Since I know nothing except what I read here about computers I am at a loss for what to do. By reading other posts I expect the power supply is shot. I opened the case and got the numbers off of it and it says it is a 75 watt power supply. One computer repair shop says he doesnt have anything that small and anything bigger would fry everything else. Another shop says it doesnt matter and I could put like a 250w in with no problems. Who is right? I am reasonably intelligent and feel like I could put a new supply in if I only knew which one to put in. Or should I just grab my ankles and take it to a shop. I know I could solve it all by just getting a new computer but my bank account says otherwise, besides this computer has been great and have had no problems for as little as what we do on it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[kayofcircles]

Welcome to the forum, jaydubb121, and I am sure one of our experts will be along shortly to help. I was laughing at your descriptive "grab my ankles and take it to a shop" when I realized that several of our experts run their own shops...but, of course, theirs are exceptional shops.. not your run of the mill garden variety shops.

[jaydubb121]

I didn't mean to offend anyone with the ankle grabbing comment, but was a little thrown off to get different answers from the two shops I called. I do know that the speed is 333( if thats what speed means). I have 64MB of RAM and its an ATX type supply. And BTW, what are some of those sites that could help me.

[This message has been edited by jaydubb121 (edited 01-10-2002).]

[geebee76]

Hi jaydubb121, welcome to the PC Guide Forum.

Have a look Here to see if this is your system.

I would think that you could uprade your power supply without any problems but hang in there until the experts get here.



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[jaydubb121]

My system is similar to that one GEEBEE but that is the power series which is what they went to when they discontinued the regular 2100 series but the specs are real close . The part # to mine is 91.AB675.D03

[bassman]

A bigger PSU will work fine. It will just allow you to power more devices. The wattage is a measurement of what it is capable of supplying. The different voltages will still be the same.
With it being an ATX, you are in luck. That is the current standard and should be very easy to find. I would recommend getting th smallest one you can find (for cost savings) as long as it is at leased the same as what you had. Most likely 250W will be what you get.

As for the "Grab My ankles" comment, , no offense taken. That is a sad reality in this business, much like contractors (did that too).

Good luck

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[mjc]

The guy who told you that anything larger than what is in it would fry everything needs to go back to Electronics 101....like bassman said the power supply is rated for the maximum it will provide...expressed in Watts (that basically means a 250w is capable of supplying what you currently use without even really working at it).

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mjc
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[Paleo Pete]

Yep, bassman is correct. You can put a 250-300W power supply in and it should work fine. Whoever said it would fry everything either knows nothing about computers or wanted to sell you one more than he wanted to help you figure out your problem. Either way, it's a place to stay away from.

Just make sure it's an ATX power supply, and it should work fine. Most are standard sizes, (one size fits all) so that shouldn't be a problem. Installation is not difficult, you need a screwdriver and a bit of common semse. Unplug it before tinkering...the ATX power supply always sends power to the motherboard unless it's unplugged or the switch on back is turned off. (If it has one, some don't.)

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[jaydubb121]

Thanks for everyone's help and encouragement. I was able to remove the power supply last night without too much trouble, and since I live out here in the sticks hopefully I will be able to locate one this weekend to replace it. I have a screwdriver but I guess the common sense is debatable. Unlike some, I will get back and let y'all know how it works out. This is really a great educational site and I have killed many hours here at work learning by other peoples problems and mistakes. It is really cool to have just ordinary anonymous folks available to help each other out. God Bless the Planet Earth.

[kayofcircles]

Please forgive the personal comment, but geebee, it is so good to see your posts again. I hadn't seen any for awhile and glad you're back.

[geebee76]

Kay Thank you so much for the kind words, it's good to be back.

What happened was that I took on some additional work in the month of December. Not the type of work that I wanted to do but finances dictated (I suppose we've all been there ). I was just too tired to do any posting but I did manage to keep up to date with what was happening. Although I have decided to keep this work on, I won't be putting in the hours that I was before, so I should be able to keep up with things here. I'm off for two weeks just now and getting on with some much needed studying, in between changing diapers.

Thanks again

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