no power on Dell desktop

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

ok, the problem is forcing me to improve my Windows 7 puter, to make it run sensibly. 

It is a Dell Precision 380, probably occurred when there was a circuit breaker switch event.  Even though it is plugged in through some sort of surge protector (hmmm, maybe I will upgrade the quality there.).  The system has a few years, and it may be "routine maintenance" for a power supply to go ?  Is the power supply the likely event ?  No lights or noice at all, tried various plug-ins.

Best method ?  Take it into MicroCenter ?  Take it to small shop and Joe Friendly where we may chat more about stuff at the same time ?  Or do it myself, guessing that it is a "replace power supply unit" type of problem ?  Any caveats ? 

Your thoughts appreciated. 

My main concern, of course, is the data, which is not backed up daily. (Ok, I learned, I'll try to change that.)  Hopefully the disk is fine.

Shalom,
Steven

[mouser]

My main concern, of course, is the data

assuming you have a spare pc or laptop, you can get one of those usb docks that support bare drives, and remove the old drives from your now-dead pc, and access them from the secondary pc+dock.  then you can back up all your data.

after that you can investigate the cause of the problem on the dead pc.

this sounds stupid, but try plugging it into another outlet using a different surge protector.

if nothing turns on, no fans no hard drives, it may be the power supply.

[40hz]

If it is the power supply, replacing it is an apprentice-level task. Anybody but the most technically challenged should be able to do it with a screwdriver and a little common sense. Official Dell instructions can be found here.

My database is showing the Dell Precision 380 workstation shipped with a 375 watt power supply. A quality replacement shouldn't set you back more than $50. And it will probably be  less than that.

Your best bet is to either buy your replacement from Dell - or get a better (and possibly less expensive one) from one of the reputable makers like Antec or PC Power & Cooling. I'd advise contacting their tech support lines, give them your specific model information, and let them tell you what you should get. Especially if you're not comfortable researching it yourself.

Be sure to shop around once you know what to get too! Prices vary widely for the same power supply.

Luck! 

[app103]

I have had similar problems with my 3 year old Dell and tracked down the problem. Make sure you have nothing plugged into the USB ports in the front panel before attempting to start the PC.

If that works for you, then you know that component needs fixing/replacing.

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

Thanks guys.  First, I think the power supply was an issue (no light, no sound, tried multiple plugs) and it was replaced by a Staples Antec $50 by a techie at a garage sale (he had another power supply, but the cables were too short, so he put in the Antec I had in the car for an install charge that was folded into my garage sale purchases). So I saw the process, it was a warm outdoor day.  Not really apprentice-level, (ok, maybe apprentice level but not my level) .. which describes maybe a memory install.  There can be lots of little tricks and problems.  After it was installed the front light went on, the fan purred, but the system was still essentially dead.  

Meanwhile I went out and got an excellent $100 XP system from Craigslist just in case, I thought maybe the motherboard or processor was fried (not likely to be the disk, since there was no disk error msg) and my external disks do not like to be read by a Windows 7 puter.

Then I brought it into the local Korean shop, with a Spanish gal who was techie and customer service and they found that my 2 512-mg memories were shot (maybe from the surge) but my 2 2-gb were fine, the 512's were not even being used because of addressing issues on 32 bit.  They were the residue from when I upgraded the memory. They pulled out the 512s and all was fine and only charged me the $40 diagnostic fee and I wrote up the shop (Gatecom) very positively on the Yahoo review thing. Total time, 2 hours from drop off to pickup.

So learned a lot, back online, and I have a spare puter.

Shalom,
Steven