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My Bad-My DELL

I know I'm in the wrong group but this is near my last resort. . . . .I just received a used Dell Optiplex GX280 Desktop and the thing won't power up. It appears the power switch is bad and it doesn't return when depressed and there is no 'click'. After many wasted attemtps with email, and chat with Dell, a chat agent told me they don't have that switch anymore. I know if I sent the machine into Dell they would replace the switch. . . .Does anyone here know where I can locate new/used Dell parts? Or even how the damn switch works. There are no wire or contacts visible behind the button.. . . . .in advance. . to 1 & all, thanks. . . chas

Reply to
Chas
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Chances are high that the actual switch is mounted on a PC board, and the thing you push on is just the button. Chances are also high that either the button is mechanically dorked, making things jam up, or that the switch itself is dorked.

If the switch is what's dorked, if it's PC mount, and if you can solder surface-mount stuff, then chances are high that DigiKey will have a replacement and that (after more looking than any sane person would want to do) you'll be able to find it.

Google around -- someone may have done a tear-down on your model of laptop. Look for "replace keyboard", "tear down", "disassemble", etc., along with the machine's model number. Hopefully you'll find pictures of the thing with its guts out. That should help a lot.

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com
Reply to
Tim Wescott

Tim is correct, you are just pushing a mechanical rod. I can't remember if the switch in actually on the PSU or not. Take it apart and look at it. If the front cover is loose or has broken tabs the lever won't engage the switch. You can buy a replacement PSU for about 25 bucks on eBay.

Tom

Reply to
Tom Biasi

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Most PC's have a momentary switch mounted behind the front panel with wires that lead to a connector on the M/B.

Reply to
Bob Villa

Just took a look at the GX280. The switch in on a card that connects to the motherboard by cable.

Tom

Reply to
Tom Biasi

I do believe that Dell had a problem with power supply capacitors on the Optiplex line and I believe it covered from the GX270 to GX280 batches.

They even settled a class action because of the bad caps.

So it may not be the switch but the power supply itself.

Reply to
T

Yes. They bought a batch of electrolytics from some disreputable manufacturer, and the electrolyte leaked in a large proportion of them. This caused all sorts of mysterious failures as the power supply began to lose regulation, surprise reboots, shutdowns, and other fun stuff.

They tried to ignore the problem for about a year, until people started to file lawsuits. It was a real mess.

--
Above all else -- sky.
Reply to
Chiron

Yes among the hundreds of computers I have seen, I have never seen a computer where the switch on the front was nothing more than a momentary switch telling the motherboard to boot the computer.

Computers as long as they are plugged in are never off. There is a little bit of code running looking for that button press.

I'm 99% sure you have a bad power supply. Though in the late 90's Gateway had a style of case where the plastic thingy that pressed the actual switch broke.

Reply to
Cliff H

The power supply is still producing +5.0 V SB as long as the computer is plugged into the AC line. There is no "code" running---all the switch does is to use the +5V available to turn on the rest of the power supply. The switch is a simple SPNO momentary contact switch. Once the power supply is "on", holding the same switch closed for a couple of seconds will turn it off.

--
Virg Wall
Reply to
VWWall

Ok no code but its definitly not a real "power switch". Its not like the old IBMs with the big paddle switch on the side. Now that was a switch.

Reply to
Cliff H

Yeah - I tend to hate soft switches. That whole parasitic power drain makes me crazy.

Reply to
T

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