I think it's the power supply...

[mrcaptainbob]

First, Adnadeau, thank you for your help on this. Now....since I'm only somewhat familiar with this, I have to look stuff up. I checked EBay for what a processor and a memory looked like. I found the processor is a squarish aluminum looking item with many plugs on the underside. I see the memory is a card type item that slips into a slot. I verified the old board that's still in the cabinet with the new one still in the package and it all looks the same. I cautiously removed the processor and found the board beneath to be identical to the new. I'm starting to feel a bit more confident now. This registration business might be a situation. But I will delve into that and see where it goes. I'm learning stuff in my old age and appreciate your help.

[adnadeau]

Bonding yourself to the chassis as you described is a good way to eliminate static discharge. Did your new MB come equipped with memory and a processor? If not, is your old memory & processor compatible? If everything boots up, you will probably have to re-register your existing software because it sees a different configuration.

[mrcaptainbob]

I'll be swapping out that MB maybe this week. Is there anything special I should know about? I think I can handle the static charge stuff. What else should I be doing?

[mrcaptainbob]

As it turns out, I have an older Dell with a similar MB with the blue socket. Although the socket is upside down, there are the wires from the switch and led's that lead me to what pins are what. I will follow that and put these wires to the similar pins.
Is it okay to use a fine copper wire around my wrist and connected to the cabinet frame to allay the static charge? Something like small gauge speaker wire?

[adnadeau]

Dell cabling seems to be proprietary; no info I could find on the web. However, the front panel power assembly is part No. 6Y702 9Y487 and seems to be available at many sources, some for under 10 bucks. You could make your own wiring diagram from one of these and adapt your existing front panel assembly.

[mrcaptainbob]

Interesting. Looked up 2400 manual and was given 2350 info. I most probably jumped the gun and ordered that 2400 MB from E-Bay. It's all okay...except....the one pin connector called J24. The old one (2350)is white with 20 pins. It's connector has six wires, plus the end two that are brown wire jumpered, totaling eight pins used. The new (2400) MB has a blue J24 socket with only nine pins available. Where can dig up the pin callouts of the 2400 MB J24 socket?

[adnadeau]

A Google search for dimension2350 motherboard turns up 7W080. The numbers you posted suggest that MB is for a Dimension 2400. Try downloading the 2400 manuals from Dell's web site and compare the specs with the 2350. As HayZee says, all motherboards are not the same.

[HayZee518]

Mb

check out the following. the Dell motherboard uses the type 478 cpu socket.

Socket 478 was used for all Northwood Pentium 4 and Celeron processors. It supported the first Prescott Pentium 4 processors and all Willamette Celerons, along with several of the Willamette-series Pentium 4s. Socket 478 also supported the newer Prescott-based Celeron D processors, and early Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors with 2 MiB of L3 CPU cache.

Celeron D processors were also available for Socket 478 and were the last CPUs made for the socket.

While the Intel mobile CPUs are available in 478-pin packages, they in fact only operate in a range of slightly differing sockets, Socket 479, Socket M, and Socket P, each incompatible with the other two.

[HayZee518]

Mb

Send Dell an email and include the model and type of processor you have. When my MB fried I ordered another MB from Dell and when it came, the dual intel processor would not fit the socket so I had to send it back.
the main fan clamps down onto the processor heat sink. make sure you have the room for it.
also be careful about your drives. can be a SATA or an IDE. ide ARE RIBBON CABLES, SATA are skinny cables.
SATA fit into small com ports, usually four on the MB. They cannot be piggy backed like IDE flat cables.

[mrcaptainbob]

Thanks, HayZee. But....gees I feel like a dummy.....is AMD a brand name? And, don't all MB's come with a processor? I looked very close at the one I posted and compared it's picture to the physical one I have. Counting the cans and other standout shapes and it all matches, including color coding.

[HayZee518]

Mb

not all motherboards are the same. the socket for the main processor might be different.
AMD is a good choice for a motherboard with an accompanied processor.

[mrcaptainbob]

The system I'm working on is Dimension 2350. It appears this might work just as well:
Dell Dimension 2400 Motherboard F5949 K5148 G1548 C2425 Tested Guaranteed | eBay
Am I right? It looks like it's an exact copy....

[mrcaptainbob]

Well, that didn't work. Rats. Oh well. I'm checking into your Ebay suggestion, Adnadeau. Thank you very much for all your help and advice. I looked at another older Dell and found the MB's are pretty similar. I'm learning a lot, with your help.

[adnadeau]

Hard Drive

Yes, all your files are on the hard drive. You can get an adapter from e-bay for about $10 that will power up any hard drive and connect it to the USB port of another computer. Look for "SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter" made by Vantek Thermal Technologies or something similar.

[mrcaptainbob]

The power supply was removed from the cabinet and checked. All the pins checked correctly when jumpered as you suggest, Adnadeau. It does appear more and more as if it is the MB. I'm going to tryh one more thing. That is to jump a wire from the green PS 20 pin connector to the green of the switch. If it toasts the MB, well, I haven't lost much. What I'd like to do, though, is to access the info on that computer. Lots of pictures and such. Am I correct in that that info resides on the hard disc and is independent of the MB?