O.T. HD, PSU review:

Here's what the manual says:

Building Wiring Fault Indicator - This indicator lights when there is either no ground circuit, a reversed polarity in the building wiring, or the neutral circuit is overloaded. If it lights, consult a qualified electrician to examine the building wiring. Note: When the Surge Arrest is fully loaded, this indicator may flicker. This is normal and may not be indicative of a fault.


Mine doesn't flicker.

If I get a connector and test it and it comes up bad
then I need a electrician and if it comes up good then
it's a bad APC, correct? It seems odd to have both APC's
go bad. Also I don't know how long it's been like that
because I just noticed it and I haven;t had any problems.

If there's no ground then how would an electrician
correct the problem? Again this sounds pricey.

The 780 does have a floppy

I thought about this and I really don't need
to change any of the private cables; only the
ones attached to the PSU, correct?

Robert

Just bought a tester

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
Here's what the manual says:

Building Wiring Fault Indicator - This indicator lights when there is either no ground circuit, a reversed polarity in the building wiring, or the neutral circuit is overloaded. If it lights, consult a qualified electrician to examine the building wiring. Note: When the Surge Arrest is fully loaded, this indicator may flicker. This is normal and may not be indicative of a fault.


Mine doesn't flicker.

If I get a connector and test it and it comes up bad
then I need a electrician and if it comes up good then
it's a bad APC, correct? It seems odd to have both APC's
go bad. Also I don't know how long it's been like that
because I just noticed it and I haven;t had any problems.

If there's no ground then how would an electrician
correct the problem? Again this sounds pricey.

The 780 does have a floppy

I thought about this and I really don't need
to change any of the private cables; only the
ones attached to the PSU, correct?

Robert

Just the power related ones.

*******

For the floppy, there is a data connector (that doesn't
need removal) and a four pin power connector.

The power connector has an inverted-U portion that
slides over a similar shape on the drive. The PSU end,
the connector has a small "dimple" which fits into a
slot just below the male pins on the floppy drive end.

The dimple prevents the cable from being pulled backwards.

If you lift up on the wires for the PSU connector end, this
helps the dimple "climb out of the slot" and then the connector
should pull backwards.

Now, to impede the ease of lifting the connector end
and tilting it for removal, some floppy drives have a
metal bar which sits above the connector area. Of course,
my spare floppy drive, doesn't have that metal thing, so
it's easy to work the connector off the end of my spare
drive.

It's just another one of those connectors that's going
to hurt your fingers. Even if you know the operating
principle (lift up on end, then pull), it doesn't
always want to cooperate.

*******

Once you get your outlet tester, you will have
a "second opinion" on what is defective about
your wiring. I doubt it's a missing safety ground,
because I would be hearing comments about "I got a
shock when I touched the 8500 case". With your outlet
tester, you can record which lights on it are on, and
look up on the chart for the defect.

I liked it better when these were more available
in hardware stores. I seem to remember at a couple places,
I was getting strange looks when I described it. The
electrical guy in the electrical aisle should have seen
one of these. I got mine at a smaller hardware store.
That's the hardware store that has more "novelty items",
like 8" and 12" nails you can actually buy. For about a
buck a pop.

Paul

At this point, what do you think is going
on?

We'll know for sure once I get the testor
(The same kind you showed me in your link
but on ebay for $6.45 free shipping).

I think as far as fitting the PSU and cables
I'm OK although I still don't see where the
two (4) sockets would plug into?

As for all those separate wires I showed
you the molex etc. I would have to just try
and find the same kind of wire already attached
but I really don't know what they are etc aside
from your labeling. It's all Dutch to me
and several times I have to look up stuff
like the the BTX to understand what your
talking about. Just trying to keep up and
understand it all.

Robert

Obviously, only change power supplies on *one* computer
at a time, so the second one can be used for Googling
if the need arises.


I had thought about this and so copy/pasted all my computer
files/images to the 780 via flash key so that I'll have access
to them on there as well.

The flash key also contains most of My Document bookmarks
should I need to access any of them and there's always the
Mrimgs.

Robert

I got to thinking,. I'm using a 3prong adapter
for a 2 prong plug for the APC and I had never
screwed in the ground tab to the face plate. So
I thought maybe that was the problem but wasn't.

Then thought to try the other outlet below which
meant twisting the cabling 180 but as soon as I
plugged it in the red light went out. I don't even
have the ground tab screwed down.

So do you think when I got hit with the 220V it blew
the other socket? The red light(Building Wiring Fault
Indicator) is out and I have the green light (Protection
Working Indicator) in front.

What do you think?

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
At this point, what do you think is going
on?

We'll know for sure once I get the testor
(The same kind you showed me in your link
but on ebay for $6.45 free shipping).

I think as far as fitting the PSU and cables
I'm OK although I still don't see where the
two (4) sockets would plug into?

As for all those separate wires I showed
you the molex etc. I would have to just try
and find the same kind of wire already attached
but I really don't know what they are etc aside
from your labeling. It's all Dutch to me
and several times I have to look up stuff
like the the BTX to understand what your
talking about. Just trying to keep up and
understand it all.

Robert

SSR-550FM

ATX12V 4/8

TTTTTT TTTTTT End view of connector pair
___ ___ ___ ___ showing shapes which help
| | | | | | | | control mating only one way.
| | | | | | | |
\_/ --- \_/ \_/ You will be using the *left* connector in pic.
___ ___ ___ ___ The right connector is used if
| | | | | | | | the motherboard had a 2x4 and room
| | | | | | | | for all eight pins.
--- \_/ \_/ \_/
TTTTTT is the tab which latches to
|| a feature on the side of the connector
\||/ on the motherboard and provides a
\/ visual cue on how to do it.
___ ___
| | | | Normal motherboards have just 2x2 [144 watt]
| | | | and have a tab for the latch on the
\_/ --- PSU end to attach to. The right-hand
___ ___ one above would not insert unless you
| | | | had an enthusiast 2x4 on the motherboard
| | | | with it's (approximate) 288W rating
--- \_/

To see which is which (I used my spare Seasonic with the
black ribbon wiring), you'll need to use a strong light
to detect the left one above, and it should slip into
place on the motherboard without a problem.

If you were to grab the right one by mistake, two
of the nylon shrouds won't insert.

*******

Using your existing photos, you should see the 2x2 existing
wiring, leading to the area with the VCore coils and MOSFETs.

The connector has four pins, with two yellow wires and
two black wires. (I see on one of the machines the wires
look almost brown-ish. Which would be a violation of the
ATX spec which calls out the wire colors in a table. Yellow
is the color for +12V normally.)

https://i.postimg.cc/DwRJY6Pz/2x2-co...-locations.jpg

The second half of the 4/8 is going to be a nuisance, but
since the contacts are slightly recessed, I don't expect
a problem with accidental contact with adjacent metal structures.

When Dell made the motherboards, they weren't really
expecting the 2x4 option to exist, which is why clearances
there may be limited.

*******

When the AC tester arrives, maybe you'll get a little more
information. Not all the outlets in a house need make
the same response - sometimes it's just one outlet pair
which is mis-wired slightly.

Paul

Mark Twain wrote:
I got to thinking,. I'm using a 3prong adapter
for a 2 prong plug for the APC and I had never
screwed in the ground tab to the face plate. So
I thought maybe that was the problem but wasn't.

Then thought to try the other outlet below which
meant twisting the cabling 180 but as soon as I
plugged it in the red light went out. I don't even
have the ground tab screwed down.

So do you think when I got hit with the 220V it blew
the other socket? The red light(Building Wiring Fault
Indicator) is out and I have the green light (Protection
Working Indicator) in front.

What do you think?

Robert

It could be that just one outlet has a problem.

That's actually what the outlet tester is for.

Not all the outlets in the house have to give the same response.

Usually you reach for the outlet tester, when
some symptom "tells you to have a look". In your
case, that red indicator on the Surge Protector
is your hint to try the outlet tester. It's
quite possible many of the outlets in the house
will test good, and only one is bad.

All it takes is a loose screw inside the
receptacle to give a bad wiring indicator
on the outlet tester.

I've changed a few receptacles in the house
here, and there's always the possibility
of something working loose. My bathroom
light switch worked itself loose for example.

Paul

Your identifying the one 4x8 cabling
has helped allot but as you say the
second half is going to be difficult.

Since it's a power cable, wouldn't it
have to go to either the HD or the optical
floppy drive?

btw, I just noticed that the 8500 has two
HD's but the blue cable only goes to the top,
yet I only see C: so are they coupled as
one HD?

http://i63.tinypic.com/72t069.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/ffddok.jpg

Robert

I've had the same problem, but I don't feel
comfortable with unscrewing outlets that don't
work.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
Your identifying the one 4x8 cabling
has helped allot but as you say the
second half is going to be difficult.

Since it's a power cable, wouldn't it
have to go to either the HD or the optical
floppy drive?

btw, I just noticed that the 8500 has two
HD's but the blue cable only goes to the top,
yet I only see C: so are they coupled as
one HD?

http://i63.tinypic.com/72t069.jpg

The data cable isn't hooked up on that
second (buried) drive. It looks like it may
have power, but no data.

You'll need a seven pin SATA data to connect the
mystery drive to the motherboard.

Your motherboard likely has four SATA ports.

1) Current Windows system (blue)
2) DVD optical drive up top (orange)
3) unused
4) unused

You'll have to be careful to not boot from that
mystery hard drive, until you know what it is.

Once the extra data cable has been put in place, you
can enter the BIOS and make sure the (blue) cabled
drive is still the first in the boot order.


http://i65.tinypic.com/ffddok.jpg

In an emergency, you can pinch a SATA cable
from another machine, as long as you can put
it back properly later :-) If would depend on
whether any "borrowed" cables are tie-wrapped
to stuff or jammed into cable guides, as to
how easy it will be to borrow a cable.

First generation SATA cables have no "tough"
retention features. They're a friction fit.
Second generation cables have a finger release
and a metal "jaw" to enhance retention. If you
buy a cable and it has the metal bits on it,
don't panic - if there is nothing for the jaw
to grab, it won't hurt anything. For example,
a SATA cable with a jaw, cannot find anything to
grip on a WDC brand hard drive, as the WDC brand
hard drive had extra spacing added to fit a
WDC branded special cable. The SATA cable still
"works" and there is no need to panic just because
the jaw doesn't engage and do anything useful in
that case.

Just *don't* pull on a SATA cable too hard, without
understanding whether anything gets in the way of
removal. A poster in one of the hardware groups,
managed to rip a SATA right off the motherboard.
I have an Asrock branded motherboard, I can
easily see how this happened, as only *solder*
holds the connector in place, via the data leads.
Some other SATA connectors have a bit more hold-down
features to prevent the connector from being ripped
right off the motherboard. If you see that a
SATA motherboard connector appears "flimsy" and
"is just sitting there with no support", take
extra care during removal. With a jawed cable,
you'd make doubly sure the jaw is open before
pulling. And pull by the connector, not the
cable body. I wouldn't even have thought of this
being possible, until I had a closer look at that
one motherboard, and realized what a disaster
waiting to happen it was.

HTH,
Paul

Mark Twain wrote:
I've had the same problem, but I don't feel
comfortable with unscrewing outlets that don't
work.

Robert

If you get too adventurous, you'll eventually get
a shock. Ask me some time how I figured this out :-)
Zap...

Paul

I don't remember that I added a second
drive to the 8500 and as you say it has
no data connection so what's it doing there?
Maybe this was a cloned HD that I left in?

I seem to remember we took the orange cable
from the optical drive and used it for the
second HD but I can't remember what we did
or why?

Do I have a SATA plug in the PSU wiring?

Robert

On Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 5:21:24 PM UTC-8, Paul wrote:
Mark Twain wrote:
I've had the same problem, but I don't feel
comfortable with unscrewing outlets that don't
work.

Robert

If you get too adventurous, you'll eventually get
a shock. Ask me some time how I figured this out :-)
Zap...

Paul


That's why I'm not too adventurous,. just unscrewing the
face plate screw I almost slipped the screwdriver into one
of the sockets!

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I don't remember that I added a second
drive to the 8500 and as you say it has
no data connection so what's it doing there?
Maybe this was a cloned HD that I left in?

I seem to remember we took the orange cable
from the optical drive and used it for the
second HD but I can't remember what we did
or why?

Do I have a SATA plug in the PSU wiring?

Robert

You have a cable with four SATA power plugs.

You have a cable with two SATA power plugs.

Some of your storage is located in two different
geographical areas inside the PC, and that's when the
two cables will come in handy. Generally, a single
cable cannot "span" the whole PC.

The Molex cable might see service for the floppy adapter
cable, on the machine that has a floppy drive.

You can also convert Molex to SATA with a Molex to dual SATA
Y cable, purchasable for around $5 or so.

*******

That covers drive power connectors. The data cable runs
from the motherboard surface to the hard drive, and you'll
need to borrow one from somewhere, to carry out a quick test of
that drive.

When you're not using a hard drive, it's best to
disconnect both the power and data cables.

Paul