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5150 5160 power supply swap.

NoSmoke

Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
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Location
Minnesota USA
I am new today and just want to say thank you for this forum and to those who share their knowledge.

That said, I have a 5150 that turns on but does nothing past that. I have a 5160 that is fully functional. Question: will the 5160 power supply work in the 5150 without hurting anything? I just want to do this for testing purposes incase the 5150 power supply is bad.

Thank you
 
If it turns out that the PSU is not the actual culprit (and it probably isn't) you should try the 'Minimum Diagnostic Configuration' outlined here:

http://minuszerodegrees.net/5150_5160/MDC/minimum_diag_config.htm

It could easily be a capacitor on the motherboard that is short and preventing the system from running.

Thank you! Should be very helpful as I try to figure it out. I wanted to try the power supply first as it is an easy first option that also wouldn't cost me anything. I thought that I read that the early black power supplies were kinda weak, just thought that would be a good place to start.
 
Let me know how your repair goes and what your solution was if you found one. A 5150 I just picked up (still on the way to me actually) has some 12v rail issues I will have to deal with so any info on repairs may be useful. Yes there's a ton of online info on repairs already but you never know. :) The seller told me the system powers on with the 12v connection unplugged so at least I have something to start with.
 
Let me know how your repair goes and what your solution was if you found one. A 5150 I just picked up (still on the way to me actually) has some 12v rail issues I will have to deal with so any info on repairs may be useful. Yes there's a ton of online info on repairs already but you never know. :) The seller told me the system powers on with the 12v connection unplugged so at least I have something to start with.

I will definitely let you know. My electronic knowledge is dwarfed by my ambition but I'm learning. I have gotten a lot of info from minuszerodegrees, but I have also been watching repairs on similar machines. On my 5150, I have a known good power supply, Tested in a 5160, so check.
The directions for testing the voltage at the plug left me a little unsure so I tested voltage in other places, like the ram chips and the cpu, and could barely get any reading. I am thinking tantalum capacitor.
Now, the real question: should I be able to check continuity between ground and all the power rails on the 2 power plugs on the motherboard? And should I get no continuity if the caps are doing there jobs?
That's where my heads at but I am still learning. Any input welcomed and appreciated!
 
Now, the real question: should I be able to check continuity between ground and all the power rails on the 2 power plugs on the motherboard? And should I get no continuity if the caps are doing there jobs?
While I'm not so sure about that, as caps can have other issues as well, I am sure that a shorted cap on the 12V rail will show as no resistance.
 
Let me know how your repair goes and what your solution was if you found one. A 5150 I just picked up (still on the way to me actually) has some 12v rail issues I will have to deal with so any info on repairs may be useful. Yes there's a ton of online info on repairs already but you never know. :) The seller told me the system powers on with the 12v connection unplugged so at least I have something to start with.

So to update, I got it fixed. It was the tantalum on the 12v rail on bank 3 of the ram chips. I still wasn't sure which tantalum was bad so I ordered 6 and the bad one was the third one I changed.
 
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