Gateway Parts

My dads old work computer had a fried power supply?

It popped and smoked I replaced it with a spare I had laying around. I hooked everything up and turned on the power. Nothing turns on but a small green LED light is on in the mother board, none of the fans turn on. I have another power supply I could use. Is the motherboard dead? I want to use it as a gaming computer because a have a few spare parts laying around. Is it worth it to continue to fiddle with it?

Public Comments

1. Make sure everything is connected, and that all of the cables are completely plugged in and snug. That would be the first step, if that doesn't work then try the other power supply you have. The one you plugged in may not be powerful enough to power the components or could be dead. If there is an open power socket then that's you're issue there, the power supply you have may be 12 years old for all I know, in which case it wouldn't work with the computer. I was exagerrating about the age it could be, but you get my point.
2. Now that you have tried it with another power supply you are in a position to determine where the issue is. Test the power supply on a different computer, if it works then the problem is in the rest of the box ( alternativly, and more safely, try a known good power supply in the questionable computer rather than an old laying around one.) .
3. If the motherboards lights are on, the power supply is working, and it is connected to the motherboard properly. Sadly, your motherboard is likely dead due to the fried power supply. I wouldn't say its worth fiddling around with unless you have a really good processor (Quad core at 2GHZ+, or a very new one).
4. Have you checked the obvious, the motherboard fuse. There has to be one, normally of a glass construction but not necessarily so. It will also have, normally, the value printed on the board adjacent. Good luck, but as said above its probably knackered... the reason the original psu when in the first place