You're absolutely right. The correct way of testing it for voltage is to plug a power connector to a device such as a disk drive/Mobo and then to insert the apparatus behind the connector while plugged.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stroller [mailto:stroller@(protected)]
> Sent: Friday, March 21, 2008 12:18 AM
> To: gentoo-user@(protected)
> Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Power supply or motherboard dead?
>
>
> On 20 Mar 2008, at 19:42, Marzan, Richard non Unisys wrote:
>
> > Get a volt meter and measure the voltage. Red is 5+ volts yellow is
> > 12+
> > volts; if you're getting less than that or way too much than those
> > values then the component needs to be replaced.
>
> I believe that the PSU has to be under load for the voltage to test
> correctly.
>
> You can get testers for ATX PSUs for about £20, I noticed recently,
> and a search suggests they're much cheaper on eBay (see items
> 190207549145, 280209639310)
>
> > Try also swapping the
> > memory modules out one by one; interchanging them and see if that
> > makes
> > it boot up. Some, not all, BIOS programs need some ram to boot the
> > machine.
>
> Grant,
>
> It's not clear from your other posts whether you've tried this. If
> I'm testing a motherboard I _always_ want to have RAM in it - testing
> without doesn't prove anything (to my satisfaction).
>
> > It could also be a broken power switch. If that is the case,
> > try to ground the pwr pin to a grnd(black) pin with a flat head screw
> > driver on the MB.
>
> Forgot to mention this in my previous post - this is usually one of
> the first things I try, because it's so easy to do.
>
> Stroller.
> --
> gentoo-user@(protected)

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