Case Power Switch question

BordRider

Distinguished
Jul 12, 2002
6
0
18,510
Ok, so, it turns out I fried one of my friend's power switches, don't ask me how. He was fairly upset cause i just took one from another computer. I made sure that they were identical before I switched them, but he insists that for his power supplies, you must have a special kind of switch, one that makes the power supply work correctly. He said that if you don't use the correct switch, the computer will turn on but the short in the switch will tell the mobo to turn the PSU on/off continuously.

I am extremely skeptical.

I put together a computer for myself last year, and during all my research I have never heard of any compatibility problems between power switches, mobos, and PSU's. Just to be sure, I ripped his case apart and found that he's using an SPI PSU (Sparkle Power Int'l LTD.), model number FSP300-60ATV. I went to the website (http://www.sparklepower.com/pdf/FSP300-60ATV.pdf) to see if I could find anything there, but no luck.

As far as I know, a case is a case, and a power switch is a power switch, especially on commercially available parts. He referred me to a site (http://www.equuscs.com/) where he allegedly gets his parts from, but it seems to me they only sell pre-fab computers. He said that I wasn't a member and couldn't get into the more intimate website, but once again, I'm skeptical. I can't figure out what kind of case it is, but the switch has an action where you push it in, it makes contact, and springs back out to the original position, so you wouldn't be able to tell if you were turning it on or off just by pushing the switch.

Any ideas? I've never heard of this problem before, and would like to know if something like this actually exists...who knows what kind of crazy stuff is out there. Thank you for your time, any help will be greatly appreciated!

"Always two there are..."
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
There were a few "ATX" boards that required an on/off switch, but 99% of them used a simple momentary contact switch. An ON/OFF (2 position) switch could make a normal system turn on, then off, but a memontary contact switch on one of those oddball systems would make it turn on only while you were holding it.

Anyway, I'm assuming you used a momentary contact switch. Otherwise, you'd be wrong! And he'd be right!

And his power supply is a Fortron, hence the FSP model number (Fortron/Source Power Man). Sparkle is a popular brand name of these. It's a very high quality, standard ATX supply.

Getting back to the switch, is it one that screws on to the case? Does it go "click click"? Because old AT power switches sometimes returned to the original position in both on and off, because the internal latch was doing the sticking, and the external post is spring loaded.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 

BordRider

Distinguished
Jul 12, 2002
6
0
18,510
Yeah, this is definately a momentary contact switch. Besides that, that has to do with the motherboard, not the PSU like he said. This fortron doesn't have any switch compatibility issues, does it?

yes, it is the one that screws on the front of the case, and it goes click click when you push on it once. One click when it makes contact when you push it in, and one when you release it. Do these go bad often?

Anyway, thank you very much. I appreciate the help.

"Always two there are..."
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
Like I said, it's a standard power supply. Most screw on swiches were AT style (2 position internally, not momentary), which is what he's afraid of.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
I should also mention that screw-on ATX switches are so uncommon that I've had to resort to removing the latch mechanism inside AT switches to make my own momentary contact switches from them.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>