Dead power supply... or not?

[Suidakra]

I have a Packard Bell which was bought back in 98 which I would like to keep around as a secondary computer. It turns out that when I plug the power connectors to my cd-rom drive that I get no response... can't open it. I currently have no hard-drive in the computer, so don't go thinking it's JUST my cd-rom that's dead. I tried a CD-rw drive as well and that got no response, even with switching power connectors.

Now, my question is, can a computer's bios still start up with a "dead" power supply? I mean, obviously you need power for that, but it is common for that to still work and the fan to still work, but the connectors for cd drives and hard drives to stop supplying that power?

[Nubius]

if fans are spinning then the drives should be getting power too. You sure you got your IDE cable hooked in the right IDE Slot on the board and everythings plugged in correctly? Even without a HD in it you should be able to open the cd-rom drive. .....and no it doesn't make sense...if a PSU is 'dead' then it means that usually and would just not power anything period.

[Suidakra]

Ok, thanks Nubius.

Well, at least I have some input on that. If it were the power supply, I'd be ****ed, because I had joined in on a yard sale just a few days ago and my brother-in-law was selling a power supply for $2 and somebody else bought it!

It seems it's not, but if not, I dunno what it could be. The IDE cable is plugged fine from the motherboard, and I even tried the other IDE with a different cable. I think right now I'll try it with a hard-drive hooked up that has windows 98 installed on it. If that doesn't respond, then I know for sure it's not any of my drives.

Maybe the motherboard has the problem?

[Elbatrop1]

If you have a voltmeter lying around, you should try using that to test the voltages out of the PSU and the cables that connect to the cdrom. Hopefully this helps you out