Fixing a Dimension E521...

I could come into possession of a Dimension E521 that took a particularly
bad lightning hit through the modem. (So bad, in fact, that it blew the
centers out of the chips on the modem board...something that I'd never seen
happen before.) The motherboard is toast--it will power up and down, but the
power light is stuck on amber.

The power supply, CPU, RAM, hard disk, optical drive and basically
everything else in the system are known to be good. I see tested/guaranteed
motherboards available secondhand for about $75, which to me would be worth
it. Dimension E521 system units seem to bring much more than that.

I'm very tempted to ask about the system and replace the mainboard since I
know all the other components are good. My question to the group--would you
do the same?

William (resurrector of many a lightning blasted computer)

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:01:41 GMT, "William R. Walsh"
m wrote:

I could come into possession of a Dimension E521 that took a particularly
bad lightning hit through the modem. (So bad, in fact, that it blew the
centers out of the chips on the modem board...something that I'd never seen
happen before.) The motherboard is toast--it will power up and down, but the
power light is stuck on amber.

The power supply, CPU, RAM, hard disk, optical drive and basically
everything else in the system are known to be good. I see tested/guaranteed
motherboards available secondhand for about $75, which to me would be worth
it. Dimension E521 system units seem to bring much more than that.

I'm very tempted to ask about the system and replace the mainboard since I
know all the other components are good. My question to the group--would you
do the same?

William (resurrector of many a lightning blasted computer)


I guess it depends on what you are buying it for.
Unfortunately I'm not clear if you are paying 75 dollars total or
x+75 dollars (x for the pc and 75 for the replacement parts) so I
guess I'm a bit confused and not too helpful.

Hi!

The motherboard would be about $75. The computer probably won't cost
anything.

William

FWIW, a Dimension E521 in good condition sells for $250 to $300 on eBay, plus
the shipping. The tradeoff of $75 plus your labor versus a final sale price of
$250 is kind of marginal.

I tend to favor Intel CPUs, so the AMD CPU in the E521 does not drive me wild.

The BTX chassis of the E521 is OK with motherboards from other Dell models, and
this may broaden your horizons a bit.

Or maybe this is a situation where the E521 is worth more dead (for parts) than
alive (up and running)... Ben Myers

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:01:41 GMT, "William R. Walsh"
m wrote:

I could come into possession of a Dimension E521 that took a particularly
bad lightning hit through the modem. (So bad, in fact, that it blew the
centers out of the chips on the modem board...something that I'd never seen
happen before.) The motherboard is toast--it will power up and down, but the
power light is stuck on amber.

The power supply, CPU, RAM, hard disk, optical drive and basically
everything else in the system are known to be good. I see tested/guaranteed
motherboards available secondhand for about $75, which to me would be worth
it. Dimension E521 system units seem to bring much more than that.

I'm very tempted to ask about the system and replace the mainboard since I
know all the other components are good. My question to the group--would you
do the same?

William (resurrector of many a lightning blasted computer)

"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
FWIW, a Dimension E521 in good condition sells for $250 to $300 on eBay,
plus
the shipping. The tradeoff of $75 plus your labor versus a final sale
price of
$250 is kind of marginal.

I tend to favor Intel CPUs, so the AMD CPU in the E521 does not drive me
wild.

The BTX chassis of the E521 is OK with motherboards from other Dell
models, and
this may broaden your horizons a bit.

Or maybe this is a situation where the E521 is worth more dead (for parts)
than
alive (up and running)... Ben Myers

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:01:41 GMT, "William R. Walsh"
m wrote:

I could come into possession of a Dimension E521 that took a particularly
bad lightning hit through the modem. (So bad, in fact, that it blew the
centers out of the chips on the modem board...something that I'd never
seen
happen before.) The motherboard is toast--it will power up and down, but
the
power light is stuck on amber.

The power supply, CPU, RAM, hard disk, optical drive and basically
everything else in the system are known to be good. I see
tested/guaranteed
motherboards available secondhand for about $75, which to me would be
worth
it. Dimension E521 system units seem to bring much more than that.

I'm very tempted to ask about the system and replace the mainboard since I
know all the other components are good. My question to the group--would
you
do the same?

William (resurrector of many a lightning blasted computer)


William for the sake of $75 I think personnally it would be well worth it
whats it going to take time wise 10/15 mins to swap out the board and if
your not paying anything for the machine, it's a no brainer

Hi!

FWIW, a Dimension E521 in good condition sells for $250 to $300
on eBay, plus the shipping. The tradeoff of $75 plus your labor
versus a final sale price of $250 is kind of marginal.

I'm not planning to sell the system. If I fix it, I will be using it
myself. The original owner already bought a new computer and only
wants the information transferred to this one.

William

Hi!

wants the information transferred to this one.

Ooops. ..."to the new one" would probably read better.

In any case, the system that got bit by lightning specs out with a
320GB hard disk, DVD+R/RW DL burner (SATA no less!) and 1GB of RAM.
I'm going from memory, but I believe the processor is a 3400+ 64-bit
capable Athlon. There's also a multi-format card reader, although that
would probably give way to a floppy drive.

William