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ATX power supply in AT case?

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JT

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Apr 8, 2002, 5:50:53 PM4/8/02
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Hi,

Is there any problem with using an ATX power supply in an AT case?

My current system is a P1-233 in a very nice AT tower, that I'd like to
continue using. I have a bunch of P2 parts (motherboard, ATX power supply,
PC133 RAM, AGP video card) that I'd like to use in the AT tower.

Is there any warning I should be aware of here?


TIA,

JT


Conor

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Apr 8, 2002, 7:07:31 PM4/8/02
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In article <1hos8.17142$rU2.1...@carnaval.risq.qc.ca>, j_tam1
@yahoo.com.nospam says...
The On switch. On an AT case it latches, on an ATX its a momentary
contact. Also if you are using an ATX motherboard with the ports on the
back you'll need to get the cutters out to make holes for PS/2,
keyboard, serial, parallel, USB etc ports.


--
_________________________
Conor Turton
conor_...@hotmail.com
ICQ:31909763
_________________________

JT

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Apr 8, 2002, 7:49:29 PM4/8/02
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Thanks for the reply. So I take it that it is possible to run an ATX power
supply/motherboard in an AT case.

How can I go about circumventing the latch problem with the On switch? Do I
need to make some modification? If I don't, is my system in some
"electrical" risk?


TIA,

JT

"Conor" <conor_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Lane Lewis

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Apr 9, 2002, 12:08:54 AM4/9/02
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I don't think you can run an at board with an atx power supply. At least you
would need to use the reset switch as the power switch. But I don't know if
the ATX is compatible electrically.

Maybe someone else will step in here.

My vote is to go with a new Celeron system :O)

Lane

"JT" <j_t...@yahoo.com.nospam> wrote in message
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rcm

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Apr 9, 2002, 12:59:21 AM4/9/02
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Two three years ago I had seen some ATX power supplies with a converter that
plugged into the ATX connector and made it into the AT connector. It was
about a 6 inch cable with the connectors. I actually kept a couple from
power supplies that came with them (and not used as the ATX cable was used
in the system build) and used them when needed. The only constraint is that
the ATX power supply have an on/off switch on the supply itself which some
do.

Here is a link to such a cable

http://www.quietpc.ca/cables.html

Note they have leads for a switch, I would assume this uses a ATX low
voltage momentary switch, not the usual AT 110v on off switch.

Note there is an link in the above article to a how-to article on connecting
two ATX power supplies together which I found interesting. Not that I would
want to do it but ...

http://www.burningissues.net/how_to/power/psu.htm

And I didn't find an AT to ATX connector, which would make sense since ATX
PSU have 3.3v and AT don't. Such a converter would cost too much to make,
no market.

"Lane Lewis" <no...@mlane.j.lewis@verizon.net> wrote in message
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Alien Zord

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Apr 9, 2002, 3:15:24 AM4/9/02
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"JT" <j_t...@yahoo.com.nospam> wrote in message
news:1hos8.17142$rU2.1...@carnaval.risq.qc.ca...
At mobos are 8.65" wide (the edge with keyboard connector), ATX are 12".
Unless you have one of the rare AT cases that take server class AT boards
(they had another 4 expansion slots the other side of keyboard socket) then
its unlikely that your case will have the room for ATX board. If it does
(and you are handy with tin snips and files), then modifying the ON/OFF
switch is a piece of cake. Just remove the U shaped latching clip which is
usually located under the return spring. And yes, most ATX power supplies
will fit straight in.

Philo

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Apr 9, 2002, 6:49:34 AM4/9/02
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the power supply is not a problem
but i'm not sure how you can get an atx formfactor
motherboard in an AT style case.

sounds like too much work to me :)


Alien Zord

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Apr 9, 2002, 6:57:51 AM4/9/02
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"Philo" <ph...@plazaearth.com> wrote in message
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JT

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Apr 9, 2002, 8:39:30 AM4/9/02
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Thanks to all for the input.

I'm not sure how rare my AT case is, but I would really like to keep it
since IMO it has 3 exposed 3.5 bays for floppy, Zip, Jaz. The only other
ATX cases I've seen with 3 exposed 3.5 bays are from the "Lian-Li" company
for about $220 CDN + tax.

My AT case is very large too, I know it will accomodate my Gigabyte BX2000
ATX board, so that should be ok.

--
Some info I got last night confuses me: the AT case might actually be ATX?
The case belongs to a friend of mine, and I just checked the box that the
computer dealer gave her. It says "AT", "ATX mid" and "ATX full", and has
"ATX mid" checked off in marker. From this I infer that the dealer sold her
the P1-200 system in an ATX case?? (she got the case/system around 1998)

I was always puzzled by 2 things for what I thought was an AT case. First,
the back of the case has a huge open space, which would accomodate all the
standard PS2/USB/serial/parallel stuff on the ATX motherboards. However, the
space is not nicely fitted like the current ATX cases. Second, the dealer
instructed her that to power up the P1-200 system, she has to press the
power button twice. (I always thought it was a faulty power supply.)

Maybe it's an ATX case. Is there someway I can tell for sure?


TIA,

JT


"Alien Zord" <rem.al...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Alien Zord

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Apr 9, 2002, 8:49:24 AM4/9/02
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"JT" <j_t...@yahoo.com.nospam> wrote in message
news:6iBs8.17383$rU2.1...@carnaval.risq.qc.ca...

> Thanks to all for the input.
>
> I'm not sure how rare my AT case is, but I would really like to keep it
> since IMO it has 3 exposed 3.5 bays for floppy, Zip, Jaz. The only other
> ATX cases I've seen with 3 exposed 3.5 bays are from the "Lian-Li" company
> for about $220 CDN + tax.
>
> My AT case is very large too, I know it will accomodate my Gigabyte BX2000
> ATX board, so that should be ok.
>
> --
> Some info I got last night confuses me: the AT case might actually be
ATX?
> The case belongs to a friend of mine, and I just checked the box that the
> computer dealer gave her. It says "AT", "ATX mid" and "ATX full", and has
> "ATX mid" checked off in marker. From this I infer that the dealer sold
her
> the P1-200 system in an ATX case?? (she got the case/system around 1998)
>
> I was always puzzled by 2 things for what I thought was an AT case.
First,
> the back of the case has a huge open space, which would accomodate all the
> standard PS2/USB/serial/parallel stuff on the ATX motherboards. However,
the
> space is not nicely fitted like the current ATX cases. Second, the dealer
> instructed her that to power up the P1-200 system, she has to press the
> power button twice. (I always thought it was a faulty power supply.)
>
> Maybe it's an ATX case. Is there someway I can tell for sure?
>
>
There were many cases (ex. Suntek) that were both AT and ATX compatible. One
simply changed an infill panel at the back to suit. Also many AT
motherboards had both AT and ATX power connectors.

graham

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Apr 9, 2002, 11:50:15 AM4/9/02
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On Tue, 9 Apr 2002 13:49:24 +0100, "Alien Zord"
<rem.al...@hotmail.com> wrote:

snip


>>
>> Maybe it's an ATX case. Is there someway I can tell for sure?
>>
>>
>There were many cases (ex. Suntek) that were both AT and ATX compatible. One
>simply changed an infill panel at the back to suit. Also many AT
>motherboards had both AT and ATX power connectors.

On some makes you didn't even have to change the infill. I've got a
none descrip case that does 3 types of MoBo. All you do is move the
mounting posts to different holes and open other slots/openings in the
back end of the case. It becomes obvious what holes etc are to be used
because usually the holes are marked for whatever MoBo is to used.
Some MoBo also had two lots of power connection, one AT, the other
ATX. (my AI5VG+ MoBo being an example) Again you just plug in the
correct connector. Like others have indicated the main difference is
the power supply switch. AT are mains powered whereas ATX is a
momentry short on the MoBo connection.

regards
Graham
remove 2 from e-mail address to reply

Conor

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Apr 9, 2002, 12:29:23 PM4/9/02
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In article <d0qs8.17177$rU2.1...@carnaval.risq.qc.ca>, j_tam1
@yahoo.com.nospam says...

> Thanks for the reply. So I take it that it is possible to run an ATX power
> supply/motherboard in an AT case.
>
> How can I go about circumventing the latch problem with the On switch? Do I
> need to make some modification? If I don't, is my system in some
> "electrical" risk?
>
>
Yes you can fit an ATX PSU into an AT case. What I've done in the past
is connect the wires from the cases' reset switch to the motherboard
connector for the on switch as an ATX PSU doesn't have an on/off switch
per se but instead the motherboard controls the PSU.

Larry

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Apr 10, 2002, 10:59:35 PM4/10/02
to
I have an old Gateway 2000 full tower (circa 1993) that has an ATX power supply
in it (Antec PP303 300-watt) along with a Tyan S1860 AT mobo.

No problem with using an ATX power supply in this case. As previously posted,
you will need to obtain an ATX-style power on/off switch (momentary contacts).
You could do like I did and that was to modify the existing AT-power on/off
switch. Inside of the AT-power on/off switch is a small wire "bar" about the
thickness as a large paper clip; if you remove this metal bar the switch will
become a momentary on/off switch (in the AT style setup, this switch actually
carried live AC! Not sure if this was posted or not; this is NOT the case with
ATX system however so don't worry!). The switch is very easy to disassemble and
reassemble. Mine had four small tabs that I needed to bend slightly using needle
nose pliers to separate the housing. The metal bar was easily removable using
needle nose pliers.

Once you have the momentary switch setup you just need to run two wires from it
to your mobo (use a multimeter to figure out which posts to attach the wires
to). You might be able to purchase one of these ATX style switches also...

Larry

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