Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
frying both the power supply and the motherboard. The older Dell systems can be upgraded only by
replacing both the motherboard and the power supply at the same time.
Starting in 2001, Dell converted to using industry-standard ATX power supplies and motherboard
power connectors for most (but not all) of its systems. Even though most Dell systems after 2001 use
standard supplies, there are still some built after that time (the XPS Gen 2, for example) that have
used completely nonstandard power supplies.
I installed a PCI video card in an older system with PCI slots, and it doesn't work.
The PCI bus has gone through several revisions; some older motherboards have “2.0” type slots, and
most newer cards need “2.1” or later PCI slots. The version of PCI your system has is dictated by the
motherboard chipset. If you install a newer video or other PCI card that requires 2.1 slots in a system
with 2.0 slots, often the system won't boot up or operate at all.
If this is your problem, the only solution is to change either the card or the motherboard so that they
are both compatible.