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October 8th, 2008

Dell XPS 720 non-standard motherboard/power supply

Someone asked me to help fix their computer.

It was a Dell XPS 720 (ie a high-end gaming PC), and it would run for a few minutes, and then suddenly switch off.

It seems like a failing power supply, so I think it shouldn’t be difficult to fix…

Once I’m in front of the computer, I see the PC is really large… one of the largest PC cases I’ve ever seen… and its really heavy!

It takes me a while to figure out how to open the case.

Peering inside, I see a computer that looks quite different to any modern PC… hard drives, power supply, motherboard… all laid out in a non-standard way.

Despite the huge case and cables neatly arranged, I still need to take out the hard drives, in order to get a good look at the motherboard.

After figuring out how to remove the hard drives, I then see that the power supply is plugged into the motherboard in 2 different places, using non-standard power connectors.

This is something I’d expect to see in the late 1980’s !

Anyway, I realise there is no way I can replace the power supply at short notice, so I reassemble everything, and give the customer the verdict: Either he (or I) will need to contact Dell, and get the power supply for this model PC (and I suspect it won’t be cheap!).

Dell: why do you do this?

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Posted by Computer Help in Technical

7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Dell XPS 720 non-standard motherboard/power supply”

  1. The Computer Whisperer says:

    I am working on a Dell pc at the moment, Had to bring it back to the office, no PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse, the keyboard and mouse onsite worked no problem but I can’t get the system to boot up to install USB keyboard and mouse, also, I can’t in-place upgrade as windows crashes half way through loading the initial install files, I can only assume it’s because I can’t change from sata native mode to backwards compatible like I can on every single other sata system I have ever came across, ever. so ditto on your last line m8. -)

    October 8th, 2008 at 14:47
  2. Matt Oxley says:

    Hey Im a tech also, i wouldnt think this pc would be totally non standard like that….especially on one of their xps systems……can you take pictures of this…it doesnt sound right to me.

    October 9th, 2008 at 1:41
  3. Computer Help says:

    Believe it Matt.

    I can’t take pictures. This happened a few weeks ago, and the PC is with the customer.

    Apparently this is a very common “problem” with the XPS line of Dell PCs

    I guess Dell thinks if someone is prepared to pay a huge amount for a top-line PC, then they don’t mind paying even more to have it fixed.

    October 9th, 2008 at 9:51
  4. Paul says:

    I have an XPS in the laptop line. I wouldn’t buy Dell (or any brand computer) without buying a full warranty for this reason. I think the XPS series should come with a minimum of 1-year warranty, and Dell treats the XPS customers better than the regular consumer customers, so it really does pay off if you need it.

    October 9th, 2008 at 18:58
  5. nukeit says:

    I’ve serviced around 500 Dell computers in the last few years and I don’t think any use standard power supply connectors. Even the older ones that had standard looking ATX connectors were missing weird pins or had wires crossed. The XPS series are especially bad about odd layouts and parts too.

    October 9th, 2008 at 21:20
  6. OCTANE says:

    DELL IS CRAP! THEY ARE THE WORST!
    THE XPS SERIES IS A JOKE! AND
    MICHAEL DELL IS A DOUCHE BAG!

    January 16th, 2009 at 0:27
  7. Eric says:

    The XPS 700/710/720 systems do use a Intel standard board / chassis design. The standard is the BTX design. The BTX design was going to be the next great form factor from Intel however that did not play out well for Intel as only Dell, Gateway and a few intel boards were ever made based off this design. It had some adavantages but with no takers it died a quick death. The new XPS 730 systems appear to have gone back to an ATX based design.

    April 20th, 2009 at 15:25

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