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?