Sorry, I stepped out. Otherwise I would have answered right away.
Your power supply changes your household, (Residential),or business electricity, into three main voltages. Also converts it from AC to DC electricity.
1) 3.3 Volts
2) 5 Volts
3) 12 Volts
Each one of these voltages is a voltage power rail.
There's more involved than that, but for ease of explanation, we'll let this suffice.
A) Orange wires are 3.3 Volts. ( 3 and 3/10ths Volts. Sometimes the decimal point is hard to see on here )
B) Red = 5 volts
C) Yellow = 12 Volts
The only power cable you're going to be switching around, in my thoughts, is a 4-pin peripheral power cable.
Has a 4-pin Molex connector on the end.
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#peripheralNote that there is one Yellow wire, one Red wire, and two Black wires.
If you have a bad 5 volt power rail, or a bad 12 volt power rail, all the peripheral power cables will be effected.
Won't do you any good changing them out.
They all derive their power from the same source.
I understand your reasoning, and it looks logical, huh? But as you can now see, it doesn't affect anything changing peripheral cables around.
The blinking Power On light indicates you have a bad power supply.
I can't find any documentation on Packard Bell's website to give you, to substantiate my statement to you.
Otherwise I would.
To test my claim.
Do you have another power supply of the same style, and has the right amount of power cables? Also should be at least 200 watt.
You're just going to use it for a test, not as a replacement power supply.
No?
You could conduct a voltage test of the power supply, but if the fan doesn't even spin, the power supply is kaput.
Does the power supply's fan spin?
If so we can go on to do a voltage test.
This will require a multimeter.
The multimeter is set to the 0-50 Volts DC scale.
An economical, but decent enough multimeter, can be purchased in a multitude of places.
An auto parts store is one place.
Radio Shack is another.
There are several stores that carry affordable ones.
Average price for a decent enough multimeter for this test is around $10 to $15.
If you do not wish to use a multimeter, there is also the option of using a simple to use power supply tester.
This is one example, and an example of where to purchase it,
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1647108&CatId=1107Again, this is if the fan on the power supply spins. There is the rare occasion that the fan on the power supply will fail, and the power supply will work, but this is not one of those rare occasions.
Also, if the power supply fan spins a few times, then stops, the power supply is shot.
What leads to power supply failure?
A) The power supply was a low quality item installed by the computer manufacturer.
Saved the manufacturer money.
50 cents to a dollar saved, times 50,000 computers, or more of that model, adds up in a hurry.
B) The computer is dirty inside. Computers need to be kept clean on the inside, as well as their power supply's, on a regular basis.
Inside a Power Supply is a Heatsink, or more than one Heatsink.
A Heatsink is typically constructed of a flat metal base, that has tall fins protruding up from the base.
The metal base absorbs heat from whatever object is placed against it, and the heat is radiated up into the fins, where it is dissipated away.
Air flows through the fins, and helps carry the heat away.
(There is a Heatsink on top of the Processor also)
A Power Supply also has a fan.
The fan draws air into the Power Supply through the computer case, then pushes the air out of the back of the computer case.
The air drawn in through the computer case, helps to keep the hardware components inside the computer case cool, as well as the other fans that are implemented. (Computer case fan/s, Processor fan)
It also helps to keep the hardware components inside the Power Supply cool.
When the Heatsink fins are clogged with gunk, and the fan's blades, center hub, and surrounding shroud, are clogged with gunk, the cooling capacity of the Power Supply drops tremendously.
The Power Supply hardware components heat up.
Heat = Wasted Energy
The Power Supply tries to keep up with the demand for power, but with the energy loss due to excessive heat, the Power Supply hardware components eventually fail.
Typical SMPS used in a computer. (Personal Computer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-mode_power_supply
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