Dell PowerEdge 840 PSU

[Welch]

I've got what I think to be a dead PSU in a Dell PowerEdge 840. I'd slap in a standard ATX PSU to test that assumption out, but it looks like Dell made these damn thing with an 10 pin proprietary power plug for the board that serves the HDDs. I see tons of Dell 840 power supplies for sale online, but anyone aware if there is a normal brand PSU that has this same plug? I'm assuming its proprietary to Dell but hoping to be told otherwise. Thanks for the help in advance. I seem to recall seeing these on older system instead of the 20 or 24pin plugs for the motherboard... Have they revived this plug specifically for their HDD backboards?

[thegst]

Possibly PC Power & Cooling (now owned by OCZ) as they made proprietary pinout replacement PSUs for Dell in the past.

[Welch]

Thanks thegst, was hoping someone here locally carried them but all of the shops that carry parts are lame apparently . Getting a green then amber blinking light combo. I'm 90% sure its the PSU as I get the famous flicker to everything when I attempt to turn it on after unplugging the PSU for awhile and then plugging it back in.

[flip-mode]

I'd be surprised if you found any PSU that works with it. This is one of Dell's major revenue streams - proprietary connectors for all components. If you feel like it you can search for my post about finding SATA cables that will work with the Dell PowerEdge R310 I bought last year. Long story short - impossible to find outside of Dell - and the real kicker: Dell doesn't technically sell the cable - they only sell the hard drives for the R310 and the cable is "included" with the drive. This is how they ensure that you don't buy a server without any drives. And if you look at Dell's hard drive prices you better be wearing a diaper cause you'll drop a deuce.

[P5-133XL]

You have many choices, none of which are very palatable.

1. Buy a replacement PS from Dell
2. Buy a used Dell Poweredge 840 and scavange the PS from it
3. Find a compatible PC Power and Cooling Dell power supply that someone else has. PC power and Cooling has EOL'ed the Dell line so they are not manufacturing them anymore.
4. Build a custom plug and rewire a standard PS.
5. PC Power and cooling will also build custom PS's so I suppose you could contact them and they could build you one assuming their previous license with Dell does not preclude them from doing it.

My suggestion is just buy a replacement PS from Dell at their inflated price and be done with it. Don't forget to learn from the experience.

[absurdity]

You could also look into how much it would cost to put it back under warranty, and get a replacement that way.

[Welch]

Well lots of suggestions later and a call to dell led me to Amazon. Was about 50 bucks (no biggie) and i rush overnight shipped it for $40 bucks. Slapped the sucker in and its up and running (this was 1 day after my original post). 100 bucks total.. not so bad considering my client thought they were screwed for a week. They were really happy to have it before the end of business day the day after the issue. Thanks again for suggestions.