Dead Dell 2350

This week a friend had me look at his Dell 2350 that wasn't working. This model is about five years old and did not give any signs of trouble prior to this. If you plug it in and press the power button nothing happens. The only sign of life is a little green light next to the power plug on the mother board. We ruled out the power supply by plugging it into one from another system. This made the mobo look like the source of the problem. Searching the Internet produced a long list of 2350 owners with similar troubles. But no one seemed to have a cure.

Replacing the mobo looked like the only option. Unfortunately I found out that a refurbished system board for a Dell 2350 goes for $250. That's a lot more than most people are willing to pay to keep a piece of outdated technology working. I paid about $90 bucks for an ABIT system board two and a half years ago that could run circles around a 2350. So why are they charging $250? Dell must have tight control of their spare parts supply chain. Their devious plan seems to be working because now my friend has to go out and buy a new computer. But, this time it probably won't be a Dell.