A man called me, his computer an older Dell Vostro 230, would rapidly power on and off continuously. At first I though over heating but there wasn't much dust inside. I disconnected everything, still the same. I removed the memory chips, there was beeping, a good sign, but still not working.
I assumed it might be a bad power supply. He had a second tower similar to this one so I switched power supplies over, still didn't make a difference. Then I remembered recently watching a video by Carey Holzman (link to his channel: www.youtube.com/@CareyHolzman), he was troubleshooting a computer where it turned out to be a bad power switch. Sorry, can't remember exact video. So it crossed my mind maybe this computer had the same problem.
Remember to unplug power before proceeding. I decided to transfer the power cord assembly form another Dell that he had, very similar in make and model.
The question was, how hard it would be to transfer the power switch from his old Dell to this one? First, I had to take of the side panel and then take of the front panel. There are usually three plastic connectors which you can find on the front edge of your computer. Just pry them up to release them but not to much to break them.
Then the front panel should easily come off.
Now I had to locate the power switch and wires. A bit of luck, it just clipped on with no screws. The power switch in the center, attached inside the case with a plastic clip. Just squeeze it to release it. Do the same with the power light indicator slightly higher up. Bend up slightly the metal tabs holding the wires in place. Weave the wires down through the square hole towards the bottom and then unplug them from the motherboard.
Then I took the good power plug and reversed my actions. Plugging it into the motherboard then weaving it through the square hole plugging the power switch into the hole left by the removal of the old. Did the same with the light.
Plugged the power cord into the computer, pressed the power switch. Did it work? Yes it did. The power remained on and steady. Before replacing the panels I hooked up the monitor to see what was going on. I had to hook up the keyboard to because it's one of those computers, when it doesn't detect a keyboard ask you to click on a key on the keyboard to continue. :-)
The computer was booting up and staying on. I considered the transplant operation a success.