Dell Power Supply Interchangeable?

[Sintoras]

Today when I wanted to start my Dell Dimension 9200, it didn't. All that happenend was that an orange light kept blinking on the front.
As far as I've gathered from various forums, it seems to be the power supply most likely. The thing is, I have another older Dell (Dimension 9100) from 2005 sitting around and I was wondereing if I could just exchange the power supplys to test if thats the problem. As far as I can tell, there isn't much of a difference between the two PSUs, one being called L375P-00 (the new one from 2007) and the old one is N375P-00.
Anyone know if I can trade these parts without risk? If you want, I can give you more data on what the stickers on the PSUs say.

Thanks!

 

[Samuraid]

Before swapping PSUs, make sure that the older one:

• Has the same main power connector (24-pin is common for the more recent PSUs, older ATX standards used 20 pins).
• Has the necessary PCI-Express power connector (assuming you have a graphics card that needs it).
• Is of similar wattage.

Otherwise, you should be ok. Bear in mind that Dell tends to use cheaper power supplies for their mainstream computers: generally in the 300-375W range, but with reasonably weak 12V rails.

 

[Sintoras]

Alright, I'll give it a go in a while. We'll see how it goes.