Could it be the PSU???

SunDizzle · February 1st, 2006, 09:19 PM

Ok so my wife has an HP760n w/ a 2Ghz processor. She runs 768MB of ram and windows xp home edition. She has been having a bunch of weird problems lately that have been pointing me to the psu. So I let the thing go for a while and listen to the thing one day and notice that I don't "hear" the power supply fan running. So i touch the supply and it's hot as hell. So I have let the thing go laltely since I'm not positive that it's the psu that's giving the problems and everything. Today while trying to burn a DVD the system just shut off. I mean no warning just up and powered down? I got it to start a bunch of times but whenever i try to burn the DVD it still shuts down? I have burned multiiple DVDs already so I don't assume that's the problem

I decided to remove the power supply from the HP and put one from an E-machine that my daughter has and noticed that everything's the same except for some weird connection on the psu. It's a P7 connector, anyone know what that's for? I looked it up and got nada so, what is it? Also, if I don't have a psu w/ a P7 can I hook it up?

thanks

SunDizzle · February 1st, 2006, 09:37 PM

bump?

#43 fan · February 1st, 2006, 09:48 PM

I don't believe you can use that PSU because of the proprietary hook up. And, yes, I also believe its the PSU, so, you can either get a replacement from HP or get a new motherboard and Windows XP.

SunDizzle · February 2nd, 2006, 06:47 AM

Gah...damn...thought as much. Oh well guess I will just buy a new one.

Thanks Reather

Question though, what is the P7 connector on the power supply for? Is it power for the fan?

Micro Bean · February 2nd, 2006, 07:00 AM

Why not just get a new Case with a PSU

DanU · February 2nd, 2006, 02:41 PM

Power supplies don't care if there are unused accessory plugs.

"P7" is just a label to indicate that it's the seventh plug. If you tell us what the connector looks like, how many wires it has, and what the colors of the wires are then we can probably tell you what it's for.

Your HP 760N appears to use a standard micro ATX case and power supply. E-machines also frequently uses standard parts. There is a decent chance that the power supplies are interchangeable. Are the motherboard power cables both 20-pins? Do both power supplies have the 12V 4-pin plug (2 yellow and two black wires). What is the wattage of both supplies?

KillCity44 · February 4th, 2006, 12:56 PM

Check your BIOS settings. I had a similiar problem and it turned out that the BIOS was set-up to turn the PC off when the CPU got to a certain temperature to prevent damage from overheating. Burning DVDs can be quite demanding on the CPU so it could be getting hotter than usual.

Your BIOS may not even have this feature but it's still worth having a look.

RDrewD · February 18th, 2006, 09:51 PM

I ran into this same problem with a Dell PC, or so I thought. The sales critter at Microcenter said in his experience, I absolutely needed a power supply with a P7 connector to make a successful power supply replacement. I have no solid evidence on the matter, but having googled around today, I found a web page from a power supply company that explained that HP p7 connector is how the motherboard controls the cooling fan in the power supply. That vendor insists you can live without it with his power supply as his power supply itself regulates its own cooling fan. PC power supplies only put out so many assorted voltages, so it seemed to me that if the p7 connector was just another output, somebody would be selling an adapter wiring harness. However, that same web page seemed to side with the Microcenter sales guy's experience in the case of the Dell extra connector. Anyhow, the PC in question was like 6 years old and a spiffy new replacement PC was cheap enough to make it easy to just toss the problem and replace the system.

(Fundamental principle of computer science: There's no problem so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from, though perhaps at a price).

See http://www.affordablesurplus.com/ps_...lary_Connector
if you'd like to read what I just read. Feel free to further my education if you have experience with this stuff.

My conclusion is that there are lots more variations in PC power supplies than the "standards" would lead me to believe. Consquently, replacing a power supply is a trickier matter than I'd expected it to be. If you really want to replace just the power supply, it may be worth talking to the original vendor or hitting e-bay for an exact replacement unit.

Drew