Repairing an HP Pavillion...question

[JimC]

An associate of mine is going to give me his 3 yr old HP Pavillion
to get it repaired. I told him that the power supply sounds like it is bad, as it starts to power up/boot up, but shuts off before the post even starts. He said he called HP tech support and that is what he was told also. The case is a mini-tower, but i don't have the model #. I think the power supply is a non-standard one, and a replacement has to come from HP...that is what the HP tech said. The price for a new power supply? $90.00!! And it is not even a high-wattage one! That is why it is still broken. Anyway, I told him that he is much better off just getting a new tower (NOT a mini-tower) with all generic parts... his HP 14in. monitor and keyboard should work OK with the new tower. I mean, he is just going to have more trouble with that PC. So he is going to take my advice and get a new tower, but he can't bear to let his old tower "go to PC heaven", so he is willing to spend $$$ to get it fixed. Problem is, if the replacement power supply is only available through HP, then it is going to cost me $90.00 (plus a little labor) also. There is no other cheaper source?
Are the connectors standard on an HP power supply, so that I can at least sub in a generic supply to see if that is indeed the fix? I haven't done repairs on an HP before. Thanks.

[newme]

hi jim c
i have an hp pavillon 6545c about 3 years old just had the same problem.i priced hp and was way to expensive.mine was a 100 watt supply as you can see not a good supply.I shopped around and found acheap power supply for 17 bucks used .It is atx of course, and i had to cut the back of the metal frame that holds the supply in place.the new supply i bought the fan was in the back and this metal i cut out was blocking the fan ,the old supply was on the side of the supply facing the board.any way everything ok so far. just my opinion hope it helps

[BFD Deadeye]

90 bucks is just %^$#ing ridiculous for a PS. You could buy a whole new case for that price...a nice case. That's HP for ya. I had a client that needed a floppy drive, they wanted to stick with HP, and it cost them $50 + $10 for S&H. Just another reason to never buy a pre-built (like I needed another one). If that is an ATX board, then a generic ATX PS should work. But, you will be limited by room in the case. Check the dimensions before you buy it.

[old dog]

Take a look at This ,just sort of stuck in my mind after a friend of mine had his HP go up like fire works. Im not sure if this is what you need and I have never bought anything from here.

Also found this SPI

[JimC]

That might be just what I need....thanks!

[JimC]

No, that micro-ATX P/S doesn't have a "3-pin fan supply connector". This HP Pavillion has an additional 3-pin connector that is right next to the output connector on the mobo for the CPU fan. I assume then, that this is the power source for the fan power connector. I am not sure why they would design the PC like this except to insure that one can only get the right power supply from HP at an outrageous price. If that is the *only* difference...the CPU fan is powered from a separate P/S connector...then I could take any generic ATX supply, and use it just as a quick test supply to see if that is the fix, right? (Shutting the PC down before the CPU can overheat, naturally). But I have to be SURE that is the only difference from a std Micro-ATX before trying it. Can someone confirm this?
Come to think of it, why couldn't I just tap 12 VDC and ground off of the appropriate ATX connector wire on a std. micro-ATX supply and hard-wire/splice the CPU fan wires? (IF that is indeed is the only function of the extra 3-pin connector) I could confirm this myself, I suppose, by looking at the bottom traces on the mobo, but that is a lot of work to take it out, you know?

[old dog]

We tested my friends HP with a standard ATX P/S everything worked fine. Cpu fan worked and all. No way to make it fit. His orginal supply had the Fan connector on it but it didnt connect to anything, so i'm mot sure what it does.

[JimC]

Thanks to all...but it turned out to be the motherboard that is defective, drawing too much current, and making the PS shut down. A 300W ATX PS known good did not fix it.. Disconnected all peripherals and PCI cards, replaced Celeron 466 CPU, replaced SDRAM; still the same, has to be the mobo itself. I am thinking it is best to tell the customer just to forget it, write this machine off and buy a new tower (NOT mini!). But, if he insists on getting it fixed, is it even possible to find a generic mobo for non-flip-chip Celeron that would fit/mount in this mini-tower case? (IF HP wanted $90 for a 100W power supply, they would probably want $200 for a replacement mobo!)