PC Power Unit Failure

[Stuart*]

My HP iMedia 1427 died yesterday morning (having been fit and healthy the night before). Having checked most things, I thought it must be the power unit, and this seemed to be confirmed by PC World (although they wanted £70 to actually tell me that officially, and even more of my hard-erned cash to fix it).

Someone was behind me in the queue, also with an HP PC with similar problem. His warranty had just expired too - how odd!

I have a few old PCs (one of which I have resurrected for now), but I noticed that the power units look fairly standard in each, and was thinking of taking one out of the other PCs and trying it in the HP iMedia.

Does anyone know whether this is fairly simple. I'm presuming that if the numpties at PC World can do it, then it can't be too difficult.

Any suggestions, thoughts or help would be most appreciated!

[madmusician]

I did one once, but bought a new one from PC World, as we hadn't got another computer. It's not that hard, you just have to connect a cable to each drive and the hard disk etc...

[Stuart*]

Thanks madmusician. I'm fairly familiar with the inside of the PC. I've changed hard disks, added new drives, network cards, RAM etc so this doesn't sound too bad.

The only thing is the unit doesn't look as though it's easily removed in the Hewlett Packard. In the other PCs a couple of screws seems to free it, but the HP doesn't look straight forward.

Does anyone have experience of removing the power unit in an HP?

[Stuart*]

Thanks Mark..

I assume we're talking about a desktop PC here. If so if it's a standard PSU, it's a simple job of opening up the case, unscrewing the old PSU out (four screws on the back panel), disconnecting all the drives, the motherboard and any dependant fans (make a note of which cable went where to make things a little easier - also make sure if you have SATA drives, you press in the little release tab before pulling out the lead, and the same goes for the motherboard).

Then slip your shiny new PSU in (try to at least match the wattage on your old machine, but as it died you might want to go a little higher and buy the best you can afford), and basically do the opposite of what you just did.


Shouldn't take more than about five minutes.

It may, as you've mentioned, be a tight squeeze - generally the PSU will go in before everything else is positioned around it. If so, there's no harm in removing your processor or drives that are sticking out, just so long as you put them back in the right place afterwards!

I have managed now to remove the old PSU although not disconnected it as I want to remember where the plugs go on the M/board...and drives.....it does seem as simple as the "lego" approach with adding a HDD, DVD-R etc...

I was worried when looking at purchases on the net today (with my old PC using WinME lol - although it works on an 8 year old PC) about higher wattage rather than sticking to the 250W on the unit am removing - I have an HP iMedia 1427 so not sure what wattage the Motherboard could cope with (if that makes sense - or if it makes a difference).

But you seem to suggest higher wattage is better.....there are some PSUs with a little higher wattage at not much extra cost (UP TO 500w), but the PSU I'm extacting has a big fan on the side that seems to drive a fan over the processsor for cooling (as well as exterior), so should I not be looking for one that does the same?

[Bail]

Thanks Mark..

I assume we're talking about a desktop PC here. If so if it's a standard PSU, it's a simple job of opening up the case, unscrewing the old PSU out (four screws on the back panel), disconnecting all the drives, the motherboard and any dependant fans (make a note of which cable went where to make things a little easier - also make sure if you have SATA drives, you press in the little release tab before pulling out the lead, and the same goes for the motherboard).

Then slip your shiny new PSU in (try to at least match the wattage on your old machine, but as it died you might want to go a little higher and buy the best you can afford), and basically do the opposite of what you just did.


Shouldn't take more than about five minutes.

It may, as you've mentioned, be a tight squeeze - generally the PSU will go in before everything else is positioned around it. If so, there's no harm in removing your processor or drives that are sticking out, just so long as you put them back in the right place afterwards!

I have managed now to remove the old PSU although not disconnected it as I want to remember where the plugs go on the M/board...and drives.....it does seem as simple as the "lego" approach with adding a HDD, DVD-R etc...

I was worried when looking at purchases on the net today (with my old PC using WinME lol - although it works on an 8 year old PC) about higher wattage rather than sticking to the 250W on the unit am removing - I have an HP iMedia 1427 so not sure what wattage the Motherboard could cope with (if that makes sense - or if it makes a difference).

But you seem to suggest higher wattage is better.....there are some PSUs with a little higher wattage at not much extra cost (UP TO 500w), but the PSU I'm extacting has a big fan on the side that seems to drive a fan over the processsor for cooling (as well as exterior), so should I not be looking for one that does the same?

Long ago people used to just buy "any old PSU" however now-a-days they are a vital bit of PC kit, using a cheapy one increases the risk of damaging the PC should it ever go wrong. And you are right to buy a higher wattage one, don't think of them pumping too much power into the PC causing it to blow up, the PSU will only output what the computer wants, having "500w" on the box means it can output a MAX of 500w, so you're basically giving your PC a little breathing room as it were.

[Stuart*]

That's what I wanted to hear Bail.....

(of course I will hunt you down if a mushroom cloud envelops Plymouth tomorrow afternoon)

I had a feeling that HP had installed instufficient power for the upgrades available on the iMedia1427. I'd already done a network card, new graphics card and additional HDD.

For the extra £15 I might go for the higher wattage PSU

EDIT: - Does it make a difference which side the fan is on.....? My Imedia147 seems to drive the fan over the processor, so it wouldn't ne good to remove that. I have restricted my new choices to ones which include a rather masive fan at the side - i don't care about the noise!

[Bail]

It's best to get one that helps with the overall airflow in the case, if the CPU fan blows towards the PSU then get one with a fan on the other side so they don't counteract each other...

What PSU are you going for out of interest, make sure it'll "fit" your existing motherboard...

[Stuart*]

The cheapest one I've seen is a Jeantech SFX-230P2, and that includes a big fan on the side facing the CPU, although the CPU fan has a "funnel" to the outside of the casing, so it won't interfere with it.

The other is the Jeantech ATX 500W (£15 more). includes a second side fan, but may be better because of the power as recently I was getting warning messages about the processor overheating.

By "fitting" the Motherboard I assume you mean the same connections? I'm hoping that seeing as my PC is fairly new then PCUs will have the correct connections.

[Stuart*]

Well it's all done and the HP is working again. You were right Bail, it didn't take more than about 5 mins, and the new fan is certainly quieter than the last one, which is suspect was faulty from purchase!

Anyway, thanks all for the advice.