What power supply should I buy? (HP Pavilion a000)

General Questions
#1

About a week ago, my computer died. I was playing a “casual” game and suddenly…bzzt! Black screen, computer shut down (abruptly). I let it sit for a bit (about a minute) then hit the power button. No fans. The power button light comes on, the CD and DVD drives light and cycle once each. The hard drive light comes on for about 5 seconds. Then nothing but the power button light. The monitor is acting like there’s no signal (probably because there’s not).

The computer is an HP Pavilion a000, about seven years old. The green light on the power supply at the back is burning steadily. The power supply itself is a Delta Electronics model DPS-250QB-1 A.

From what I’ve been able to find online, it sounds like the power supply is shot in some way. I have no problem at all dropping $50 or so on a new one if it means I get my computer back.

So…what kind of power supply should I buy? Should I get an equivalent of the old one (250w) or should I get a more powerful one? Would a more powerful one damage anything on the computer in some way? Does Delta even MAKE that model anymore?

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

#2

Have you upgraded it in anyway?
Do you run multiple Optical disc drives?
What is the graphics card?

250W is pretty weak, but most PCs won’t even use that unless you’re doing something graphics intensive, but even watching DVD/Bluray movies is decent load.

It does sound like a power supply issue, but might be something else.

Unless you really went all out and put in Dual vid cards or went to a RAID hard drive system, you can probably get by with a 300/350w ps.

A higher wattage power supply will not damage anything.

#3

Try Meritline or Newegg online - The B&M stores will rape you on power supplies & the like.

Be sure the PS is generic size. Some PS are unique to the manuf but most are fairly standardized.

#4

Minor upgrades…RAM (brought it up to 1G) and graphics card (though even that’s not high-end or anything - 256MB Nvidia something or other). Everything else is original issue.

astro - Thanks for the recommendation. I hadn’t even considered those…I’ve been flailing around looking up equivalents on Google. I only really began seriously looking today…I’ve been too sick the last week to even think about it.

#5

First make sure that you CAN buy a new power supply that will work with it. Many large computer manufacturers (HP, Dell, etc…) use proprietary power supplies and such that either can only be bought from them to replace, or can’t be user-replaced at all.

Sop just make sure that there aren’t any weird connectors on it that wouldn’t be on a normal one. Usually if there’s going to be a weird connector it will be the main motherboard connector. Boards nowadays use either the 13-pin ATX, or the 13+4 pin ATX. And then you’ll need to see if you have anything that uses a PC-I power connector, or…umm…ok, I forget what it’s called, but it’s either another 4 or 8 pin connector (black and yellow wires) that plugs into the motherboard near the CPU to give it more power. Again, almost all new power supplies will have these, but make sure that they are regular connectors, not some special “HP only” ones.

#6

What’s the exact model number?

#7

dps-250qb-1 a

#8

Are you sure it’s not a dps-250-4a? What is the exact model of the computer?

#9

Unless the sticker on the power supply itself is lying to me.

I’ll have to check on that when I get home. Where would that be, if it’s different from HP Pavilion a000?

#10

It’ll be on a label on the back with the serial number. Something like ‘a735w’ or ‘a220n’.

#11

Okay, I’ll check it once I’m home, then.

#12

It just says “HP Pavilion a000”.

#13

Well crap. I’m 95% sure it’s a standard ATX power supply, but there’s no cross reference for a Delta dps-250-qb 1a. Do you have the invoice for it? Or install and run Belarc, it should tell you what the computer model is. The a000 is the part number of the case that’s used for multiple models with different internals.

Or you could measure the PS box itself and list the connectors. It should have a 20-pin main, a square 4-pin CPU 12V connector, multiple 4-pin molex and a coupple of floppy connectors. Possibly a couple of SATA hard drive connectors and possibly a 6-pin AUX connector that hopefully isn’t used.

#14

Okay, I finally got the PS out of the case. It looks to be about 6 x 6 x 3 (approx. (I don’t have a ruler handy)). It has the 20-pin main power, the 4-square 12V power, and two branches of wires with two 4-pin peripheral plugs and a 4-pin floppy plug each. (I don’t NEED the floppy plugs, though my PC does have a floppy drive…I haven’t owned a program on floppy in over 10 years).

Now that I can read it in good light and without the case edges in the way:

On the Delta label:

Model #: DPS-250QB-1 A
REV: S2
S/N: TXD0307006355
On a secondary label:

HP P/N: 5187-1098 DLT250QB1A S2

#15

I do plan on upgrading as soon as I’ve saved the money, incidentally. While I’ve been computerless (well, my own personal computerless), I’ve been looking at what good midgrade PCs cost now and they’ve gone DOWN…when I bought the ailing one in 2002, it cost me around $1000. I can customize an HP online and have it cost less than $500 now. All I have to worry about is porting all of my old programs to a new hard drive and OS.

#16

Appears to be a more or less standard ATX power supply.

Delta - OEM match

Bestec

Newegg has a large selection

#17

Sounds good. I just ordered a cheap replacement 250w from NewEgg, since I am planning on replacing the whole shebang with a new PC relatively soon.

I appreciate the help from everyone here. Thank you all!

#18

Yep, concur on the standard ATX.

Now let’s hope the old one didn’t fry anything when it died.