DCG Retrowave wrote on 2020-01-12, 22:04:

What blew my mind was that the Astec PSU's max output is only 110w! This seems ridiculously low for a 1998 tower! I want to add a graphics card (PCI only because it has no AGP slots), but I'm scared I'll overload the poor thing. I tried replacing the PSU this afternoon, but my HIPRO 250w doesn't have the 3 pin connector for the HP Pavilion's motherboard so I ended up putting the Astec back in.

You mean 4pin ? The PSU is a low power standard ATX as seen in these picture: https://picclick.com/Vintage-HP-Pavilion-6370 … 4111778182.html
Any standard 200-300watt ATX should work fine as a replacement: https://www.replacepowersupply.com/300w-astec-aa20360.html

Horun wrote on 2020-01-13, 00:06:

You mean 4pin ? The PSU is a low power standard ATX as seen in these picture: https://picclick.com/Vintage-HP-Pavilion-6370 … 4111778182.html
Any standard 200-300watt ATX should work fine as a replacement: https://www.replacepowersupply.com/300w-astec-aa20360.html

There's a 3 pin connector on the HP's motherboard. The HIPRO I tried had a 4 pin cable for the board instead.

That is very odd ! All of my slot 1 boards (have many) only use a 20pin ATX to board. Even the higher end ones that can run 1Ghz cpu's use just standard 20pin ATX.

The PSU and motherboard have that 20 pin as well which is normal, but there's another cable going from the PSU to a 3 pin connector on my motherboard. The HIPRO I was hoping to use has a 4 pin cable instead.

Can you post a picture of the motherboard ?

I'm referring to the cable connected to the motherboard in the second photo (next to the standard 20 pin cable). This smaller cable is connected to a 3 pin connector on my motherboard. The PSU I wanted to use in this machine has a 4 pin version and the computer I pulled it out of had a 4 pin connector as well as the 20 pin.

Dont be totally shocked. i have a few gateway P II based PCs that only have a 90w PSU.
I wouldn't push them with a lot of heavy gaming, but they do work ok.

That is an Asus P2B98-XV, that 3 pin looks like a standard FAN header and may feed power back to the PSU fan. Can you read the writing on the board where that 3 pin is plugged in ? (your pic is not clear enough). Asus: https://www.asus.com/supportonly/P2B98-XV
the pic in the manual shows that connector but no description. Many Google images do show that same connector.

Cobra42898 wrote on 2020-01-15, 01:12:

Dont be totally shocked. i have a few gateway P II based PCs that only have a 90w PSU.
I wouldn't push them with a lot of heavy gaming, but they do work ok.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with such a weak PSU 😁. I've heard that Astec PSUs are pretty reliable so at least it's a quality low-watt PSU 🤣

I'd like to throw in a PCI graphics card if possible. Do you have any suggestions for a low-power card? The guy who sold me the PC has a Radeon 9250 which is somewhat newer than I'd like, but I'm sure it would still run games from 1998-2000 very well.

Both of those 3-pin connectors should be for fans. Looks like HP just connected one of them to the PSU fan but used a slighty different connector. You will only need the 20-pin to power the board.

Horun wrote on 2020-01-15, 02:08:

That is an Asus P2B98-XV, that 3 pin looks like a standard FAN header and may feed power back to the PSU fan. Can you read the writing on the board where that 3 pin is plugged in ? (your pic is not clear enough). Asus: https://www.asus.com/supportonly/P2B98-XV
the pic in the manual shows that connector but no description. Many Google images do show that same connector.

I'll get the info this evening when I replace the hard drive. Both Windows 98 and ME fail to install and keep giving me a "Windows Protection Error" regarding "vmm32.vxd" even after removing all hardware upgrades I've done so far (PCI 3Com Ethernet Card and an LG CD-RW to replace the defective stock CD-R). I believe the hard drive is the issue because the BIOS won't allow me to utilize the full 80 GB. It's limiting me to only 8455 MB (the Windows XP setup disc detected 80 GB, but I didn't try installing because I'm not planning on running XP on a PII). I think the issue is the hard drive's speed, 7200 RPM. I could be wrong, but I feel like this motherboard can't properly use this drive. The BIOS reports the correct amount of megabytes and cylinders, but is severely limiting how many of those can be accessed.

lost77 wrote on 2020-01-16, 18:36:

Both of those 3-pin connectors should be for fans. Looks like HP just connected one of them to the PSU fan but used a slightly different connector. You will only need the 20-pin to power the board.

Yeah, I figured the 20-pin was the primary connector I had to worry about. I'd still like to have a working PSU fan though because I prefer not to have a fire in my bedroom 😉

i haven't had good luck with pavilions and bios upgrades, but that may be a better motherboard than I have. see if you can find the bios revision and motherboard model. some motherboards like my gateway g6-266's had revisions available. That yellow and font tells me its likely an asus of some kind.

DCG Retrowave wrote on 2020-01-16, 18:56:

Yeah, I figured the 20-pin was the primary connector I had to worry about. I'd still like to have a working PSU fan though because I prefer not to have a fire in my bedroom 😉

I thought you were looking to replace the PSU? A more standard PSU will power the fan internally.

lost77 wrote on 2020-01-17, 18:11:

DCG Retrowave wrote on 2020-01-16, 18:56:

Yeah, I figured the 20-pin was the primary connector I had to worry about. I'd still like to have a working PSU fan though because I prefer not to have a fire in my bedroom 😉

I thought you were looking to replace the PSU? A more standard PSU will power the fan internally.

If I can find a PSU replacement, then I'll do it. For now, the old Astec is staying in there 😁

I started a thread a while ago about using different video cards in my Pavilion (466MHz Celeron) with a 100W PSU.

Video Card Power Consumption

boxpressed wrote on 2020-01-17, 18:23:

I started a thread a while ago about using different video cards in my Pavilion (466MHz Celeron) with a 100W PSU.

Video Card Power Consumption

That thread is making me seriously reconsider swapping out the PSU 🤣

I searched Google for information about connecting a 4-pin PSU fan to a 3-pin motherboard connector and found this:
"Electrically, there is no problem doing this - the fourth pin on the fan cable is used purely for PWM control and is not needed in order for the fan to run. So you can plug the 4-pin fan connector onto the 3-pin motherboard fan header, leaving the fourth pin not connected to anything."

I guess I can use that 2003 HIPRO based on this info. Does it matter which 3 out of 4 female connectors on the cable are connected to the 3-pin motherboard connector? The HIPRO was previously used in my Compaq Presario S5100NX and it seemed to be pretty good. It's also a 250w PSU which should be more than enough to power this HP. The HIPRO appears to be somewhat dirty though (light gray spots on the fan for example), but I'm a little scared to try cleaning it. I'm guessing it's fine the way it is? The last time I used it with the S5100NX it worked fine. When I pulled the PSU out of the case, I placed it on my table next to the tower, which I accidentally tipped and it fell right on the PSU 😁. Would that have harmed the PSU in any way? I'm a little cautious with PSUs ever since my childhood HP Pavilion's BesTec died and starting making a high-pitched screaming sound 😳. The replacement PSU I got for it starting smoking immediately once I plugged it in so now I'm scarred for life 😁 (it was another faulty BesTec that I bought used. I was only 8 years old so I didn't know any better 🤣)