Replacing and ATX power supply...

I am assisting someone in replacing an ATX power supply.....
I have replaced power supplies before, but in towers......

As long as I get an ATX power supply of sufficient wattage, and connections, I
should be OK, correct?

Or can some of them screw with you, by putting in shorter lengths on cables?

Or can Gateway(eMachines) have something proprietary?
The power supply that's in there is a ATX-250-12E, made by BESTEC

Joe Gill wrote:
> Or can Gateway(eMachines) have something proprietary?
> The power supply that's in there is a ATX-250-12E, made by BESTEC
>
> TIA

It's possible...a long time ago when Packard Smell made PCs almost
everything inside was proprietary, couldn't buy parts for it except from
PB (the bastards). I replaced the ATX power supply in my PC several
years ago, bought it from TigerDirect.com. Might be worth a phone call
to them to make sure it will fit, etc.

From a longtime Gateway computers owner:

Joe Gill <joegill@removethis@prodigy.net> wrote:
> I am assisting someone in replacing an ATX power supply.....
> I have replaced power supplies before, but in towers......
>
> As long as I get an ATX power supply of sufficient wattage, and
> connections, I should be OK, correct?

99.9% certain to be correct.  ATX, assuming that's what you're replacing 
and the case is made for, will slide right in, screw right down and just 
connect the cables.
   One thing to check:  The count AND style of power connectors:  There 
are two different styles; the standard one, and a smaller footprint 
connector in some of the newer supplies.  But "ATX" *should* take care

of that.

>
> Or can some of them screw with you, by putting in shorter lengths on
> cables?

Actually, I've never seen two different PSU's with the same length 
connectors<g>.  That said however, I've also never seen one where the 
cables were too short.  Heck, if one is too short anyway, there's always 
the cheapie extenders for them.
>
> Or can Gateway(eMachines) have something proprietary?
> The power supply that's in there is a ATX-250-12E, made by BESTEC

Unless you're talking laptop or one of their "tiny" desktops you wont'

have any problems.  To my knowledge at least Gateway has never made 
proprietary PSUs for standard cased computers.  I've had 5 of them over 
the years, since the days of Leading Edge, and never seen anything close 
to proprietary in a Gateway machine that was Gateway's doing.  They're 
multiply sourced on components for the PCs they customize etc., just 
like any normal company.  The same goes for just about anyone that will 
customize PCs like GW will.
  Tigerdirect as someone mentioned is indeed a decent place to get 
parts, but ... their technical knowledge IMO is suspect at best.

If you're worried, check their return policies first, to see if you can 
get a refund of if they will only give you "credit".  Personally I
won't 
deal with a place that doesn't provide a refund.  But you're still out 
the shipping charges :-( anyway.

Cheers,

Twayne

>
> TIA

Twayne aka Pop wrote:
> 
> Actually, I've never seen two different PSU's with the same length 
> connectors<g>.  That said however, I've also never seen one where the

> cables were too short.  Heck, if one is too short anyway, there's always 
> the cheapie extenders for them.

Do they make extenders for the plug that goes directly on the motherboard?

> "Joe Gill" <joegill@removethis@prodigy.net> wrote in
message 
> news:fm3hm3$ic6$1@news.spamcop.net...
> I am assisting someone in replacing an ATX power supply.....
> I have replaced power supplies before, but in towers......
>
> As long as I get an ATX power supply of sufficient wattage, and 
> connections, I should be OK, correct?

You could get lucky and score something that works just fine.  You 
may struggle for a while with trying to return any number of items 
as they won't actually fit.

> Or can some of them screw with you, by putting in shorter lengths 
> on cables?

There are many ways to get 'screwed with' .... although the ATX 
implies a 'standard' ... this only relates to things like the way 
the power-switch actually works, some signals provided by and sensed 
by the power supply and motherboard.  Nothing in the ATX 'standard' 
that defines case size, mounting bolt/hole positions, mounting and 
positioning of any cooling fans and/or ducts, on and on ... won't 
even bring in the extra connections available/sometimes-provided to 
handle the processor/motherboard combo involved

> Or can Gateway(eMachines) have something proprietary?
> The power supply that's in there is a ATX-250-12E, made by BESTEC

Doing a quick Google unfortunately seems to indicate that this part 
number directly translates to an OEM for an eMachines computer .. 
kind of hinting at a possible proprietary scenario.  In fact, a 
comment seen at http://www.beachcomputers.com/atx-250-12e.htm 
certainly suggests a possible bit of nightmare issue ....

// The original ATX-250-12E can be hard to find because of it's 
special configuration on the back panel.//