Power Supply Style - how to tell apart?

[Jayce]

Some friends of my parents called today and mentioned their computer died. They were typing and it just, flat out died. It had been shut off for an hour by the time they called and they said there was heat coming from the rear fan, and that the screws in that area were even hot. They got ZERO response when they tried to boot up the computer. They tried other outlets, etc. Most definitely a fried PSU.

The computer is a 3 year old Emachines. How would I know which PSU to get? Would I have to go to Emachines.com and run the serial number through so I can get a visual of exactly what parts are in the computer, find the PSU style, and go from there? Or would it say on the side of the PSU if it's ATX or whatever?

I wonder if it's a proprietary PSU... wonder how I can figure that out for sure...

Also, the pin connectors. What are my options, what do I look for, and how do I know which type of pin connector that this Emachines has? When I built my computer, it just matched up and I had zero problems so I never asked questions. I probably should have.

 

[fuz_master]

I have an emachine. They should be able to fit any regular standard ATX PSU. But dont cheap out on it.

 

[Jayce]

I have an emachine. They should be able to fit any regular standard ATX PSU. But dont cheap out on it.

Oh, I know. I'll make sure I pick a good brand. What about the connector?

 

[Apokalipse]

I'd suggest an Antec 420/480W

 

[Jayce]

I'm looking for some reassurance here. I went and looked at this computer. The motherboard had a small green light on when it was plugged in, however the power button wouldn't boot the computer. I heard a small humming sound from the PSU, though. I took the PSU out and took the casing off, and I smelt something kind of odd, which only made me think more and more it had to be the PSU.

Anyway, the PSU is 250 watt. It's on a 3 year old Emachines. They told me the most advanced thing they use a computer for is to play solitaire while dinner is cooking. It's mostly used for their 2 kids (elem school) to do research for school. I was thinking maybe a 300 watt PSU may be nice to put in, bit of an upgrade from the last one.

The main connector I counted 20 pins. There's also a second connector which has 4 pins on it. Probably a dumb question but I assume when I go to newegg then I'd select the 20+4 pin filter?

 

[Jby]

Standard ATX PSU's will do and should provide you with both I believe.
Can you test the PSU on another machine first? Just because it smells funny doesn't mean it is neccessarily the PSU, probably is but worth a test first.

 

[Jayce]

Standard ATX PSU's will do and should provide you with both I believe.
Can you test the PSU on another machine first? Just because it smells funny doesn't mean it is neccessarily the PSU, probably is but worth a test first.

I thought about that, but there's no other PSU's available. I'm pretty sure that it's the PSU, though. I mean, she said the computer just died on her while she was typing. When she tried to turn it on BEFORE it died, it was making funny noises. Then an hour later after it had been shut off all that time, it still burned her hand when she picked up the tower to move it. Plus the smell just added to it.

If it's not the PSU, I'll just return this one. No harm in doing that.

I've found a CoolMax 300 watter that had 5/5 reviews (but only 8 reviews). I think I'm gonna go with this one, because I only have 3 options here. Two are CoolMax, the other doesn't look that nice. My buddy sent me a link to another PSU, which is like a FSC or something... not sure about it though...

 

[Jby]

I'd say its worth the extra 10$ to get higher than a 300W PSU, if THE 250W wasn't sufficient you will save money in the longrun going for something like a 500W.

They're not that expensive and there are some good ones on the market.