Hello,

I’m installing an Ultra 750 watt ATX power supply into my HP Pavilion A1642X desktop. I’m replacing a 300 watt power supply.

I think I got everything hooked up correctly. I turned the power on and the computer booted up normal into Windows and all the fans (the graphics card, two system fans and the power supply fan) were working fine. I noticed a hot solder smell about a minute after the power was on, so I turned the power back off and re-checked all the cords. I powered up again, same thing.

My question is this: is this possibly normal? If not what should I check? I’ve only had it on for less than 5 minutes.

Thanks,

Daren

My system:
HP Pavilion A1642x
Intel 1.8 Core 2
Geforce 7600 GT GPU
3 Gigs 5400 memory
micro ATX case
Windows XP

You can download a program like speedfan or everest to test your system's temps and voltage lines. Have a look inside the PC and make sure no wires are touching any heatsinks, etc. It's possible if its brand new something was just getting "broke-in". If the burning smell persists and you have a good nose you might be able to smell around and pinpoint the origin of the smell.

Did you buy another 300 watt or higher?If in doubt take it out and get the place were you bought it to replace it.

Good advice. I didn't even think about cables touching heat sinks.

I'm going from a stock HP 300 watt PS to an Ultra X2 750 watt. The ONLY reason I'm doing this is so I can upgrade to a Geforce 8800 series video card.

I ended up starting from scratch and un-connecting and re-connecting all of the cables, but I'm still smelling an acrid odor.

I've ran the computer for about 5 hours with the case open and it works fine. I don't see and melting cables, and nothing seems hotter to the touch than normal.

When I get this figured out my next stop is to the graphic card forum to figure out which one I'm going to get. I want to wait (for a price drop) until I can buy a brand name Geforce 8800 GT 512 DDR3 card for around $200. Right now I'm running a 7600 GT 256 DDR3.

With video, cards I really don't know how ATI cards stack up against NVIDIA cards. Hopefully I'll get some good advice in that area.

Thanks,

ST