Gateway 1995 P5 power supply specs

probably bad caps in either PSU or on the mobo. A component tester could probably tell you their ESR.

NT

They are standardized but Gateway doesn't use a standard one usually.

I agree on the caps.

Companies like Gateway skimp on the power and make the power supply smaller . Nothing else will fit. They will usually work but they would have to be o utside the case. And some of them use the power supply fan to cool the micr oprocessor. That really stickies up the wicket.

The only thing you can't get usually is the transformer. But be careful if you have to replace the main chopper. Generally it will be a MOSFET and the ratings not really all that critical, but you need at least like a 700 vol t part because they use a line doubler for 110 volts and simply turn it int o a regular rectifier for 220 volt operation.

A machine that old probably won't use an ATX supply; it will use an AT supply. The main difference is in the connector(s) to the motherboard - an AT supply has two or three 6-pin connectors (1 row x 6 pins), while an ATX supply has one 20 or 24-pin connector (2 rows x 10 or 12 pins). (And no, you can't cut up an ATX connector to make it fit on a motherboard that expect an AT connector.)

Pretty much all AT supplies have two of those 6-pin connectors to deliver +5, -5, +12, -12, and ground. Later AT supplies, approximately once 3.3 V PCI happened, had a third 6-pin connector to deliver +3.3 and ground. I have a Gateway P5-100 of that same era that had the motherboard connector for +3.3 V, but no corresponding plug on the power supply; if you aren't running any PCI cards that need +3.3 V, you don't *need* the +3.3 V connection. If you see an empty 6-pin connector on the motherboard, that looks like the two connectors that do have plugs from the power supply, then you don't need the +3.3 V. (IIRC the +3.3 V connector is near the PCI slots, away from the other two.)

The ATX supply will also have some other connectors that an AT supply won't have, like +12 V for fancy video cards and +12/+5/+3.3 V for SATA hard drives, but the motherboard connector is the main difference.

Newegg still sells a couple of AT supplies, one for $37 shipped

and one for $60 shipped . The $37 one is rated 230 W, so it should replace your 145 W power supply easily. It doesn't have the +3.3 V connector, though. The

+3.3 V status of the $60 one is unclear, but it's safest to assume that it doesn't have it.

I looked at Micro Center, but they don't seem to stock AT power supplies anymore. There probably is a store in NYC where you could buy one if you want to have it today, but I don't know where that store is.

I don't get money or other consideration from any companies mentioned.

Matt Roberds

Much obliged to all

- = - Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus blog: panix.com/~vjp2/ruminatn.htm - = - web: panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm facebook.com/vasjpan2 - linkedin.com/in/vasjpan02 - biostrategist.com ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---

Quickest way to see if it is AT or ATX is that the AT type has a hard power switch, that is it actually turns off the AC going to the power supply. The ATX type has a soft power switch which connects to the motherboard.

Funny outcome:

mention of capacitors made me think, "What if I leave it on a long time?"

Indeed, After like six hours, it turned on (the GW2k P5).

I'm using it now to dialup to unix Now, I'm afraid to shut it off.

What cause dit to "die" in the first place was I hadn't used it in a long while

- = - Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus blog: panix.com/~vjp2/ruminatn.htm - = - web: panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm facebook.com/vasjpan2 - linkedin.com/in/vasjpan02 - biostrategist.com ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---

Some of those old Gateway win 95 computers used the ATX connector, with non standard wiring. A lot of angry people scrapped the computers, because of the cheap, non standard power supplies. I picked up couple truckloads of them where I worked, as they died.

Yes, one sees this a lot on the (Apple II type) early switchmode supplies. The startup sequencing is critically dependent on some part of the (presumably) capacitor impedance, and good but stale-on-the-shelf capacitors make the startup fail. You just hear tick...tick...

I've tried replacing the big output filter capacitors (usual culprits for high-ESR failure mode) with no success, it's presumably NOT those, but one of the 'minor' parts. And, in at least three cases, let it tick overnight, and the next morning it's working. Will work for years. Use and enjoy.

I don't want to jinx myself, but it turns on every day since I left it on for a few hours (and it finally revived) on Sunday.

- = - Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus blog: panix.com/~vjp2/ruminatn.htm - = - web: panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm facebook.com/vasjpan2 - linkedin.com/in/vasjpan02 - biostrategist.com ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---

As with many other brands of off-the-shelf computers, the power supply may be non-standard in many different ways, including a non-standard physical format and non-standard wiring. Other parts may be non-standard as well.

That's why I build my own computers from standard parts.

Perce

A computer that old should be replaced with a used one off ebay unless you need it to run some old programs. They can be had for about the price of the power supply.

It may be the capacitors on the motherboard are bad. Look at them , especially around the processor. If they are not flat on top,but domed shape, they are most likely bad. Sometimes if you can heat them up, it will let the computer start up. Sure indication they are bad. lots of computers around that time had a bad run of capacitors.