HP Pavilion 8160 Power Supply Woe
by Zube (zube@stat.colostate.edu)
Created: Dec 16, 2003
Updated: Dec 16, 2003
http://www.stat.colostate.edu/~zube/docs/poweron.txt

[ Additions, suggestions or corrections always welcome. ]

So, you have a dead power supply in an HP Pavilion 8160.  All you need
is a replacement and you'll be back up again.  The power supply is
an ASTEC Model SA147-3505, HP Part No 5183-6914.  Piece of cake.

The HP Parts Store does the electronic equivalent of laughing in your
face, so you search for a 3rd party replacement.  You end up buying an
ATX12V-250HPC (http://www.power-on.com/atx250hp.html) which is listed
as a suitable replacement for the machine.

Time passes ...  

You play Zork for a while and then it arrives.  It certainly has all the
connectors and makes the computer hum, but there is one small problem.
The P8 connector cable, which connects to the AUX PWR connector on the 
sound card does not reach.

The original ASTEC power supply has a ridiculously long P8 cable and
it comfortably reaches to the last ISA slot where the sound card lives.
The ATX12V-250HPC has a much shorter P8 cable that doesn't even reach
to the closest ISA slot.

So you are left with snipping the old cable and splicing it to the new.

Morals:  

1) If you need to replace a Pavilion 8160 power supply, the Power-On one 
is not a drop-in replacement.

2) Always keep the dead power supply until the new one has been installed
and confirmed to work properly.  You may need it.