Replaced Hard Drive - issues

This is almost more of a curiosity questing then an actual need to get it fixed type thing. Power supply went out on my pc. No problem ordered a replacement. I took an older power supply out of a pc i had laying around and threw it in my pc thinking I could use it until my new one arrived in the mail. Installed it, all with the exception of one connection to the motherboard, plug said P7 on it and had red & black wires with a 4 pron connection on the end of it. Honestly im not sure what it was 4. After installing the older power supply pc fired right up without a problem however it my monitor will not reckognize my pc. Its like I didnt have anything hooked up to it at all. Would this possible have anything to do with that one P7 plug that the power supply I put in does not have? Or what might be causing this and is there anything I can do to get it to appear on my monitor?

 

The P7 connector sounds like the motherboard power connector. The ATX form factor can use either 20pin or 24pin connector so PSU manufacturers create a 20pin connector with the extra 4 pins on a separate lead so that you can fit it to either a 20 or 24 pin socket.

What Graphics card do you have? PCI-e cards need there own 6 pin power supply. If you havent connected that it wont work.

Also depending on the power rating of the replacement PSU and the dead one you may not have enough juice to run your system.

 

Hi,

I just checked 5 spare PSUs here. All have the mentioned plug but only one labels it P7. I have never found a mother board that used that plug. I have ignored it for years with no problems. It is identical to the old style motherboard connectors where two of the same were used before the 20/24 pin connector appeared. Ignoreing it should have no effect on your system.

Luck, Jim