Yes you should be fine. As long as it fits in the computer, you're fine. Replace the old with the new one but keep the old one in case the new one doesn't work! 300 watts is fine for replacing something smaller.
You should run only one power supply at a time. What this means is that you should replace the 185 Watt supply with the 300. Having 2 separate power supplies creates the possibility of having slightly different values for ground, +5V, and +12V DC. This can cause problems with all of your computer components. Don't use both, replace the old one with the better one. <- There are some motherboards that REQUIRE two power supplies, but you probably don't have one. They're server mb's, and the reason you use dual supplies is, if one supply dies the computer uses the live one and notifies the system operator "one supply just cooked, get me a new one pls." This eliminates a point of failure. If you've got one of these mb's, both supplies have to be the same: two 300w, two 750w, whatever.
Really, though, with the amount of juice some of these new video cards pull, I wouldn't even consider installing a 300w power supply in anything except a server, a lot of which are "headless"--they don't have video outs, you control them over your network. Go with at least a 500w supply, and if you might have the need for a dual-head system--two monitors are GREAT, don't let anyone tell you different--go with a 1200w supply.
Yes, otherwise it will be useless when the battery runs out.
The power supply is usually always located at the top of the computer tower, to the back. Whats easy to find is whatever your power cord from the wall plugs into on the back of your computer, is your power supply box. From there, the power is reduced and sent throughout the computers hardware. (You'll also see that its the box with all the wires are coming out of, inside the computer)
The power supply in a computer runs the 110 volts mains power through a transformer into a lower voltage, then lowers that into different voltages (+5v, -12v, +12v, +3.3v) which i believe are then stabilised independently. The power supply also handles the turning on/off the voltages triggered by a signal from the motherboard.
S M P S means - Switch Mode Power Supply, As we all Know that the computer is an electronic device. And the electronic devices runs on Direct Current ( DC ). While the electrical devices runs on Alternating current (AC ). The "S M P S" is an electrical equipment which is used to covert AC inputs into DC modes for the power requirement of the computer components.
If you are running off a battery, you do not need a power supply cord. Once your battery runs out, you will need to plug in with an appropriate cord that fits your brand of computer.
The amount of power in the battery is a function of the time Erik runs the computer on the battery.
If your computer mysteriously restarts itself with no prompts, this is a major sign that your power supply is not providing enough power to your computer. You cannot harm your hardware by not offering enough power, so don't be worried about that. Things that spin eat up the most power, such as fans, CD-roms and hard drives. Addings lots of PCI cards don't take much power. I have 2 hard drives, 2 DVD drives, an intake fan and a hard drive cooler on my 350W power supply and it runs fine.
It might be a bad power supply that only sends the correct voltage type to run a fan but not a mother Bord or hard drive.
Any other appliance that runs on 1200 Watts would use the same amount of energy in an equal time. But computer power supplies do not always run to their full capacity, so 1200 Watts is the maximum output it can supply if needed, in which case it would probably take 5-10% more than that from the supply. Appliances using a simlilar power are a toaster or an iron.
A power supply that is designed to be outside the case of the computer. Most laptop computers use an external power supply rather than an internal one to reduce size and weight while the laptop runs on battery power.
no that's what the power supply dose. your looking at the CMOS battery its needs to keep the settings of the BIOS.
This is not a power supply issue. Your hard drive is either broken or corrupted. If you have your original Windows install disc you can attempt a restore or reset your system. If you don't have an install disc, buy a new one because this is your best chance at getting your files back. You can also take it to a professional to have it looked at.