Replacing a power supply on an eMachines PC

Vanity | 2-26-2009 | Frantzie

[Frantzie]

I am sorry to post a vanity. I wanted to look through Computers area but had some trouble finding it. I have a 3 year or or so eMachines desktop with XP. I have other machines but this is an at home mule. I went on a trip, came back and my cable for DSL had been knocked down by a truck. I had the phone company come out to restring it.

[Frantzie]

The weird thing is I pressed the button to start the machine and nothing??? I have a surge supressor on a power bar thing but ??? I assume the power supply failed or maybe the switch. I have bought stuff from New Egg.com before because it is cheap and good selection plus review. they have a ATX 275 watt PS that they say is good with eMachines. It is about $16.99 but the reviews are not so good. I was thinking of spending a few more bucks for a better PS but how do I know it will fit right? Look for all ATX? ??

I am not sure if the PS went but I thought spending $20 or 30 was worth a shot. Thanks for the help. Sorry to sound like a cheap skate but I have other machines at the office and laptop and I hate Vista. Also sorry to clutter with a vanity. The people here helping on computer stuff are outstanding.

[devane617]

another person who signed mid to late last year posting vanity. where is my tin-foil hat...

[pikachu]

I had the same problem with a Compaq and took the old power supply to the local Fry’s where the clerk asked, “Is that from an e-Machine?”. The swap is cheap and easy to do, if you remember where all the plugs go {take digital pictures, make tags, write down a map}.

[gjones77]

It may be the power supply, or simply the fuse in the power supply.

It could also be the motherboard itself since in the ATX specs the power button is wired through the motherboard.

Replacing a power supply isn’t hard as long as it’s a standard power supply and not a custom sized power supply.

I would say spend the few bucks and get a better power supply than the cheapest since you want to make sure your computer has adequate power, plus the cheap ones don’t supply constant power as they’re suppose to.

Worse case, if it isn’t the power supply you can always send it back, though if you have another power supply handy, I would swap them out first to make sure, just borrow it from your other computer.

[Frantzie]

Thanks. I was just curious if they are all pretty much a standard size and they generally all fit. NewEgg has this cheap one and it says “good for emachines” but it is too cheap.

[edcoil]

Every emachine we acquired died within a week of each other. Turns out there was a known problem and emachines offered 167.00 new motherboard/memory.

Look on some of the other technical discussion boards (technet). We went to Fry’s and got new motherboards and memory and they are running fine.

[astyanax]

Any ATX power supply should be fine. You can pick up a 300W or 400W dirt cheap. (General rule, the “heavier” (weight) the supply, the better quality it will be. Difficult to know if you're buying online, of course.)
If you're interested in testing yours (and have a meter) you can disconnect everything (except the AC cord obviously) and jumper pin 14(PS-ON) on the 20-pin header (usually a green wire) to ground/common (any of the blacks, 13 or 15 will work).
Then check for 5 and 12v on the red and yellow wires of the 4-pin connectors (using the center blacks as ground.)
Keep in mind this won't necessarily tell you if it's working with a load, but it's a good initial check.

[gjones77]

For the most part, yes they are all a standard size, though there are certain considerations.

Some of the newer motherboards require a 24 pin plus, also called a 20 +4 pin, meaning that it fits the older 20 pin and also the newer 24 pin, then they also have a 4 pin CPU power plug.

My advice is to look at your current motherboard and see how many plugs go from the power supply into the motherboard and how many pins are on each, that will help you figure out what type you need.

If it has just one plus going into the motherboard than any ATX standard power supply should work.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I’ve had an emachines for like 5 years and it’s been a solid performer - had to replace the HD recently but was able to use the restore disk to put the OS back on and works great again. In general the only way they can sell these machines so cheap is to use off the shelf parts, so pretty much anything you can think of is pretty much standard.

[sadamico]

eMachines has a LONG history of bad Power Supplies. They burn out, the PSs output are totally inadequate. You need a 400w PS minimum and I would recommend one that can put out 12amps.

The truely bad part is that when most eMachine PSs die, they take parts of the Motherboard with them. Your PC will never be the same even after you replace the PS.

[Frantzie]

If I buy a new machine - can I install my old hard drive and access the files and programs using Windows Explore file system?

I hate having to copy everything over to a new drive.

I may test to see if the PS is the issue with an old HP PS. If it is not the PS then the machine goes in the trash.

Thanks to all.

[SnakeDoctor]

I had an eMachine — blew two different power supplies. Bought an HP after we fried the second one.

SnakeDoc

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

From what I hear about eMachines, you’ll eventually have a lot of practice at fixing this problem....

[astyanax]

"If I buy a new machine - can I install my old hard drive and access the files and programs...
Very easily. You can either install it as a secondary (may need to make a bios setting change or two) or just buy an IDE/SATA (depending on your drive type) to USB converter for <$20. They also sell enclosures for this.

[autumnraine]

Emachines are doomed to fail. Power sources are the first of many things to go.

Given their low price, you do get what you pay for, but usually you get your money’s worth.

I went through hard drive, cd rom drive, power supply and finally just got a dell for less than $300 at Walmart.

[autumnraine]

Oh yeah, forgot the motherboard. Motherboard was the final straw for me.

[sadamico]

You should be able to cannibalize the old eMachine parts and place into a new box with a new Motherboard. I would have the RAM checked before using it in the new PC. The RAM chips could have suffered some ill effects from the PS burn out.

[astyanax]

I’ve always built my own and learned (the hard way) that the p.s. is one item worth throwing a little extra money at.
That and the graphics card, of course... ;o)

[VRWCmember]

You can probably get a better mother board for about $50 to $80, and you can get a 400w or 500w power supply for less than $70 (if you decide to upgrade the machine later on with a better processor etc, you will be glad you didn’t skimp on the PS)

[Rum Tum Tugger]

The problem may not be the power supply at all.

It may be that capacitors on the motherboard have blown. I've had two eMachines do that.

Open up the eMachine and take a look at the capacitors -- particularly, those near the heat sink. If the top of any of the capacitors is bulging and maybe has powder coming out, that's your problem. (The capacitors are the things that look like miniature silos.)

You could try replacing the bad capacitors but the easiest solution is to just replace the motherboard. You can get a new motherboard for around $100. It's pretty easy to replace.

Alternatively, you could opt for a new computer (maybe a used, rebuilt Dell), but then you'd have to reinstall stuff on the new hard drive.

eMachines are certainly inexpensive and they aren't all that bad. I had an eMachine running 24/7 as an nntp server for 5 years before it's capacitors blew. That's pretty good service for the money.

Good luck.