[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.

[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.

[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.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

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

[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.

[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.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Do you plan to do the changes?

[Jeff Chandler]

An eMachine referred to as a “mule”. Now I’ve seen everything.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Here is an AMD board from a usually quality manufacturer:

GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

$74.99

See the reviews....note that in addition to most newer boards ( for AMD and likely for intel) use 24 pin power supply connect and >>>>Have only ONE IDE connection...max of 2 HDD or one HDD and one non SATA CD drive. Most still have a floppy connector... Also use DDR2 memory....which is cheap.

[calex59]

Ok, stupid question I know, but did you actually check your surge suppressor and the power strip for circuit breakers and reset them before turning on the computer? Are you actually getting power to the computer is what I am asking. PS do go out but I would check those things first.

[Gator113]

“.... my cable for DSL had been knocked down by a truck.”

As soon as I changed over to an iMac, trucks quit knocking down my cable.

Heck, trucks don’t even come down my road anymore... go figure. ;>)

[LowOiL]

I go to egghead and looked up power supplies in 400+ range and check the comments from folks that mention the amount of connectors and whether is is long enough.

Ones that pass that test are what I buy.

[MD_Willington_1976]

What model is it?

For the most part emachines used off the shelf parts..

[Frantzie]

I replaced the power supply. A green LED light on the motherboard comes on but nothing starts up or boots up. No on with fans kicking in.

I think the eMachines on switch may be bad or the motherboard???????

I always thought the ON switch was not very good. So I guess my next step is replace the case and buy say a $39 case? How hard is that? I know how to move HD, CD ROM driver, power supply. I ON switch wiring and MB will be trickier.

I guess after I replace the case if it still does not work - then the mother board is shot. Would the greeen LED on the MB be a sign it is still good or just power going through it???

I would just trash it but I thought $50 or 60 bucks would be cheaper than a new PC. I also have extra machines. Thanks.