Shock! My eMachines won't power up!

Dave35k

Unlucky mate. Another thing id check is the IEC lead from your plug socket to the power supply it could be something as simple as a fuse (or would that be to lucky??) failing that mate then psu is probably the cause as you said.

Post back and let us know hoe you went on wiv that

Cheers Dave

wompshmack

Well, if this is the machine listed in your computer then I would suggest getting a new mobo. A socket 478(right?) motherboard would be super cheap right now, and even if that isnt your problem it would be a great upgrade. I really dislike the mobo's they use in emachines. Don't forget the possibility of static though, thats been the problem more than a few times for me in these situations. Anyway, good luck with your testing!

megamaced

Thanks I didn't think about the fuse.

The motherboard used in the eMachines is a budget-level Intel D845GVSR socket 478. Not exactly awe inspiring

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"A computer is like air conditioning: it becomes useless when you open windows". ~Linus Torvalds

donkey42

try shorting th2 pins that the power switch plugs onto (on the mobo) if it powers on then the remote power switch it probably dead, also test it with a multimeter

Edit: true, but it cheaper to test the switch first before you replace the PSU just to discover that it doesn't work either

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megamaced

I opened the case and I can see clearly that the motherboard is receiving power. The motherboard LED is on and an LED on an expansion board is on. However the PSU is emitting a kind of high-pitched sound which it never did before. Unfortunately I don't have a spare P4 compatible PSU to test in it's place. I am now investigating the possibility that the power switch on the case may have broke. Donkey do you mean shorting the 2 pins where the power switch cable normally goes? I put a jumper in the place of the cable to connect the two pins but nothing happened.

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"A computer is like air conditioning: it becomes useless when you open windows". ~Linus Torvalds

donkey42

yeah, should have said, but, you only need to stort the two pins momentarily to switch the system on, and short for about 3 seconds to switch off, just like using the front panel remote switchi don't know what would happen if you continually shorted, however, when you initially placed the jumper on the pins it should have powered on

BTW: if continually shorted i think it should come on, and because its on, it'll probably turn off after about 3 seconds & stay off

BTW: strange: mobo appears powered but PSU screeches, try testing all outputs of the PSU (i did have a written list of all output voltages for my old Tagen 330)

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megamaced

I have eliminated the power switch as a possible cause. It worked perfectly when I tested it on another computer.

I stripped the eMachines computer right down and gave it a good dusting. You would not believe just how much dust was in there! I then put back the essentials and left out the hard drives, CD-ROM drives and PCI cards. When I switched the power on the CPU fan started spinning and the power LED on the motherboard started flickering! After about 5 seconds the CPU fan suddenly stopped spinning and the power LED was then firmly on (not flickering as before). Bizarre to say the least.

I have tested the PSU in a Pentium 3 computer and it worked fine. Although the Pentium 3 computer does not require as much juice as a Pentium 4. Still I am not sure the PSU is to blame. It would seem that the motherboard has died and is not getting power all the way through. I will be going to a computer shop later where hopefully they will let me test a new PSU and / or new motherboard.

The story continues....

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"A computer is like air conditioning: it becomes useless when you open windows". ~Linus Torvalds

wompshmack

It will run for about 5 seconds.. I've done that before, not the same way... but shorted a power switch accidently while making a swank casemod.

Yeah, that high pitched noise does seem to point to your power supply.

donkey42

thankies, i just use a standard "boring" (like me) case

@mega, sound more & more like a ed PSU, have you tested outputs

BTW: what PSU is it ?

and is it a socket 478 or an LGA 775 478

Edit: cos i've got an old Tagan U01 330, but i'm not sure it could handle a 775

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megamaced

After several hours of troubleshooting I discovered it was a motherboard failure! I have now bought a new ASRock P4VM890 skt 478 motherboard which is a massive upgrade over the old Intel D845GVSR. At least now I have access to SATA and PCI-E functionality!

To my surprise, my installation of Kubuntu 6.06 actually booted with the new motherboard installed! I thought I would have to re-install Kubuntu but it doesn't seem so. The new motherboard uses a VIA chipset! Noooooooooooo! But seriously all is working great now! Thanks all

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"A computer is like air conditioning: it becomes useless when you open windows". ~Linus Torvalds

donkey42

so, has your opinion changed ?BTW: hope the VIA board goes tits up, as you do, after all you've said about VIA, i can't believe your going to actually use it

hows VIA now ?

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megamaced

Things keep getting worse and worse for me! I turned on my computer today and the eMachines keyboard has stopped working! I just can't believe it! A keyboard should not really fail. There's not much that can go wrong with it after all! The number lock light flickers a few times and then nothing. The keys don't work. It's too much of a coincidence that the keyboard should fail around the same time as the motherboard!
Worse still, I happened to look at the back of my computer and notice that the PSU fan was not spinning! I quickly switched off my computer and when I turned it on again the fan began to spin! It would seem that I have a dodgy PSU fan then and that may go some way to solving the cause of all of this crap.
So next on the shopping list is a new keyboard and PSU.

People, don't ever ever ever buy eMachines!

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"A computer is like air conditioning: it becomes useless when you open windows". ~Linus Torvalds

donkey42

well, after 3, 3, AaaaWwww, no, but seriously, presumably it a PS/2 keyboard, no, can't do seriously very well

BTW: i've never heard of a keyboard taking a whole system down, but i guess it must be possible, blame the VIA, i've found eMachines cheap & good with a little tweaking

the keyboard taking the system down sound like something that would happen to my cursed system

if in doubt, give it a clout with a BFH

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wompshmack

Well I guess.. in an extreme case.. your PSU could have taken out your old mobo and your keyboard... I guess? I mean power supplies can be violent when they're dying so its totaly possible... I've just never heard of it happening before. As for your discrimination against via and emachines, I agree emachines are generaly not worth the money, allthough they always manage to sound like a good deal. Always build your systems yourself, all the way, that way you've thought about each individual part and you know your system fairly well before you've even built it. Saves money too. As for via I dunno, they're not that bad. They're cheap low power solutions for mass produced pc's. Also they make those really neat super small pc's.. I think I need to get one of those.