Dear Community,

I hope someone could give me a few pointers to help me out.
Basically, I have an e-Machines PC. 3.2Ghz, 2 E-IDE Hard drives.

I normally leave the PC running overnight. We awoke the other morning to find it switched off.
Hitting the power button caused the hard drives to start clicking rapidly.
I switched it off!

I disconnected the drive's power and data cables and applied power again. The power was on, the fans were running and the pc was beeping at me ( i guess because no HD's?).

Reconnected the master HD and powered on. The BIOS flashed momemtarily on the screen followed by the power on password prompt.Great, i thought. Back in business.

Nope. The keyboard isn't registering keypresses!
There are lights on the keyboad, so it has power.
Even more strangely, when i turn of the power to the PC, the keyboard lights stay on ?!? Only pulling the power cord switches them off. It is plugged in to the PS2 port.
So, where do i go next?
1. Can I buy a PS2 to USB convertor and it will work at bootup so i can enter the password?
2. Is there anyway i can switch off the password without losing the BIOS?
3. Is it possible there is other damage to the MoBo (also causing the wierd keyboard thing) which may have deeper ramifications?

Anyone throwing a bit of advice my way will be forever considered my benefactor/ess.

Thanks in advance.

Between the beep and the keyboard LEDs staying on I would guess that you have some thing stopping the POST.

Look in you user's manual to see what the beep indicates.

To assist any further replies, since yesterday it has improved slightly. I removed the BIOS battery to reset the BIOS password. It worked but with an error. Next it booted up OK and XP started to load. Now it got to the profile selection screen, but my mouse and keyboard are both not working.
Both have power ( the MS Intellimouse has a red glowing light on the bottom). So, how do i proceed from here. Buy new mouse and keyboard? I can't get into the BIOS setup as the keyboard won't work. Any ideas? Many thanks.

If the keyboard is connected via USB it will need to be enabled in the BIOS. Do you have an old PS2 keyboard that you can use to access the BIOS?

Actually, the keyboard was connected by PS/2 and the mouse connected by USB. I've even connected the keyboard by USB using an adaptor. Still not working. So, I cannot enter the BIOS setup and I cannot fully load Windows. I seem to be stuck in the Twilight Zone of computing and cannot fix it.
I do not have a spare keyboard btw. I'm sooo tempted to go and buy a new one, but i honestly don't think that would solve it. Maybe i should just bite the bullet and take it to the PC repair shop?

Try disconnecting everything (HD, CD, Zip, floppy drive etc) from the MB leave the video card. If you can use PS2 mouse and keyboard as an earlier post noted you cannot use USB items until you modify the BIOS and I have had problems with the adapters. Clear the BOIS per mfg method the unit should post without the removed items then try to enter BIOS setup program. If that doesn’t work I would swap a known good PSU to rule out power supply problems. The E Machines use a weak PSU. If this gets you somewhere you can start adding things back until your up and running.

Good luck

If you have not read Catweazle's post

My PC won't start - Read this first!



you should



The Fixer

Hey, thanks everybody for the replies. I think i've been lucky. Everything is almost working again. I bought a very cheap PS/2 keyboard and mouse. Then i reset the power on password and managed to boot into XP OK. The only things not working now is the audio ( sound device has disappeared and can't seem to add a new sound device! and I think the USB sockets have also packed up. Windows isn't 'seeing' anything plugged into any of the 6 USB ports). My next steps a) buy a simple PCI soundcard to get sound back again. Not sure if its possible for me to fix the USB issue by adding a PCI USB card with new ports. Any advice on that? There appear to be drivers loaded for USB Hub something or other. And USB is enabled in BIOS OK.

USB power supply on the Motherboard is critical and demanding, you might still want to try another known GOOD Power Supply

The Fixer

Is it easy to swap a power supply? I guess its just a case of unplugging the cables, swapping and reconnecting again? How much would a power supply be? Does it say on my power supply how much it is currently rated for? And how do i know what capacity to replace it with? Appreciate any further advice offered. Thanks