E machines W2888 D.R.T.

[gibby]

My emachines W2888 is, um... dead. I woke up this morning and it was off. It will not turn on at all and does not make any noise. I did all the dummy procedures such as checking outlets and making sure power is available. It has that lovely burned eletctronics smell when I smelled the vents in the back. I am no computer expert, but I would assume this is the result of a burned out power supply?

If so, is it hard to change it yourself and do you have to re-install software or anything like that?

If it is not the power supply, what could it be?

Thanks!!!

[disophisis]

It's safe to say that it is the power supply and no it is not hard to replace.

There should be ~4 screws in the back holding it to your case. If you remove these you'll be able to just take it right out. (unplug it from your wall first, and then unplug it from all of your devices - motherboard, cd/dvd drives, floppy, hard drive, etc) When you get the new one you can just put it right where the old one was. if you need help selecting one, usually a technician can be helpful in choosing one with enough power and the right size for you. (sizes are pretty standard though) Do not go for anything that expensive unless your computer is like a slick gaming rig. Mine is a rosewill 550 watt that has been running nearly nonstop for a few months now, and it has not hiccuped (at about 55 USD).

When you get it screwed into place, just replace all the power connectors. Straightforward as that my friend.

[gibby]

I found this on ebay:

Power Supply

Would this be adequate or is it cheap for a reason?

Thanks for your fast reply!

[disophisis]

I would say that it IS cheap for a reason (I've never heard of that company except that they made my dvi cable for my monitor.

If you have some more money you could try newegg.com and go for something between 20-50 bucks.

it all depends on your configuration, but newegg is good because there are user reviews for products so you can get an idea of how well the product performs (they are pretty good reviews)

Here's an example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817234003

it's a little more powerful and a little more expensive but it appears to work well. If you leave your computer on for extended periods of time it's good to have a powersupply that can handle a load for a hours -> days.

[gibby]

ok, thanks!

[gibby]

OK, replaced the power supply and nothing. I noticed that the green led light is illuminated on the mobo, however. Now what? Thanks!

[disophisis]

that's interesting -- perhaps your system components got damaged somehow -- like maybe that's how your psu died in the first place. (maybe the psu died and killed something as it died.)

[gibby]

I guess the question now is, do I spend the money to have someone fix it or just buy a new one (considering they will stop updating XP someday soon). Also, is it possible the data on the hard drive is gone too or is it probably ok?

[caperjack]

the data ? can't be answered until you remove harddrive and install in second computer as a slave of connect with usb /ide/sata device.
also you could have someone check it out and advice how to continue ,i have seen power hit dialup modems and network card cause this problem ,computer wouldn't boot until i removed affected device

[disophisis]

If you're worried for your hard drive's data you could take the hard drive and try it in a different pc, or you could boot with some special software like BartPE or Knoppix or something to see if you can get to your hard drive.

[caperjack]

echo! echo

[gibby]

I broke down and purchased a new computer. It's a Compaq SR5123 with 2 gig of ram and 320 gig of hard drive. It has the amd live with Vista Premium. Seems to be a nice machine and I like Vista so far.

[disophisis]

Bonus! I guess just keep the newer psu as a backup.