Ad:

Page 1
2
3
Next

You are currently viewing page 1 of this multi-page discussion thread

Sep 12th, 2006

Very Dead emachine w2888

Expand Post »

Help! My emachine is dead. I mean really dead. It will not do anything! When I plug it in, I do see one green light on the MB, and an almost inaudible (decreasing)whine. That is all.
I emailed the emachines support, but they were little help. They kept telling me to do POST, which is impossible at this point. They told me to rekove and reseat all connections, and cards, which I did. I have tried restarting, replugging, changing cords, and still, nothing. Husband used his meter on a few points, and there is life there, but nothing is working, with exception of that little bitty light on the motherboard!
The emachines tech guys said it was probably either my motherboard or my power supply. I am not afraid to install either one myself, but I must be sure which one is bad. Help Me!!!!
It is a 2 year old emachines W2888, running XP, nothing fancy.The power supply is only a 250. If I put in a new one, the emachines site suggests a 350.
Also, I have read that if I do not get their parts, my recovery disks will not work. Anybody have any experience with this??

Thanks for any input!

Mickey

ms_lildreamer

Reputation Points: 13

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

6 posts
since Sep 2006

Permalink

Sep 13th, 2006

Re: Very Dead emachine w2888

They are correct about installing a 350 watt power supply, if you are replacing a power supply never install a lower wattage. But the fact that they told you that it would not work with the recovery disk is somewhat suspicious since the power supply doesnt really communicate with the BIOS and there would be no way for the computer to determine what type/brand of power supply you have.

ShawnCplus

Sponsor

Reputation Points: 520

Solved Threads: 268

Code Monkey

Offline

1,564 posts
since Apr 2005

Permalink

Sep 13th, 2006

Re: Very Dead emachine w2888

Click to Expand / Collapse Quote originally posted by ShawnCplus ...

They are correct about installing a 350 watt power supply, if you are replacing a power supply never install a lower wattage. But the fact that they told you that it would not work with the recovery disk is somewhat suspicious since the power supply doesnt really communicate with the BIOS and there would be no way for the computer to determine what type/brand of power supply you have.

Oops! Sometimes I think one thing and type something else. I meant to say that they also think my MB is bad, and I had read that if I used a new MB, my recovery disks would not work, and I would have to get an new copy of XP.
I have chickened out on doing the job myself. Took it in to a reputable shop. The guy there said even the MB would not make a difference, since I own the XP, and am putting it back on the same computer. I did find out that my power supply is at least working, but not sure how well. He says might be a short in the MB, since I am at least seeing that one little light! I will find out for sure before I pay too much for repair!

ms_lildreamer

Reputation Points: 13

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

6 posts
since Sep 2006

Permalink

Sep 13th, 2006

Re: Very Dead emachine w2888

Well one thing you could do to test and rule out the power supply is to take it back to that shop and have them try it in another computer. They should do this for free unless they are really mean, it literally takes 2 minutes. Or if you have a second computer at home and you know someone who is fairly knowledgeable I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem. However, the motherboard is a bit more work and will cost you a bit of money as you aluded to so you might also have the shop test the motherboard also though that is a bit more extensive and may cost you a little money.
There are a lot of people here more knowledgeable than myself so be sure to keep supplying information and I'm sure others can help you. I hope I helped atleast a little.

ShawnCplus

Sponsor

Reputation Points: 520

Solved Threads: 268

Code Monkey

Offline

1,564 posts
since Apr 2005

Permalink

Sep 13th, 2006

Re: Very Dead emachine w2888

Click to Expand / Collapse Quote originally posted by ShawnCplus ...

Well one thing you could do to test and rule out the power supply is to take it back to that shop and have them try it in another computer. They should do this for free unless they are really mean, it literally takes 2 minutes. Or if you have a second computer at home and you know someone who is fairly knowledgeable I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem. However, the motherboard is a bit more work and will cost you a bit of money as you aluded to so you might also have the shop test the motherboard also though that is a bit more extensive and may cost you a little money.
There are a lot of people here more knowledgeable than myself so be sure to keep supplying information and I'm sure others can help you. I hope I helped atleast a little.

Have already turned the problem over to the shop. It is a one-man shop, in a small town, but I have heard nothing but good about this guy. He is not to do anything until he asks me first. And if it is too costly, I may give up and buy a new computer, not that I really want to! I really appreciate your help, anyway.
And I will let you know the outcome!

ms_lildreamer

Reputation Points: 13

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

6 posts
since Sep 2006

Permalink

Sep 17th, 2006

Re: Very Dead emachine w2888

Click to Expand / Collapse Quote originally posted by ShawnCplus ...

Well one thing you could do to test and rule out the power supply is to take it back to that shop and have them try it in another computer. They should do this for free unless they are really mean, it literally takes 2 minutes. Or if you have a second computer at home and you know someone who is fairly knowledgeable I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem. However, the motherboard is a bit more work and will cost you a bit of money as you aluded to so you might also have the shop test the motherboard also though that is a bit more extensive and may cost you a little money.
There are a lot of people here more knowledgeable than myself so be sure to keep supplying information and I'm sure others can help you. I hope I helped atleast a little.

I got my emachine back from the shop on Friday. His verdict was that my power supply AND motherboard were both gone. In fact the MB showed a lot of leakage. To me, it seems strange that it quit so suddenly, without a lot of problem. But maybe I am wrong. It did take it only 24 hours to go from not starting easy to nothing at all.
Anyway, I may eventually buy parts and rebuild it for someone else,or use parts of it on another, but I am shopping around for a new machine. At least I have a good monitor!
Shawn, thanks a lot for trying to help!

Mickey

ms_lildreamer

Reputation Points: 13

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

6 posts
since Sep 2006

Permalink

Oct 14th, 2006

Re: Very Dead emachine w2888

I to have the W2888 and I was very happy with it until a week ago, same thing happened to me, only that little green light would go on nothing else, come to find out that my motherboard was fried, I'm really up set about it because its only 2 years old, so now emachines is telling me that i can buy their replacement motherboard for $175 and I will loose everything on my hard drive which i cant believe because I have so much stuff on it, shame on emachines! they wont even give a discount on another computer so I think i might go with something else.

ImaginaryDremer

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

3 posts
since Oct 2006

Permalink

Oct 14th, 2006

Re: Very Dead emachine w2888

Click to Expand / Collapse Quote originally posted by ImaginaryDremer ...

I to have the W2888 and I was very happy with it until a week ago, same thing happened to me, only that little green light would go on nothing else, come to find out that my motherboard was fried, I'm really up set about it because its only 2 years old, so now emachines is telling me that i can buy their replacement motherboard for $175 and I will loose everything on my hard drive which i cant believe because I have so much stuff on it, shame on emachines! they wont even give a discount on another computer so I think i might go with something else.

I have recently bought an hp. I have lost my faith in emachines, but may try to buy parts from ebay or somewhere and fix it, just a s a project to see if I can. I plan to add the hard drive to my hp just long enough to move some files, but can't leave it in, since the hp has no extra bay for a second hard drive. I had planned to get a Dell, but was talked out of them by a friend who has had a LOT of trouble with one. The hp seems ok so far!

ms_lildreamer

Reputation Points: 13

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

6 posts
since Sep 2006

Permalink

Oct 17th, 2006

Re: Very Dead emachine w2888

If it's any help, I work in tech support for a company which sells a lot of these machines and there is a known issue involving the mobo and PSU (the 'Bestec PSU issue' it is called in the UK). We get hundreds of them a week (typically, I book a dozen myself, and we have around a 1,000 call handlers). We're gradually replacing faulty parts with alternative mobos and PSUs as faults occur.

It seems to be mostly with machines with model numbers ending in '20' but any eMachine is game where I am.

If we get anyone with power problems like these we send out an engineer with a PSU and mobo automatically. Most times people just turn their machines on and nothing happens, but I had one last week where there was a rapid progression from crashing, blue screens, not booting to Windows, just a green LED, then nothing at all.

There's also the possibility it has taken your keyboard out as well (usually the PS/2 ones).

SnowDog

Reputation Points: 32

Solved Threads: 9

Posting Whiz in Training

Offline

214 posts
since Oct 2006

Permalink

Oct 18th, 2006

Re: Very Dead emachine w2888

Thanks for your post! YES your right it did take out my Keyboard, and it was a new one I bought separately from the one that came with my computer, I emailed emachines several times and even called them and they wont do anything about it, not even a discount on another one, I guess thats why we should get those extended warrantees, so now I'm thinking of buying one of those bare bone systems at TigerDirect.com but the problem is I have no idea how to get microsoft to give me a replacement key so dont have to buy windows xp again, I dont think its fair that I would have to buy it when I already own a copy of it I went on the microsoft support website but there are so many links i dont know which one to email.....well thanks again!

ImaginaryDremer

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

3 posts
since Oct 2006

Page 1
2
3
Next

This thread is more than three months old

No one has posted to this discussion for at least three months. Please let old threads die and do not reply to them unless you feel you have something new and valuable to contribute that absolutely must be added to make the discussion complete. Otherwise, please start a new thread in this forum instead.

Previous Thread in Troubleshooting Dead Machines Forum Timeline: Toshiba Setellite Pro A100 want boot from CD

Next Thread in Troubleshooting Dead Machines Forum Timeline: Sony VAIO VGN-FS760/w Laptop won't turn on no lights!

DaniWeb Message

Cancel Changes

User Name
Password