I have an Emachines PC which seemed to be working fine, though was getting a bit slow. It's about 4 years old and has had light to moderate use. My roommate said one day it would not turn on, so I went over and checked all cables and tried it. It came on instantly. A few days later, it became stubborn again. I phoned a tech guy who said it was the power supply, no doubt. He charged $70 for a new one and $50 for his 10 min. of labor. The moment he left it shut down again. I got my $ back and reinstalled the old supply. It turned on, but then it seemed like the hard drive was running constantly, and I could not shut it off - I would have to log off, shut down, then unplug it to keep it from starting up again. After a few days of this, it dropped dead. What does this sound like to you? I want it fixed, not taken out behind the barn and shot. Was I too hasty? Is it the power supply? Or am I looking at something more complex? Help is most appreciated.
2006-12-26 06:47:48 · 7 answers · asked by Medusa 4 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
Please don't use this question to bash Emachines or tell me I should have bought something else. Things break. Let's all get over that. If you can't offer any advice about remedying the present situation, I would rather not hear from you. I'm asking for for your technical advice, not your brand loyalties. For those of you who are offering sincere advice, thanks. Please be as specific as you can. I am not particularly tech savvy, and don't understand much of the shorthand or lingo. Thanks again.
2006-12-26 07:23:21 · update #1
Thank you to everyone who answered thoughtfully. I feel so much more prepared to face future diagnoses. Three answers, in particular, were very helpful. I wish I could extend these "Whose Line Is It Anyway"-esque points to you all (since the points don't matter here, either). Best wishes, and thanks again.
PS- I appreciate your tact in reminding me that Emachines are low-end. Offering reasons why and potentail effects is much more helpful than simply telling me I bought a piece of crap and am now getting what I deserve. I appreciate that most of you were so focused on the problem-solving rather than chastising me for (What? Getting what I could afford at the time?) purchasing a less than top-of-the-line model. You rock Answers. Thanks.
2007-01-01 12:20:08 · update #2
The technician who changed the power supply was correct in diagnosing that as the possible cause. The power supply is the most common thing that would cause what you are talking about.
However, it could also be the PC case...Perhaps the power button is faulty and the case needs to be replaced. This could cause it to not come on, not turn off, or possibly reboot after shutdown when you did not ask it to.
Another issue could be an issue with the motherboard, since you are seeing strange behavior from the hard disk.
You should realize that the life span of a PC is typically about 4-8 years, then things go wrong and it is so out of date that you will want an upgrade.
If your PC has a hard disk with Windows XP already installed on it, you may want to buy a bare bones PC to replace the one you have, but with no hard disk in it. You can then take the hard disk, video card, and any other PCI cards you need and migrate them from the old PC to the new PC.
The memory may not be compatible, and the old PC probably does not have a lot anyway, so get 512MB or more in the new one.
This should not be too expensive to "upgrade", and more importantly you are not wasting time and spending money trying to get the old one working properly again.
Otherwise, I'd say go back to the PC guys who took out the power supply and give them another $50-100 to try and find the ACTUAL problem. You will then have to pay for whatever pieces they find are not working properly.
2006-12-26 07:03:31 · answer #1 · answered by SteveN 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There are only a few things that cause this behaviour
It is either the PSU (power supply)
The Motherboard
or the case.
The PSU is easy to replace...but it sounds like you have gone this route
My best advice would be to bring it into a computer repair shop where they have the tools to trouble shoot this problem.
They have a PC diagnostic card that can be plugged into the mainboard to make sure it posts correctly.
Off the top of my head I would say the problem is the case itself.
There are a couple of wires going from the cases' front panel to the motherboard that controls things like turning on, and off, and what they call soft boot, suspend more etc....
The main issue with that, is that this is not an easy fix. You can not simply rip these wires out and replace them. The best bet is to replace the entire case and that means trying to find a case on eBay or direct from emachines.....
The problem becomes, do you spend 200.00 on a repair for a 4 year old computer, or spend 400.00 on a brand new computer with 5x the power?
2006-12-28 02:18:59 · answer #2 · answered by DCR Technet 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am not bashing eMachines but there is a known trouble with some of the low end pc's. Due to the manufacturing process some of the solder connections are not completely soldered. When the machine heats up the unsoldered part of the connection heats up as well and expands. This leaves room for the solder to crack. When it does it causes and open and since this can be anywhere on the mother board (mobo) you can have any number of problems.
Problems like these arise with time (after repeated heating and cooling cycles). The only fix is to replace the mother board. If you can reuse your peripherals and cpu that makes it less expensive. Of course if you can install the mobo yourself that is even better.
I just reinstalled a mobo and used parts from several computers to build two. I am building a network and want to experiment with different oses and software configurations.
2007-01-01 06:27:18 · answer #3 · answered by ? 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Acutely i could say which you laptop is over heating, over heating is between the few issues which will acutely turn a pc off maximum different problems with hardware failuer provides you with the blue reveal of dying. If I have been you i could open up the tower, turn the laptop and watch the cpu fan, see if it spins, if no longer then there is your difficulty.
2016-10-28 10:03:34 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just another of the incredible stories that I heard from Emachine users. Thanks for the heads up, remember that you get what you paid for.
2006-12-26 06:58:05 · answer #5 · answered by postmasterfsx 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
motherboard- even if your hard drive is dead it will still post, because the bios lies on its own seperate chip.
2006-12-26 06:51:20 · answer #6 · answered by s keith 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
does it give u any error? or and beeps? check the processor and the heat snik.
2006-12-26 06:51:05 · answer #7 · answered by Sagar 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋