eMachine T3304

AspiringWannaBe · 10-03-2007, 08:54 PM

The system was started today to check for updates, there weren't any, then went to do a defrag.
It said it needed it so I ran defrag and went on about my day. Next thing I see is that a black screen with "boot from disk" in upper left corner. I put in the CD that came with the computer and let it try to boot from that but it would not so I just turned it off by, yes, pushing the power button. I restarted it and pushed F2 to change it to boot to CD and let it restart then the first screen held for a long time until it finally went black except for:

MediaShield ROM BIOS 6.33
Copyright (C) 2005 NVIDIA Corp.

Detecting array ...
_ (underscore is blinking)

and that is it. It is just sitting there like that and will not boot from CD nor any other way.
What now?
eMachine T3304 running Windows XP Home ed. AMD Sempron 3300+
Thanks in advance for any assistance.

**Doby** · 10-03-2007, 09:34 PM

Disconnect all usb devices except your keyboard and mouse if they are usb.

If this does not help pull the power connection from the hardrive and try and boot from cd. If it will boot from cd like this its probably hardrive failure.

I take it you can access bios correct?

How many hardrives are in the computer?

AspiringWannaBe · 10-03-2007, 11:41 PM

Yes, I can access BIOS.
The computer only has one hard drive.
Yes, pulling the power connection from the hard drive did allow the computer to boot from the CD (yikes) so now what?
Thanks.

**Doby** · 10-04-2007, 01:59 PM

Its time for a new hardrive, its pretty simple to replace one, I will lookup your model later tonite and recomend a replacement,

**Doby** · 10-04-2007, 05:46 PM

true to form emachine don't like to give good info on its products as you can see here under specs

http://www.e4me.com/support/product_...es&model=T3304

The specs mention nothing about if its a ide or sata drive but I downloaded your manual and again no mention but according to the pics in hdd replacement it looks like a sata by the data cable they are showing.

If your data cable is 1/2 inch wide then its a sata if its 2 inchs wide then its a ide.

Assuming its a sata I would get one of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=&srchInDesc=

AspiringWannaBe · 10-04-2007, 08:03 PM

Well I thank you for the help, it was more than the techs at eMachine offered. They told me I needed the setup disks and it would cost me $20. I asking how it would help to have the disks if the computer would not boot from CD? So far, I have not heard back from them. I will try a new hard drive and in case you are curious it is an ide drive.
Thanks again!

AspiringWannaBe · 10-04-2007, 08:24 PM

Sorry, the brain is tired. It is a Seagate Ultra ATA. Odd because I have never had a Seagate fail on me. Oh well. :)

**Doby** · 10-04-2007, 09:14 PM

Your welcome

AspiringWannaBe · 10-05-2007, 07:38 AM

Oops, kept trying things and now nothing appears on the screen, can't even get to BIOS. I believe I have successfully killed it. Am I correct?

**Doby** · 10-05-2007, 01:38 PM

Depends what did you try?

Clear the cmos by unplugging the computer and removing the battery for 15 minutes

AspiringWannaBe · 10-05-2007, 03:33 PM

Well, since I have a surplus of computers around me that need work: 3 complete towers, 3 not complete towers, and two laptops. I got experimental and found a hard drive that seemed close enough to work and at first it did. Then I got cocky. I put in the original hard drive to see if I could not see if it was possible to access it but having it in there just doesn't make the computer happy. It retaliated by giving me the blank screen. No blinking nothing, nothing flashed across the monitor at any time. I thought about trying the removal of the battery but I was just too tired last night so I have the battery now sitting next to me while I type this. I have a ton of other work to do so I cannot try it out until tomorrow. I will keep you posted and thanks for the help.

san9 · 10-13-2007, 01:52 AM

Hey There,
I came across your post b/c our T3304 wouldn't boot after a power outage. It kept hanging with a turning cursor when I tried to boot it. Then I kept getting the message that said something like..

NVidia ?

Exiting boot agent..

---------------------

I unplugged the power adapter from the whole PC a few minutes ago. I waited 5 minutes or so. It booted to a message that said something about loading F11, after that it booted up. I am now on the T3304.

Hope it boots up again later.

Have you tried unplugging your PC?

AikiDave · 08-10-2008, 07:46 PM

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this question but here it is:
I have a eMachine T3304. The hard drive died so I just replaced it. I ran the eMachine system recovery CD, which formatted my new hard drive and reloaded Windows XP. Everything seems to work except for my ethernet connection. When I have Windows search for new hardware it doesn't find the integrated ethernet card. I believe the drivers are Nvidia nForce 410 running on a AMD chipset. If it is a driver issue, Windows can't find the driver on the system recovery CD.
I know the ethernet card works because I booted the machine from a Linux CD and it found the ethernet card and initialized it. That is how I am posting this message now.
Any suggestions for getting my ethernet card running under Windows?
Thanks,
Dave

AspiringWannaBe · 08-11-2008, 06:38 AM

First to reply to San9, the hard drive was dead so I replaced it and so far so good.
For AikiDave:
Was the NIC connecting before the hard drive failed? When you initialized it with Linux did you actually test the connection to see if you got anywhere? If the card in integrated with the motherboard then all the drivers should, be with the recovery CDs so you may be missing a CD with that driver. You may try going to Nvidia website to download directly from there or better yet go to the machines website:
http://www.emachines.com/support/pro...es&model=T3304
Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Deb

10-03-2007, 08:54 PM	#1 (permalink)
AspiringWannaBe Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Current Location Orlando Florida Posts: 36 OS: Win XP Home Ed	eMachine T3304 The system was started today to check for updates, there weren't any, then went to do a defrag. It said it needed it so I ran defrag and went on about my day. Next thing I see is that a black screen with "boot from disk" in upper left corner. I put in the CD that came with the computer and let it try to boot from that but it would not so I just turned it off by, yes, pushing the power button. I restarted it and pushed F2 to change it to boot to CD and let it restart then the first screen held for a long time until it finally went black except for: MediaShield ROM BIOS 6.33 Copyright (C) 2005 NVIDIA Corp. Detecting array ... _ (underscore is blinking) and that is it. It is just sitting there like that and will not boot from CD nor any other way. What now? eMachine T3304 running Windows XP Home ed. AMD Sempron 3300+ Thanks in advance for any assistance.

10-03-2007, 09:34 PM	#2 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,457 OS: XP sp3/ Vista sp2/windows7 My System	Re: eMachine T3304 Disconnect all usb devices except your keyboard and mouse if they are usb. If this does not help pull the power connection from the hardrive and try and boot from cd. If it will boot from cd like this its probably hardrive failure. I take it you can access bios correct? How many hardrives are in the computer? __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

10-03-2007, 11:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
AspiringWannaBe Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Current Location Orlando Florida Posts: 36 OS: Win XP Home Ed	Re: eMachine T3304 Yes, I can access BIOS. The computer only has one hard drive. Yes, pulling the power connection from the hard drive did allow the computer to boot from the CD (yikes) so now what? Thanks.

10-04-2007, 01:59 PM	#4 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,457 OS: XP sp3/ Vista sp2/windows7 My System	Re: eMachine T3304 Its time for a new hardrive, its pretty simple to replace one, I will lookup your model later tonite and recomend a replacement, __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

10-04-2007, 05:46 PM	#5 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,457 OS: XP sp3/ Vista sp2/windows7 My System	Re: eMachine T3304 true to form emachine don't like to give good info on its products as you can see here under specs http://www.e4me.com/support/product_...es&model=T3304 The specs mention nothing about if its a ide or sata drive but I downloaded your manual and again no mention but according to the pics in hdd replacement it looks like a sata by the data cable they are showing. If your data cable is 1/2 inch wide then its a sata if its 2 inchs wide then its a ide. Assuming its a sata I would get one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=&srchInDesc= __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

10-04-2007, 08:03 PM	#6 (permalink)
AspiringWannaBe Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Current Location Orlando Florida Posts: 36 OS: Win XP Home Ed	Re: eMachine T3304 Well I thank you for the help, it was more than the techs at eMachine offered. They told me I needed the setup disks and it would cost me $20. I asking how it would help to have the disks if the computer would not boot from CD? So far, I have not heard back from them. I will try a new hard drive and in case you are curious it is an ide drive. Thanks again!

10-04-2007, 08:24 PM	#7 (permalink)
AspiringWannaBe Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Current Location Orlando Florida Posts: 36 OS: Win XP Home Ed	Re: eMachine T3304 Sorry, the brain is tired. It is a Seagate Ultra ATA. Odd because I have never had a Seagate fail on me. Oh well. :)

10-04-2007, 09:14 PM	#8 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,457 OS: XP sp3/ Vista sp2/windows7 My System	Re: eMachine T3304 Your welcome __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

10-05-2007, 07:38 AM	#9 (permalink)
AspiringWannaBe Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Current Location Orlando Florida Posts: 36 OS: Win XP Home Ed	Re: eMachine T3304 Oops, kept trying things and now nothing appears on the screen, can't even get to BIOS. I believe I have successfully killed it. Am I correct?

10-05-2007, 01:38 PM	#10 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 8,457 OS: XP sp3/ Vista sp2/windows7 My System	Re: eMachine T3304 Depends what did you try? Clear the cmos by unplugging the computer and removing the battery for 15 minutes __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

10-05-2007, 03:33 PM	#11 (permalink)
AspiringWannaBe Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Current Location Orlando Florida Posts: 36 OS: Win XP Home Ed	Re: eMachine T3304 Well, since I have a surplus of computers around me that need work: 3 complete towers, 3 not complete towers, and two laptops. I got experimental and found a hard drive that seemed close enough to work and at first it did. Then I got cocky. I put in the original hard drive to see if I could not see if it was possible to access it but having it in there just doesn't make the computer happy. It retaliated by giving me the blank screen. No blinking nothing, nothing flashed across the monitor at any time. I thought about trying the removal of the battery but I was just too tired last night so I have the battery now sitting next to me while I type this. I have a ton of other work to do so I cannot try it out until tomorrow. I will keep you posted and thanks for the help.

10-13-2007, 01:52 AM	#12 (permalink)
san9 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1 OS: Windows XP	Re: eMachine T3304 Hey There, I came across your post b/c our T3304 wouldn't boot after a power outage. It kept hanging with a turning cursor when I tried to boot it. Then I kept getting the message that said something like.. NVidia ? Exiting boot agent.. --------------------- I unplugged the power adapter from the whole PC a few minutes ago. I waited 5 minutes or so. It booted to a message that said something about loading F11, after that it booted up. I am now on the T3304. Hope it boots up again later. Have you tried unplugging your PC?

08-10-2008, 07:46 PM	#13 (permalink)
AikiDave Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1 OS: win xp	Re: eMachine T3304 I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this question but here it is: I have a eMachine T3304. The hard drive died so I just replaced it. I ran the eMachine system recovery CD, which formatted my new hard drive and reloaded Windows XP. Everything seems to work except for my ethernet connection. When I have Windows search for new hardware it doesn't find the integrated ethernet card. I believe the drivers are Nvidia nForce 410 running on a AMD chipset. If it is a driver issue, Windows can't find the driver on the system recovery CD. I know the ethernet card works because I booted the machine from a Linux CD and it found the ethernet card and initialized it. That is how I am posting this message now. Any suggestions for getting my ethernet card running under Windows? Thanks, Dave

08-11-2008, 06:38 AM	#14 (permalink)
AspiringWannaBe Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Current Location Orlando Florida Posts: 36 OS: Win XP Home Ed	Re: eMachine T3304 First to reply to San9, the hard drive was dead so I replaced it and so far so good. For AikiDave: Was the NIC connecting before the hard drive failed? When you initialized it with Linux did you actually test the connection to see if you got anywhere? If the card in integrated with the motherboard then all the drivers should, be with the recovery CDs so you may be missing a CD with that driver. You may try going to Nvidia website to download directly from there or better yet go to the machines website: http://www.emachines.com/support/pro...es&model=T3304 Good luck and let me know how it goes. Deb