EMachines W5243 Shutting down

frankreich · 08-24-2009, 07:17 PM

I have an EMachines W5243 on my bench. The problem is that it boots up and then will shut down after a short time. Here is what I have done to try and solve this issue.

1. Emachines power supplies are notoriously crappy, so that was my first culprit. Replaced with a Panther 450W power supply. No effect.
2. Mobo does not show any obvious problems (i.e. leaking capacitors, etc.) If I go into Setup the machine will run indefinitely with no shutdown issues.
3. Swapped out memory, no effect.
4. replaced CPU (Athlon 64 3800+). After I did this I was able to get the system to run long enough to reinstall XP. I figured that the problem could have been a corrupted OS, so I formatted the hard drive (NTFS) and ran the XP install disk. This worked for a while and then the problem resurfaced.
5. Here is something interesting. The times I have gotten the system to run for awhile, when I would plug in a USB device (thumb drive, ethernet adapter, etc.) the system would shut down immediately, as if the USB ports were shorting out.

This thing is driving me nuts. I am already out the cost of the new CPU ($60), an I am still no further along in figuring this out. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks
Frank

**speedster123** · 08-25-2009, 05:47 AM

I wouldnt put another dime into that machine. Is the panther supply new? If not, borrow a known working supply to try. The board doesnt need to have leaking caps to be bad.

**Tyree** · 08-25-2009, 07:41 AM

Another E-Machine notoriety is when the PSU fails it takes Mobo/CPU with it.
Salvage whatever you can and dump it.

Phædrus2401 · 08-25-2009, 08:16 AM

Had an eMachines that died once (actually found the box for it the other day), Athlon 64 3500+, Radeon x200, 1GB DDR, the usual low end ****. Power supply went out with a bang, fried every single component except, for some reason, the CD drive.

So something similar has probably happened to yours. I wouldn't spend any more money on it (and by the way, Panther PSUs aren't a lot better than the stock eMachines, I'd wager). See if you can salvage the hard drive, optical drive, and the case fans. Everything else is almost certainly toast.

frankreich · 08-25-2009, 06:39 PM

Thanks to all. I'm quitting on this while I still have my sanity.......

08-24-2009, 07:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
frankreich Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 7 OS: Vista 64	EMachines W5243 Shutting down I have an EMachines W5243 on my bench. The problem is that it boots up and then will shut down after a short time. Here is what I have done to try and solve this issue. 1. Emachines power supplies are notoriously crappy, so that was my first culprit. Replaced with a Panther 450W power supply. No effect. 2. Mobo does not show any obvious problems (i.e. leaking capacitors, etc.) If I go into Setup the machine will run indefinitely with no shutdown issues. 3. Swapped out memory, no effect. 4. replaced CPU (Athlon 64 3800+). After I did this I was able to get the system to run long enough to reinstall XP. I figured that the problem could have been a corrupted OS, so I formatted the hard drive (NTFS) and ran the XP install disk. This worked for a while and then the problem resurfaced. 5. Here is something interesting. The times I have gotten the system to run for awhile, when I would plug in a USB device (thumb drive, ethernet adapter, etc.) the system would shut down immediately, as if the USB ports were shorting out. This thing is driving me nuts. I am already out the cost of the new CPU ($60), an I am still no further along in figuring this out. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks Frank

08-25-2009, 05:47 AM	#2 (permalink)
speedster123 Mentor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: United States-New York-Long Island Posts: 5,223 OS: xp pro SP3	Re: EMachines W5243 Shutting down I wouldnt put another dime into that machine. Is the panther supply new? If not, borrow a known working supply to try. The board doesnt need to have leaking caps to be bad. __________________

08-25-2009, 07:41 AM	#3 (permalink)
Tyree Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: May 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 5,586 OS: XP Pro-7RC-Mandriva My System	Re: EMachines W5243 Shutting down Another E-Machine notoriety is when the PSU fails it takes Mobo/CPU with it. Salvage whatever you can and dump it. __________________ Posting your PC specs will help us to help you quicker and more efficiently.

08-25-2009, 08:16 AM	#4 (permalink)
Phædrus2401 Hardware Tech Team Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: New Orleans Posts: 3,802 OS: Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 + Ubuntu 9.04 My System	Re: EMachines W5243 Shutting down Had an eMachines that died once (actually found the box for it the other day), Athlon 64 3500+, Radeon x200, 1GB DDR, the usual low end ****. Power supply went out with a bang, fried every single component except, for some reason, the CD drive. So something similar has probably happened to yours. I wouldn't spend any more money on it (and by the way, Panther PSUs aren't a lot better than the stock eMachines, I'd wager). See if you can salvage the hard drive, optical drive, and the case fans. Everything else is almost certainly toast. __________________ Good PSU brands: Corsair, SeaSonic, CWT, PC Power and Cooling, Thermaltake Toughpower, CoolerMaster Real Power Pro On 80+ Certification - PSU Information and Selection - Power Supply Myths You don't get what you don't pay for.

08-25-2009, 06:39 PM	#5 (permalink)
frankreich Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 7 OS: Vista 64	Re: EMachines W5243 Shutting down Thanks to all. I'm quitting on this while I still have my sanity.......