I'm new here, and I don't really know where to post this, but I figured this was the best place. So about a week ago, my computer stops working. It's an eMachines T2891, which I think we got in like 2004, and it's running Windows XP Home. We haven't really had any problems with it, other than it running slow (we'd been considering getting a second hard drive for our games and music and stuff).
Anyway, my sister turned it on, and got it through the opening Windows user profile screen to her profile, when the screen went black. Then the monitor popped up a message saying "Monitor working, check cables and PC". I didn't know what to do with it, and we couldn't get it to do anything, and so we powered it off with the button. Tried turning it back on again later, but the monitor wasn't reading it, though the power light and the little orange indicator light were on, and then it took forever to turn off. So I couldn't figure it out, wound up unplugging it and then trying to look stuff up on my PSP.
The next day it powered on, but then went blank when it got to the User profile screen again. Then after I turned it off again, it just wouldn't turn on. I opened it once to see if I smelt anything or saw anything obvious (I don't know much about the internal stuff of a computer), but nothing. Since then, it won't respond if I press the power button, though there were two occasions where I'd plugged it in, and I heard the fan start up, and it was humming but the power light was off and even the keyboard wasn't reading that it was on. I've been told it could be the power supply, or it could be the motherboard, or both.
I'm just trying to get more opinions about the cause and possible solutions. I've had two computer-savvy friends look at it, and they say I probably need to replace either or both parts. I'm willing to buy replacement parts and have someone install them, but I want to keep it affordable. But on the other hand, I thought if I was going to have to replace these parts, was it possible to kind of upgrade them, get a better quality, yet affordable, replacement power supply and motherboard. Again, I don't know the nuances of computer hardware, I'm just trying to keep my harddrive (with all of my games and music and pictures and what not), and get it running again (maybe running better?). But I 've also heard eMachines are notorious for being horrible to upgrade...
From what I can tell the Power Supply is an eMachines 250 Watt ATX power supply, and it looks like (according to the eMachine site) the motherboard is an MSI MS-7061 AMD Sempron 2800+, and it's 2.0 GHz. I don't know what else is needed, and I'm sorry if I'm in the wrong place or not giving the right information...
Thanks
Anyway, my sister turned it on, and got it through the opening Windows user profile screen to her profile, when the screen went black. Then the monitor popped up a message saying "Monitor working, check cables and PC". I didn't know what to do with it, and we couldn't get it to do anything, and so we powered it off with the button. Tried turning it back on again later, but the monitor wasn't reading it, though the power light and the little orange indicator light were on, and then it took forever to turn off. So I couldn't figure it out, wound up unplugging it and then trying to look stuff up on my PSP.
The next day it powered on, but then went blank when it got to the User profile screen again. Then after I turned it off again, it just wouldn't turn on. I opened it once to see if I smelt anything or saw anything obvious (I don't know much about the internal stuff of a computer), but nothing. Since then, it won't respond if I press the power button, though there were two occasions where I'd plugged it in, and I heard the fan start up, and it was humming but the power light was off and even the keyboard wasn't reading that it was on. I've been told it could be the power supply, or it could be the motherboard, or both.
I'm just trying to get more opinions about the cause and possible solutions. I've had two computer-savvy friends look at it, and they say I probably need to replace either or both parts. I'm willing to buy replacement parts and have someone install them, but I want to keep it affordable. But on the other hand, I thought if I was going to have to replace these parts, was it possible to kind of upgrade them, get a better quality, yet affordable, replacement power supply and motherboard. Again, I don't know the nuances of computer hardware, I'm just trying to keep my harddrive (with all of my games and music and pictures and what not), and get it running again (maybe running better?). But I 've also heard eMachines are notorious for being horrible to upgrade...
From what I can tell the Power Supply is an eMachines 250 Watt ATX power supply, and it looks like (according to the eMachine site) the motherboard is an MSI MS-7061 AMD Sempron 2800+, and it's 2.0 GHz. I don't know what else is needed, and I'm sorry if I'm in the wrong place or not giving the right information...
Thanks
