Wife's PC won't turn on (at all)

6076 Views 11 Replies 10 Participants Last post by y eye, Aug 10, 2007

norin

Discussion Starter · Dec 19, 2006

to those who have missed me, hello, and yes i'm back

so lets get to it. My wife has a PC with the following Specs (to the best of my knowledge):

Manufacturer: Emachines
Model: T2885
Processor Type: Intel Celeron
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Motherboard Bus Speed: 400 MHz
OS: WinXP Home SP2 (all updates installed)
Browser: Firefox 2.0 (default) (and installed IE 7.0 recently too.)
RAM: 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (brand unknown i think it's the emachines sticks in there)
Monitor: Generic 16" CRT IBM monitor (at 1024x768 resolution)
VGA Card: nVidia (model style unknown) at 128MB
HDD: Emachines provided HDD (40GB or 80GB i believe)

Note:

I just read another forum topic while searching for the Motherboard distributed with the Emachines T2885 and read that the Power Supply just randomly "died" and took the MoBo with it. could this possibly be the case? could the PSU be dead? I'm not sure how long ago the PC was bought but i was say in the range of 2-4 years it was purchased and used for home computing and mild gaming with WoW. (hence the VGA card upgrade for my wife :laugh: ) if it helps the person who posted also mentioned that his tower was also an Emachines T2885 and the MoBo in it was an Intel D845GVSR. I'm not even sure if the T2885 we have here has the Intel D845GVSR also.

What happened:

after a session of "normal" computer usage by her standards she shut the system down. that was it. went down stairs and watched some episodes of CSI (Vegas) and came back upstairs and tried to turn the computer on but no response. so i checked the Power Strip, everything checked out. i even replaced the power cord to the computer. i checked in back of the Power Supply but being one of those Emachines it didn't have an on/off switch. so i thought it could be the Power Supply but i'm not sure. there have been no power failures or power fluctuations in our area, so i doubt that's the culprit. any ideas?

thanks in advance.

another note:

in my further investigation before finally submitting this, i was reading mroe forums and posts and saw that the Emachines are Notorious for having "defective" PSU's and MoBo's. it also seems that the Emachine Towers use standard ATX PSUs and it would be good to replace it with one of the same or similar amperage and 12v status.

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Cellus

· #2 · Dec 19, 2006 (Edited)

Hello norin, and welcome back.

Just so we're clear as to what it is (and isn't doing), when you power on the machine do you see any lights turn on? Do any of the fans or drives start to spin up? Do you hear any beeps at all when it starts up?

If you say "No" to all three, check the cable connections (both the power cable and inside the case) to the Power Supply. Make sure to desensitize yourself before touching the inside components by touching the metal of the case first, to remove any static charge you may have built up. Once the cable connection are nice and snug, put everything back together and try powering up again while listening/watching to the above. If all three are still a "No", then it is more than likely that your Power Supply became a brand-new paperweight, and you'll have to get it replaced.

If you say "Yes" to any of the three, let us know so we can troubleshoot further.

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norin

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 19, 2006 (Edited)

ok, so i pulled it apart, cleaned the dust from inside, looked at the PSU and made sure all connections are good and snug, took it back upstairs and connected everything when i plugged in the power cord (i always plug this is last [habit of mine] and always unplug it first and let it sit for a bit then start detaching wires and whatnot after.) when i plugged in the power cord i heard a sort of a *PEW* but also a snap or a crack, not a snap or a crack as in a twig or popsicle stick, but liek a switch on a circuit has been connected and electricity is flowing. so i took a peek thru one of the vents in the back and noticed a green light was lit on the back side of the MoBo. it wasn't the Ethernet cable light the flickers while in connectivity, so it's not that.

so i clicked the power button, nothing. no lights flickering or coming on or off either outside or in. and no sounds, just the click of the power button. could it be the PSU going dead? or the MoBo? i'm no expert in either field, but the lights on the MoBo are usually LED right? so in order for them to be lit there has to be a power source i.e. the PSU. therefore the PSU has some power. so if the MoBo doesn't work will the LED lights still glow if there is current flowing over the MoBo's circuits even tho the MoBo isn't sending the current to the right place or perhaps it's just dead or fried.. or could the MoBo be good, and the PSU be bad but still put out enough juice to light a tiny LED light? anything else i can check out? i have another ATX PSU lying around, i'll get the specs of that l8r. thanks again.

EDIT: i guess the culprit is the PSU, so my friend NewEgg.com is sending us a new PSU, an antec 350W ATX PSU :smile: :woot: :3-rockon:

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virusremoval

· #4 · Dec 26, 2006

Got a computer with almost the same specs. Except mine has pc2100 ram not pc3200 (eMachines web site says its pc2100).

Next:
Light on motherboard is ON. Power supply fan and cpu fan do not spin up. disconnected EVERYTHING ELSE. Switched power supply. Still dead.

The capacitors look fine (K hasn't popped). Removed network and modem cards. Unhooked cd r/w, floppy. Removed ram. No beeps, no fans. nothing!

Tried using a screw driver to manually start computer (assumed power switch dead). No luck there either.

Anyone willing to wager a guess?

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linderman

· #5 · Dec 26, 2006

Emachines PSU's are well known for crapping out early. If your Emachine PSU lasted for a year or more you are a very lucky man; buy lotto tickets man!

try another PSU

newegg.com sells a decent 450 watt Fortron for about $50.00 I could not reccommend any thing for less $$$$$$

keep us posted: BTW: @ Virusremoval poster: please make a new thread for your problem you will get much better individual care that way, its hard to read both problems and give two approaches for different posters.

thanks

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linderman

· #6 · Dec 26, 2006

@ VirusRemoval

try swapping out your PSU if possbile I would definetly start at that point first. Remember; most fellas think if a PSU shows any sign of life at all, then it's considered checked and fine. That is a very error filled assumption!

Its also possible to try several generic quality units without success, in no other aspect of computer components is their such a huge margin for poor quality construction as their is in the PSU market.

My only suggestion about the Emachine PSU being if you had one that lasted a year or longer you are a lucky owner!

I apoligize if you took offense at my reply above, I had no intentions whatsoever of provoking you!

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lgc

· #7 · Aug 5, 2007

Hi,

I have this same exact issue with my eMachine T2885 purchased 3 years ago. I also suspected a defective PSU so I went ahead and purchased a brand new replacement 300 WATT power supply model BESTEC ATX-300-12E for $39.99 in an online parts store as the original model ATX-250 is now discontinued. However, I just installed it and this did not resolve the issue. So now I'm afraid that the Motherboard is fried. I measured the output voltages from the power supply connectors and I confirmed that it is delivering +5V, as expected. However the system won't turn on at all. The standby power indicator is lit (little green LED in the motherboard), but nothing else powers up, none of the fans or peripherals. Is there any hope or should I get a new motherboard. Should I also get a new CPU or should the CPU be fine. I wish I had another machine around to swap parts for troubleshooting, but I don't. Any help would be strongly appreciated.

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BCCOMP

· #8 · Aug 6, 2007 (Edited)

Hi,
I also have had the same issues on many E-Machines . I end up replacing PSU, MoBo and CPU. Then you will have to do a reinstall of your OS because chances are you will not get the same MoBo that was installed originally (it maybe discontinued). Be sure to backup your info first. You may have to slave the Harddrive to the other PC to do this.
Do not get me wrong, I love E-Machines, They keep me in business

Thanks,
Bill

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mattlock

· #9 · Aug 6, 2007

lgc said:
Hi,

I have this same exact issue with my eMachine T2885 purchased 3 years ago. I also suspected a defective PSU so I went ahead and purchased a brand new replacement 300 WATT power supply model BESTEC ATX-300-12E for $39.99 in an online parts store as the original model ATX-250 is now discontinued. However, I just installed it and this did not resolve the issue. So now I'm afraid that the Motherboard is fried. I measured the output voltages from the power supply connectors and I confirmed that it is delivering +5V, as expected. However the system won't turn on at all. The standby power indicator is lit (little green LED in the motherboard), but nothing else powers up, none of the fans or peripherals. Is there any hope or should I get a new motherboard. Should I also get a new CPU or should the CPU be fine. I wish I had another machine around to swap parts for troubleshooting, but I don't. Any help would be strongly appreciated.

Hello LGC and Welcome to TSF.

In the future please start your own thread for issues you need resolved. You'll get a faster response by doing that than replying to an outdated thread.

Now, did you measure all the rails on the PSU? If so are they all good?
Disconnect all external devices, and remove everything form the mother except the CPU, heatsink & fan, and the case speaker and power on the system using a small screwdriver to jump the header pins that power switch normally connects (See Image below). If you still get no fans and no beeps, it's like the motherboard is dead.

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ebackhus

· #10 · Aug 6, 2007

I've repaired a few of these lately and each time is was a bad Multi I/O chip. eMachines boards are CRAP.

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Codeman0013

· #11 · Aug 6, 2007

emachines are like the old amc of cars in the 70's they take leftover parts no one else wants and make comptuers out of them. They are known for having parts just die and psu is the most common one with them.

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y eye

· #12 · Aug 10, 2007

what a golden opportunity

in the dumper give her yours............

get yourself a new one

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