E Machine won't boot

[ZZman]

Looked at a friends year old E Machine as it was having problems.

It will start and then when the big "E" shows on the screen it freezes. I can't get to the bios or anything.

I was checking the net and there are alot of complaints of bad power supplies and motherboards.

I am afraid she is in for some costly repairs.

 

[xpeteyjtx]

Re-seat the RAM. If the computer has more than one stick installed, take the second stick out and just leave in the first. Try that. Then try installing the second stick in the first slot. Make sure you unplug the power cord before you do this. If you are really worried, ground yourself... but I wouldn't bother.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[SrDriver]

Check RAM as mentioned above.

Sounds like power supply has bit the dust?

Circuit City, Best Buy, etc., have them in stock most of the time.

 

[ZZman]

Already tried reseating Ram, Different slots, even known good Ram from another computer. Nothing.

I have read that the power supplies can be bad and ruin the motherboards.

 

[SrDriver]

Try another power supply.

Neighbour had the same problem with his.

 

[OVERKILL]

check the motherboard for swelled or leaking capacitors.

E-machines traditionally use JUNK motherboards.

 

[ZZman]

They took it to a small local computer shop I like. I am waiting to hear back from them what the shop said. I have a feeling they will probably have them install a new motherboard if that is what it needs.

**Reading on the net I can't believe how many people had problems. Some had multiple motherboards replaced under warranty or the darn thing just goes out of warranty before it fails.

 

[Lyondellic]

The most overlooked piece of computer hardware is the power supply. Less expensive computers frequently come equipped with power supplies that are barely able to handle power consumption when the computer is stock. Install a Wifi card, upgrade the graphics card, audio card or memory and you suddenly have instability issues. To make matters worse, some OEM's use a proprietary power connector on the motherboard. This is done to ensure that off the shelf power supplies cannot be used.

With the above being said, I recently had a ~$200 PC Power & Cooling power supply fail, but the motherboard was not damaged. Long story short, don't assume that a motherboard is bad just because the power supply has failed.

The best advice that I can give is to use a UPS battery backup system to protect each desktop computer and monitor. Use a surge suppressor for notebook computers. APC is my preferred brand for UPS battery backup systems and surge suppressors. Most UPS systems can be configured to automatically power down your computer once the battery in the UPS falls to a preset low level during power interruptions. This prevents data corruption and glitches by allowing your computer to shut down in a controlled manner. The built in power conditioning found in most UPS systems also reduces strain on the components in your power supply and motherboard during power surges as well. All in all, any money spent on a UPS system is money well spent in my opinion.

http://www.apc.com/index.cfm

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

If you got as far as the giant 'E' POST screen, you can hit the Tab key (before it freezes up, of course) to be able to see the traditional BIOS POST messages. That might give you some idea of what's going on.

 

[ZZman]

She got the news: bad motherboard.

They are going to install a new motherboard and add a gig of RAM as it only had 512 running Vista.

Cost $ 180.00 total.

 

[PandaBear]

180 for a motherboard and a gig of RAM?

Go to Fry's or newegg and buy a new uATX board and a gig of ram and install it yourself, most likely less than $100.

 

[greenaccord02]

They got taken to the cleaners. I'd not pay more than 80 or 100 at most for those installed.

Of course, this kind of thing is what I do for a living and TBH I wouldn't pay for installation at all. Anybody can do it if they read the instruction book that comes with the motherboard.

 

[ZZman]

I didn't think that was too bad.

If you figure about 100.00 for a motherboard and 25.00 for a Ram Module the labor isn't that bad.

I am also not sure if they had to reload Vista or if they called Microsoft and got it reactivated.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
She got the news: bad motherboard.

They are going to install a new motherboard and add a gig of RAM as it only had 512 running Vista.

Cost $ 180.00 total.


Figured

I've swapped in a decent ASUS board to replace the junk boards that come in the E-machines. Surprisingly, they don't use absolute garbage power supplies like many of the "custom build" shops around here use.