Avoid Emachines!

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In that case don't bother testing it just bin it. Those PSUs are crap and not worth the effort.
 
I think rik pretty much covered the bases for you. Especially about trashing the bestec. Power supplies are the cheapest component inside the case, but the only component that has the ability to destroy all the other components. The rule with power supplies should be when in doubt toss it out. Although they have constant voltage levels, they are designed to adjust the amperage (current) based on need. Just testing the voltages can tell you if it's bad from that perspective, but good voltages are not necessarily indicative of a working one delivering adequate current..
 
tall_tiger said:
When I bought my T2200, it was not just another "cheap" model.
I bought only the tower at CompUSA and the price was about $700 in the spring of 2003. It has a 1.8 GHz AMD Athlon Processor and it came with 512 MB of DDR Memory and a 100GB WD Hard drive. I really never had any trouble with it until the board died.

Have you found any replacement boards with a 462 pin Socket A made by ECS recently? I was hoping to find one so I could use my restore CD's or I will lose my XP O/S also. I was wondering if any boards could still be used with those restore discs without having to go back to EMachines to buy one.

Thanls for any response you can provide.

I too have a T2200 that has died. It would not boot. The power supply was replaced. Looking at in from the inside, when I try to power it up it does nothing. The MOBO does have a green light on it so I guess this indicates power is going to it but I get nothing else. The PSU does not come on, no beep codes, nothing. Just sits there. I have verified all plugs are plugged in properly, I tried reseating the RAM, tried reseating the CPU. Any idea what it might be (MOBO, CPU, Memory)???
 
If you have a good read of all the posts in this thread you will see that it pretty much everyone with the same problem is having to replace both the PSU and the motherboard.
 
"I too have a T2200 that has died. It would not boot. The power supply was replaced. Looking at in from the inside, when I try to power it up it does nothing. The MOBO does have a green light on it so I guess this indicates power is going to it but I get nothing else. The PSU does not come on, no beep codes, nothing. Just sits there. I have verified all plugs are plugged in properly, I tried reseating the RAM, tried reseating the CPU. Any idea what it might be (MOBO, CPU, Memory)???"


For ALL Emachines problems, no matter what:

Always replace the MOTHERBOARDS AND POWER SUPPLIES... Then troubleshoot any other problems. We have said this over and over and over again! No model Emachines is special, they are all susceptible to being crap
 
Tedster said:
Wal-mart? Your problems started when you entered the door.

I don't shop at Walmart for several reasons.

#1. They support 10% of Communist China's economy and undercut Amercian businesses with ruthless practices.

#2. Most of their stuff is cheap for a reason- it's crap.

#3. I hate shopping with crowds and dealing with ***** customer service personnel. I was carded one time for buying an R-rated movie there. I'm 37 years old and look my age.

#4 Anything electronic there is guaranteed to break within 24 hours of bringing it home.

I recommend to never buy an emachines computer from there. the "W" instead of "T" on the front of the model # is the warning sign. My parents have a emachine computer from walmart and the hard drive is slow. the system bus on the mobo is slow, and it has a 2.8Ghz Celeron! Here's the funny thing, my old Pentium III 930Mhz system with XP professional always outperforms the walmart computer with the 2.8 Ghz Celeron with XP home! No kidding! My newer system with a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz CPU and Asus P4B533-VM Mobo really leaves the walmart computer behind! Buying other things from the electronics dept besides computers is okay... for things such as wireless cards and Linksys routers and a few other things. As a matter of fact, the wireless card in my p4 system is from walmart, and I've never had a problem out of it.
 
All are warning signs. The T-machines are just as failure prone as the W-machines.
In fact, you can now get the W-machines with a two year warranty instead of a one year warranty if you pay for it.
The W-machines are, as far as I know, Wal-mart versions of the T-machine. We can find no differences in the motherboard.s
The hard drives are good. It is the motherboard that is faulty... you can expect that many eMachines will totally fail before the end of year three... and usually during early year two.
There are 14 models of eMachines we have identified that have a failure rate exceeding 56 percent.
We are working with Wal-Mart and Gateway to force the issue with eMachines.
 
People that know very little about Pc's only know that "the higher the GHz".."the better the computer".

This obvioulsy isn't true..but is just a common misconception that earns large pc companies millions.
 
twite said:
People that know very little about Pc's only know that "the higher the GHz".."the better the computer".
That and they figure the computer will only be used for internet and email so why spend alot. Then 14 yr old Jonny decides to start playing WoW and needs a new video card to play it. KABOOM!
 
We find they fail just as frequently with a little old lady who only checks her email once week on Sunday afternoon. We now have a couple of hundred failed eMachines in preparation for further action. The problems do not seem to be related to use. They are not caused by failed power supplies, but rather the other way around... the failures on the board cause the power supply to fail.
The failures are somewhat mysterious, but the more mysterious aspect is that eMachines seems totally unwilling to do anything about the problems...which are definitely known to them...
We don't care that they last until the 1 year warranty is up. People lose valuable data, and a valuable investment in their computer. And eMachines seems not to care... even under the usually wonderful tech support of Gateway.
All we can say is avoid eMachines desktop units with Windows XPH, and avoid eMachines laptop computers with Windows XP. The number of failures is astonishing... similar to the rates of the old Packard Bell.
 
you can probably download a copy of windows, burn it to a cd, install it using the code stamped on the back of the computer and call microsoft to activate it. If you don't want to lose programs/files, use the repair feature.
 
And you download the copy of Windows from where?
No, that will definitely not work. The disc must include the code burned into the EEPROM of the motherboard.... which is tied to the code on the certificate of authenticity.
The install begins with the code, and will not move forward without the correct one.
 
cubecompMTDX said:
you can probably download a copy of windows, burn it to a cd, install it using the code stamped on the back of the computer and call microsoft to activate it. If you don't want to lose programs/files, use the repair feature.
Piracy is not TOLERATED on Techspot. This is a warning and you risk your account being banned.
 
you can actually download it from microsoft. It's not piracy when you use the stamped code on the back of the computer to repair and reactivate windows. My friend Tim told me this information and he has worked with microsoft computers for 14+ years. Besides, anytime you buy a copy of windows, you're not really buying their software that comes in the pack, you're actually buying a license to install their software on your computer. That's why you can either buy the windows os with the cd or license only. Now if you use a key on 2 or more different computers and an activation crack, then it's pirated.
 
The only problem is... it will not work with the eMachine code. It only works with certain Full System Windows certificates, and certain all OEM Windows certificates.... 11 in all... and there are about 89 versions.
 
that is true, but from what I have heard, as long as the OS you have paid for is registered with microsoft, it should reduce the hassle.
 
We deal with this every day, and it would simplify computer repair life to an amazing degree if it worked.
To the best of our knowledge, all Windows XP Certificates of Authorization and Product ID's on existing machines made by Compaq, Dell, eMachines, HP, Voodoo, Sony, WinBook, and so on, require a disc provided by the manufacturer. Neither downloaded Windows XPH or XPP, OEM discs, Full Windows Install discs will work utilizing the product ID on the side of the case, back of the case, side of the case...

Further, Microsoft has told us IN WRITING that the Windows License that comes with those machines dies with the motherboard, and does not migrate to another board or install set.

If there is anybody on this forum who has actual experience, instead of a good and knowledgable friend who knows or did it one time two years ago, we would be delighted to hear from them on this forum with details. "...from what I have heard..." does not count.
 
cubecompMTDX said:
you can actually download it from microsoft. It's not piracy when you use the stamped code on the back of the computer to repair and reactivate windows. My friend Tim told me this information and he has worked with microsoft computers for 14+ years. Besides, anytime you buy a copy of windows, you're not really buying their software that comes in the pack, you're actually buying a license to install their software on your computer. That's why you can either buy the windows os with the cd or license only. Now if you use a key on 2 or more different computers and an activation crack, then it's pirated.
if you are PAYING for a license, then it's legal, too often people download stuff and don't pay for it. You have to very clear when stating this online. It can be very easily interpreted as condoning piracy. Personally I have never heard of windows being legally downloaded.
 
Read the license. The license for a Windows Versions for a motherboard, a computer manufacturer, and OEM version, and a Full Version are all quite different in key regards.

Microsoft has, from time to time, provided downloads of Windows. I do not see any downloads now, except for the promotions for the new Server version.
 
I've never seen any Microsoft OS downloads other than the beta/trial versions. I can imagine that bootleg versions are available, emerging from Third World countries though
 
PSU's are not the only things that one needs to watch out for on Emachines rigs. The machine I bought some time ago promised 512MB of DDR2 RAM on the box. When I pulled it out and DXDIAG'ed it, it showed 433MB of DDR. It's outrageous how badly they treat customers.
 
That particular feature is legal. That is how they distribute video graphics and other shared memory, which is about 80 Gb of the total installed.
 
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