I was given a emachine E725 laptop to take to college if I could get it to work. It had previously worked but after they installed Norton it quit working. It goes to the emachine logo window and hangs there. I tried the F2 button, it says Please Wait and then it hangs there also & never does anything. I have tried using all the F buttons that I know to use but no progress.

It is probably just dead but if I could get it to work it would help me at college, as I do not have the money to buy one myself.

I know that it is Windows 7, has an Intel T4400 processor, 3GB memory, & a 250 GB HD.

Sorry I don't have any other info on it but the lady that gave it to me knows nothing about computers.

If anyone could help it would GREATLY be appreciated!

Thanks

Can you boot into Safe Mode?

Can you borrow a copy of Windows 7 Installer DVD from a friend?

Then try this in case you can't boot in Safe Mode Startup Repair

Sorry but it doesn't boot -- not even with a CD. I removed the HD and a friend ran it through a scan and found several trojans, viruses, etc so now I am wondering if it was the infection that kept it from booting. He is still scanning it for me and when I get it back I will try to boot it again.

After the scan try to run a CHKDSK on your HDD

That was going to be my exact next piece of advice: Take the harddrive out and scan it through another system. Your friend did right.

And, yes, infections will most definitely cause your issues. They affect registry, files, while also rendering security software ineffective. If hasn't done it already he may want to run a Windows Repair as well as uninstalling Norton. If he does the latter make sure he uses Norton's Removal Tool for a complete clean uninstall. Norton is notorious for leaving driver remnants.

Well, it's been scanned & cleaned (4 times he checked it) and I ran the chkdsk and found no errors or bad sectors. I put the HD back in and still nothing. It does exactly what it has been doing -- - - hangs up at the emachines logo.

CheckDisk isn't enough. What is the make of your harddrive?

What antivirus/other measures did he use to scan?

He used Avast, Superantispyware, and Malwarebytes Anti-malware. It is a Hitachi 250 gb. I ran the chkdsk /f which showed no errors or bad sectors

Run Samsung's SeaTools for Windows (burn it to a CD). It will work with Hitachi drives. Make sure you especially do the Long DST. You may need to your DVD drive to First Bootable in the BIOS to get it to engae at Boot-Up.

Could you be a little more specific? Like burn the cd on a different pc and then take that cd and put it into the emachine & try to boot up?? Also, right now the emachine is not booting up at all!

Also is it Samsung or Seagate because when I goggled it --- it came up Seagate and it shows that you install this on your computer. Does that mean I will be able to burn it after it is installed?? Or do I need to make an iso image?

The motherboard could have burned capacitors near the CPU

OK any idea on how I can find a mobo for this machine seeing as I can't boot it up

First, I really made a typo. Yes, I should have typed Seagate, not Samsung. Why? I haven't a clue.

Download ISO file to the desktop and then double click the ISO file. The burning software that is loaded on the system should come up when you double click the ISO icon.

And, yes, burn it on another system and then boot it up on your friends system. Have your friend run SeaTools because it is even more comprehensive than chkdsk/f.

How old is this laptop? Do you have any budget to work with whatsoever?

About 2 or maybe 3 years old, and I have a small budget to work with. I just don't want to put too much into it if I can't fix it.

Bad Caps

This post caught my eye when it said E-Machines, and won't boot! I have had a run in with many e-machines that will not boot when the Caps are bad. You can take the side of the case off, and look at the Motherboard. On good caps, you can see the "X" or the "K" on the top is flat. On bad caps the "X" or "K" is bulging. The caps that usually go bad on this board are right next to the heat sync/ fan. It is a row of about 7 I think. I going from memory on this though. Usually that whole row will go bad. You can find more caps on ebay, but you must feel comfortable soldering them on. Not the Greatest news... but it is something you should check out at least.

Thanks,

My Computer Lady

Both Tmagic650 and MyComputerLady have mentioned the possibility of bad capacitors. Follow the directions given about checking for bad capacitors.

My experience with eMachines bad caps has been only with their desktop computers. I was a bit tired last night when I suggested bad caps on this laptop. Laptop motherboards have solid state caps and not oil-filled/electrolyte ones like desktop motherboards... The motherboard is most likely bad, but the cost of replacing it would be prohibitive to say the least, even if you could find a replacement motherboard. I would still try a format and clean install of the OS. Further testing of the hard drive is a waste of time at this point

OK! I will just have to wipe it and see if it will bootup with the discs. Thanks everyone for your help. It was definitely appreciated.

Please let us know the outcome.