emachine refuses to turn on

I have an E-machine Computer with Windows XP. It's about 2 years old, but hardly used. I use it just for E-bay-ing. Anyways, I can't get the thing to turn on! I haven't been able to use it for over a month now, and all the tech websites just state the obvious (Is it plugged in?) :knock: :hotbounce I have checked and rechecked the connections, so I know it is not that. The moniter displays "No signal", so that is working fine. I took off the front panel to see if the little push button switch was defective. I bypassed it, and it still didn't do ANYTHING. I put everything back together, and here I sit. What do you think could be wrong? When I push the button, absolutely nothing happens; no fans noise, no green light...etc... It's just dead... I really would like to fix this myself, I just need to know what to do. Thanks for your help,

Patrick~~

Sounds like a PSU problem to me. Try a different PSU in there. If that doesn't work, find someone more knowledgeable about Mobos to tell you what's wrong.

No lights to the motherboard at all?

That pretty much limits us down to either a dead motherboard or a dead PSU...

Do you have another computer's psu you can test in there?

I don't have an extra mother board around at the moment- I just threw two of them away to make some space... Oh well, I think that it probably is the PSU... What do you recommend replacing it with? (What brand is good out there?) I'm still pretty new to this, so be patient with me :giddy: Thanks for your quick response,

Patrick~

I vote for Antec. Any of theirs are good, and will do the job.

What about the wattage- Let's say I put in a 300 watt power supply- will this fry the motherboard if it has a 180 watt power supply in it now? Thanks for your help,

Patrick~

No. You could put a 600W power supply in there if you wanted to (although that would be a massive overkill of unnecessary power) and it won't damage your board.

A 300W power supply doesn't mean it is putting out 300W all that time. It means it has the ability to put out up to 300W, depending on what your parts are requesting from it.

Ok, thanks for explaining- I get it... :approve:
My original power supply is around 180 watts I think, so do you think something like 300 watts would be overkill? I know it is probably underpowered now for the components, and if I put in a 300 watt PSU, I will have a little more "room" to upgrade in the future, right? I looked into the Antec series, and they seem a little pricy. I know you get what you pay for, but this computer is only going to be used for e-mail and web browsing- no gaming what-so-ever... Could I get away with a cheaper brand?

Patrick~~

How much is your budget? Tell me that, and I will try and find the best one I can to power your system (newegg)

But first, go here and find out exactly what your needs are for watts and tell me what that says as well:
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

Also need to know your form factor (i.e., ATX, microATX etc)

If you are using ATX, here is a killer 300W psu with dual 12v rails totalling 32amps for about $29

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103514

Or for $30, here is a 350W with 34amps on the (dual) 12v rails:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103515

I put in the data that I had off the top of my head, and it says that I need 211 watts. Also, what is my form factor? Sory, I've never heard of this before... I like the sound of that $29.00 PSU. That is, if I have "ATX"....

Patrick~

I guess the easiest way to find out your form factor would be to do a google using your emachine model number (or post your model number here).

The other question that needs to be answered before you buy a new PSU, is whether or not emachines puts any funky PSU connectors in their machines to FORCE you to buy emachine only parts.

Ok, I have the serial number. Here are the specs:

Model #: T2825
E-machines 120 GB. 2.6 GHz.

Hope this helps- I'll continue looking to see if E-machines uses a "funky" connector for their PSU...

Patrick~

It looks like your system uses the standard ATX12V power supply. For example this power supply:
http://www.fulgo.com/abs-250pse.html

says it works for all T series emachines. Note: I am NOT recommding the PSU in that link. Just using it to show that a standard ATX12V would work.

Bottom line, I see no reason why the PSU links I gave you above would not work in your sytsem.

And by the way, if you do a search of this forum for your particular model, you'll find a flury of trouble with motherboards and PSUs....

http://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&...t2825&btnG=Search&sitesearch=www.techspot.com

I just hope that if I get a new power supply, that the old MOBO is not trashed. Is there a way of testing it to see if it is still good, without buying a new PSU? I don't have any old PSU's laying aaround, so that is kind of out of the question. Do you think that I could just unplug the power supply from my ancient 98 HP and use it's working power supply justto see if the mobo in the e-machines is still working? Thanks again,

Patrick~

I just got the Pow-Max 300 watt PSU for the T2825. It looks huge! The second fan seems like it might get in the way, but I haven't had time to open up the computer yet. What can I do if it doesn't fit? I was thinking about removing the second fan, because it sticks out like a sore thumb. It just seems out of place, bolted onto the back of the box. I know more cooling power is better, but I can always reposition the fan if I have to... Does anyone know if the POWMAX has been used in another E-machines.? Thanks,

Patrick~

Powmax? Yeesh...... they have a reputation for making hideously low quality PSUs...

(source http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=792566)

I wouldn't recommend taking that fan off. PSUs get hot and need to keep cool or they go wacky and start nuking your other hardware.

I guess you get what you pay for... As long as it works for a little while, that's all I'm asking out of it... It has overvoltage protection, and all that stuff, and it's UL listed, so I can't believe that it is that bad... Anyway, Is there a way to start the power supply without a computer? I'm sitting here dying to see if the thing works, but my computer is 40 miles away... Can I connect two leads or something to complete the reference voltage circuit? Thanks,

Patrick~

I put in the new PSU and the computer still doesn't work... I bypassed it with the green and black lead, and the PSU works, but when connected, it doesn't even come on. The moment I turn on the PSU though, the fan on top of the processer spins for about 5 seconds... Is the motherboard bad? Thanks,

Patrick~