Emachine T-3025 HD replacement

[mlkmgr]

hello to all. i read the above regarding emachines PSU and mobo and will take immediate action. first tho, my 160 GB WD 5400rpm HD is bad. the machine lets me know upon start up stating S.M.A.R.T. detected something...hard drive failure eminent. i also placed the drive into another comp as slave and the working comp recognized it as a bad drive. so my questions are:
1.do i need to replace the HD with another 160GB drive? i would be using the restore cd's provided by emachines
2.is there a mobo out there that can be simply dropped in to replace a bad one?
3.does the rpm speed make a difference when replacing HD?

here are some of the specs directly from emachines website:
Chassis: Chassis,Nexgen 3 MAIN FRAME
Memory: MEM, DDR-RAM 512MB (Max. 2GB)
CPU: CPU,ATHLON XP 3000 462P 333FSB 512K
FDD Model: FDD, D353M3D
HDD: HDD,160GB 5400rpm
MB: MB,AU31/1.3 462P 100688
CPU Fan Type: FAN,H/S AMD3200+ 462P
Power Supply: PS,300 WATT

thanks in advance for your help and i apologize if these questions have been asked before. thanks again...

 

[AlbertLionheart]

1: 160 Gb or bigger
2: is the existing board failing? If you replace it with a different make, type or model your restore CD will not work properly.
3: more rpm means faster drive access = better performance. 10000 rpm is about 30% faster than a 7200 rpm.

 

[mlkmgr]

thanks for the reply. nothing wrong *yet*, i hope. i will replace the HD along with the power supply and see if this will get it back up and running. is there any brand of HD out there better than another, or should i go with the cheapest i can find just in case something else is wrong? i just don't want to start throwing money into this machine to find out a few other major things, ie:mobo and cpu, need replaced as well. thanks again...

 

[AlbertLionheart]

Cheap HDDs are rarely a good investment! Personally I like Western Digital but there are those out there who will swear I'm wrong! I have a WD 10000 rpm drive as my boot drive and it flies!
PSU at 300 watts is a bit mean but download everest from www.majorgeeks.com to see how it is performing.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Seagate has good 7200RPM drives for low prices, plus they offer 5 years warranty compared to three years from WD.

 

[AlbertLionheart]

Good point - however, I am in the process of sending my first failed drive (from a client's machine) in ages back to them for a warranty replacement. Good on-line RMA process and good warranty I agree.

 

[mlkmgr]

should i make an attempt to try to save this comp?? or do you feel with all the problems associated with emachines in general, that i should move on to a new tower altogether? thanks for the continued help!!

 

[AlbertLionheart]

If all that has failed is the hard drive then I think it might be worth replacing that on the basis that if there is more wrong then a hard drive is always a good investment (fit as slave/fit into ext caddy for backup/etc).

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The main problem with eMachines is usually a weak power supply and a similarly low-quality motherboard. The PSU is apt to blow, usually taking the motherboard out as well. So you'd best replace the PSU and motherboard. The other parts are not as problematic as these are.

 

[mlkmgr]

where would i obtain a mobo from? how do i know which one is correct for me?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

I'd recommend replacing only the PSU first. If you get a new motherboard, you'd have to install Windows all over again. Leave that for when you decide to get a new PC. Just replace the PSU with a good 300-350W PSU from Antec, OCZ, CoolerMaster, Thermaltake, PC Power & Cooling, Corsair, Enermax, Seasonic, Silverstone or FSP Fortron and you'd be fine.

 

[AlbertLionheart]

should i make an attempt to try to save this comp?? or do you feel with all the problems associated with emachines in general, that i should move on to a new tower altogether? thanks for the continued help!!

This question is still valid - personally I would not bother with fixing this beyond the hard drive - and you might be better off with a new machine which would include new warranty etc etc