If you own an Emachine, read this now!

[Churchfield]

Question RE: eMachine W2646. When PSU goes and takes the mobo, could it have taken cpu? I have replaced PSU, mobo, but not cpu. Does not boot; nada. Intel ROM (square, surface mounted, not heat sinked) gets HOT very quickly. No activity on monitor. I wired in another PSU that I know works properly, with same result.

 

[Unforg1ven]

This was a very insightful thread to say the least. I bought my emachine t2625 in August '03 putting in my own upgrades making it a decent computer for the price at the time. I was one of the lucky ones to go through minimum problems up until the past week or two. I noticed my keyboard to start acting up randomly. Eventually after tons of trial and error searching for the main problem, the led light went, keyboard stopped responding, video died. Assumed after a while that it had to be the motherboard, but after some searching(especially here), it won't be worth it. The money and the fact that it still might fail is quite disappointing. Almost reached 4 years myself, but emachine really dropped the ball overall for a lot of you out there.

-Anyways, thanks for the help everybody.

 

[Tmagic650]

That's cool you got those years of service out of your eMachines. By investing in a motherboard and power supply, and depending if you can use your existing CPU and memory in the new motherboard, you should be able to rebuild the system for under $200, not counting the new OS disc you have to provide

 

[cubecompMTDX]

I just wanted to note that emachines does not make the PSU. Bestec is the manufacturer of most of the PSUs that go into the emachines. As a matter of fact, HP and Compaq now use Bestec, so don't rely on an hp to do much better. Also, I have had to work on an HP that had a bestec in it. everything inside the Power supply case was roasted from low fan speeds! And the fan was actually dead! There are 3 reasons why I would never use a bestec, 1: fan speed, most bestec PSUs run the fans at such slow rpms, sometimes to the point where you can see the fins of the fan and the air feels the same as a furnace; 2: wattage, my parents emachine w2888 with a 2.8Ghz Celeron has a bestec in it that only supplies 250 watts! I had to add a rear case fan simply because the bestec's fan was too slow to cool itself and the computer! and 3: price, some range around $45-$65 for a psu that ain't worth $10! What's funny is that I have a Sumbeam/Casegears 580 watt Black Steel PSU which only cost $24. You can get them from xoxide.com. It has dual 80mm fans that are temperature controlled!

 

[Tmagic650]

"I just wanted to note that emachines does not make the PSU. Bestec is the manufacturer of most of the PSUs that go into the emachines"...

eMachines doesn't make the cases or motherboards either. You can ad HiPro to the list along with Bestec. It comes down to the fact that eMachines buys "seconds"... parts that were manufactured normally but they were found to not meet normal electrical specs required by other companies

 

[cubecompMTDX]

I know that too. The mobo in the w2888 is an intel board, the CD/DVD and hard drive is made by hitachi. Emachines pretty much buys parts off the shelf (cheap as possible) and builds the computer and sells it as their brand, though I have dissected an emachines, a compaq and an hp and I think emachines does a better job at installing everything, they also use AVC heatsink/fans on the cpu. as a matter of fact, when I dissected a lightning fried emachine T1840, the heatsink actually had thermal paste on it vs hp and compaq, their cooler master heatsink had a melted pad on it. My grandpas new emachine with a celeron D 3.2Ghz had a nice setup on it except for the RAM, so I installed an extra 512 to the existing 256 MB of ram and I noticed the heatsink was huge! it had a powerful fan with an air duct that draws fresh air from a square vent! It even has a PCIe slot available!

 

[NetCablesPlus]

By the way, though I had never really considered buying an eMachine computer before, I would NEVER even think of it now after having gone through this thread. Yuck!

 

[cubecompMTDX]

My parents have a emachines w2888. After reading the forums, I replaced the stock Bestec power supply with a Coolmax V-400 400 watt PSU. Now the computer has seemed to have a boost in performance, especially for the 2.8 Ghz Celeron. Bestecs are known for a wide spread amount of failures. From fans, capacitors, and poor lasting quality, these power supplys are junk! Actually, some of them zap you when you touch them! they are
Bad
Electrocuting
Stinky
Trash
Efficient; over-efficient-they don't supply enough power to the system
Crap

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159045

 

[Tmagic650]

Imagine if you were a fledgling computer company, and you had a choice of paying $5 for a good quality power supply, or $1 for a questionable quality power supply. At quanities like 100,000, the dollar amount savings would prompt you to buy the $1 supply...

In my experience, I feel that Dell makes the best quality computers today. Michael Dell says that his company is struggling to stay competitive. I don't think eMachines is worried

 

[cubecompMTDX]

what's weird is that one time, I had no choice to buy a replacement bestec psu for a computer and it was $40! A coolmax V-400 is $19.99 on newegg! It would be a miracle if emachines was to switch from Bestec to Coolmax. Not only would it make Coolmax plenty of $$$, but also, the computers would have less problems.

 

[Lone Ranger]

E-Machines...Help..needed..

Hey Guys,I'm a newbie here.Just found the site and it is awesome!Been readin' thru,and have the same problem as most with my T-2482.

I've had it about 4 yrs.,Leave it on 24/7.A couple months ago,the keyboard seemed to be acting up,swapped it out for another I had.No change.Then no power to the keyboard,No video.H/D spins up, Fan works,power light on,DVD's will spin up.Really don't want to spend a bundle on it to repair.Would like to get it back up for my Son,so I have an excuse to buy a new Computer though.
Anyway to pin-point the problem,as not to just start replacing this and that?I am very mechanically inclined,know some electronics[had it in High School]Know what all the components are in a computer.Another words.....I know enough to get into trouble! Thanks![Mike]

 

[cubecompMTDX]

chances are it's another power supply problem You should buy a new power supply and see if that fixes the problem.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159045

 

[Tmagic650]

Start with a new power supply and then a new mothertboard. I would be inclined to replace both components at the same time though. eMachines motherboards can take out a "new" power supply quickly. If you replace the motherboard, you will have to buy a copy of XP to install a clean copy of the OS. Your T2482 has these specs:

Operating System: Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Home

CPU: AMD Athlon™ XP 2400+
Processor (2.00GHz) with QuantiSpeed™ architecture
Chipset: VIA KM 266
Memory: 256MB DDR (PC 2100)
Hard Drive: 80GB HDD
Optical Drive: 48x Max. CD-RW Drive, 16x Max. DVD Drive, 3.5" 1.44MB FDD
Video: S3 ProSavage8™ integrated (1 AGP slot available)
Sound: AC '97 Audio
Network: 10/100Mbps built-in Ethernet
Modem: 56K ITU v.92-ready Fax/Modem
Peripherals: Multimedia Keyboard, 2-Button Wheel Mouse, Amplified Stereo Speakers
Ports/Other: 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 on front), 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 PS/2, Microphone-In & Head Phone jack on front, Audio-In & Out, 3 PCI slots (2 available)
Dimensions: 7.25"W x 14.125"H x 16"D

This rebuild, motherboard and power supply can be done for under $200. There would be another $90 for XP too. You did get good use from this eMachines

 

[cubecompMTDX]

Start with a new power supply and then a new mothertboard. I would be inclined to replace both components at the same time though. eMachines motherboards can take out a "new" power supply quickly. If you replace the motherboard, you will have to buy a copy of XP to install a clean copy of the OS. Your T2482 has these specs:

Operating System: Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Home

CPU: AMD Athlon™ XP 2400+
Processor (2.00GHz) with QuantiSpeed™ architecture
Chipset: VIA KM 266
Memory: 256MB DDR (PC 2100)
Hard Drive: 80GB HDD
Optical Drive: 48x Max. CD-RW Drive, 16x Max. DVD Drive, 3.5" 1.44MB FDD
Video: S3 ProSavage8™ integrated (1 AGP slot available)
Sound: AC '97 Audio
Network: 10/100Mbps built-in Ethernet
Modem: 56K ITU v.92-ready Fax/Modem
Peripherals: Multimedia Keyboard, 2-Button Wheel Mouse, Amplified Stereo Speakers
Ports/Other: 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 on front), 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 PS/2, Microphone-In & Head Phone jack on front, Audio-In & Out, 3 PCI slots (2 available)
Dimensions: 7.25"W x 14.125"H x 16"D

This rebuild, motherboard and power supply can be done for under $200. There would be another $90 for XP too. You did get good use from this eMachines

Emachines doesn't make the motherboards. in the W2888, Intel manufactures the board. In the T1840, Imperia makes the board.

 

[Tmagic650]

cubecompMTDX,
I didn't say that eMachines makes motherboards. Any eMachines computer contains a motherboard when you buy it new. It is this "original" motherboard that I call an eMachines motherboard, regardless of who actually made it. These motherboards are "crippled" versions at best.

Also, there is no need to QUOTE a post directly next to your new post

 

[cubecompMTDX]

I know they are crippled, but I have never had a problem with the boards blowing after replacing the PSU. As a matter of fact, the computer works better with the new PSU, but I'm sure there are bad boards out there, like Imperia.

 

[raybay]

This is a common problem with the W-2646 and its T- counterpart. The problem is usually with the motherboard, not the power supply, and not the fan.
Usually we have good hard drive, good memory, good components in the pci slots.
The problem seems like it is in the power supply, but after long testing with the involvement of a testing lab, we are certain the problem is in the motherboard, and the board failure causes the power supply to go out.

Complain to Wal-Mart where you bought it in writing, to help the next person.

You will go through a period where it almost works and has intermittent failures... but it will eventually crash and never start up again.
You can replace the motherboard at www.eMachines.com for $159.95 but there is no guarantee that the same problem will not rear its ugly head again later.
If you don't use an eMachines motherboard, the recover disc for windows will never work for a reinstall.
You may have a lot of trouble trying to get the existing hard drive working again with another non-eMachines board, because Windows will detect that there has been a hardware change and refuse to boot.

If you are clever, you can call Microsoft to restart with the new product ID code, and be on your way with the Certificate of Authenticity found on the case. Do not do this online... only by phone.
But if you are just unlucky, Microsoft will not honor the install if it is on different hardware.
The Microsoft Official Position is that the Windows install dies with the motherboard.
You can but that hard drive in another computer, and use a full version of Windows (not a recovery version and not an OEM version) in R or Repair mode using the eMachines Windows Product ID, and get it running just fine in most, but not all, cases.
Good luck to you. Please let us know what happens.
We now have nearly 300 eMachines with similar problems as we try to force eMachines and Gateway in doing right for their customers. If that does not happen, we may go legal on them.
Because they know there is a problem... have known for three years they have a problem, and have yet to do anything to correct the problems on at least 14 motherboards... or notify the users they are about to lose their data.

 

[cubecompMTDX]

hopefully ours won't give us any trouble.

 

[Lone Ranger]

Even though all the Drives work and the CPU fan,it can still be the PSU?????Keyboard and Video are the only things that don't work.Tryin' to learn all I can about these things.Have this un-dieing facination for fixing things!Thanks!![Mike]

 

[cubecompMTDX]

it's probably the motherboard. You should try a different PSU and see if that fixes the problem. if that doesn't fix the problem, it may be the cpu or the RAM

 

[raybay]

You say "Probably the motherboard" based on what. A wild guess? What is your experience with this model or the other 13 that use a Tri-Gem board build on copies of designed made great by others.
Maybe the motherboard? Maybe the CPU? Maybe the Ram? Based on what? Lets have a little detail here, before we have him replace every single thing guessing on a fix that maybe will work.
Almost never is the Power Supply in the W-2646 and T2646. We have worked on well over 200 of them... It is the motherboard that makes the power supply eventually fail... The motherboard is the evil item in well over 75 percent of them... and it will cause that one to die as well.

 

[Churchfield]

New motherboard (W2646), but...

Does the CPU need replacing, too? As I indicated earlier, a second, good PS bridged in, did not do anything: no movement, no bootup.

 

[tbeek]

I have a T2040 from BestBuy. Bought it on the day after Thanksgiving in 2002. (Sounds like I faired better than most of you). I came home one day last week only to find that it had shut off and was making a noise and blinking the harddrive LED frantically at the sametime. Pulled the power cord and then restarted ok. It acted up again a few times the next day, turned it off with the power button and it would start back up on its own, then it died. Mine has a Bestec brand, model ATX-250-12E PSU, and an IM845GL mb. I put in a new pci modem a few years back when the one on the mb died, and I have added 512 MB DDR400 PC3200 RAM last year, otherwise a stock system. Anyways, I tried the PSU in a different PC and nothing, so I bought a Antec 350W and now my Emachines "works". I have no sound, the device manager properties for my Avance AC97 Audio says "This device cannot start. (Code 10)". Also one of my USB slots on the front gives this error message "One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it." Did these parts of the motherboard fry when the PSU did? What can I do to get them back?

Also, the first few times I started the machine after replacing the PSU, it would freeze up if you used the keyboard. Ctrl-alt-delete would not do anything, but the screen saver would start if I sat and waited.

 

[Tmagic650]

Yes the motherboard may be damaged. Upgrading/replacing the original motherboard with a quality replacement will give you much better performance, but you will have to obtain a XP install disc other than your old eMachines restore disc(s)...

If you are diligent and a little lucky, you may be able to use your CPU and memory in the new motherboard. If you can't find a compatible MB, you will have to upgrade the CPU and memory too

 

[aloevera]

Wish I'd read this before, too late, the motherboard is toast.