eMachine motherboard replacement HELP Please?

The I/O back-panel has standard outer dimensions and fits in most cases. It indeed covers the connections for mouse/keyboard/networking/sound/USB etc. and matches the motherboard it comes with.
Whether eMachines sticks to that norm? Dunno. Worst case, you have to modify the cutout.

Any microATX board will fit, but once you get it make sure to match the mounting holes with the studs that support the motherboard. This too is mostly standardised.

Usually, when an eMachines mobo craps out, the PSU will follow pretty soon (or craps out at the same time).

That Gigabyte mobo has sold out, try this instead ($47.-) if you want onboard video:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=671897&CatId=182

In my opinion, any money spent on an eMachines PC is money wasted.
Tell your friend to buy that Dell (the link does not show anything useful) or build a new PC from scratch.

considering that this thread was written almost a year ago, I think it's safe to assume that he's already takem care of his friend's PC problem

Guess we all didn't look at the starting date of this thread....

Ummm..problem:

You cannot change motherboards with eMachines <=======
You cannot change processors with eMachines
You cannot change hard drives with eMachines(you can add one if you have another slot)

If your old motherboard died, then basically you need a new system. The reason being because there is a "ghost partition" and it is strictly there to prevent motherboard change. Your best bet is the restore disk

Okay now, when you say the best bet is to use the restore disk... And forgive me if I've taken that phrase out of context, but would you do that after installing a new motherboard? -Or instead of changing motherboards?

I have a T2682 also, and was just told by Best Buy (after charging me $60) that the motherboard is dead, and it will cost $300 for a new board and between $150 and $200 in labor and parts to fix.

Is this thing trash, or worth trying to fix? Can I get a mobo online for cheap, and how would I know what kind to get?

Thanks, everyone. )

Hey Pebbles, welcome to TechSpot

it is not worth paying $500 to replace the mobo in any system, especially an eMachine. you can change it yourself for nothing. it's not hard and there are plenty of guides on the net as well as all of us here that can help you.

But if changing it yourself is too rich for your blood, than invest the $500 in a new system (and don't get another eMachine)

And despite what sw123 says, yes you can change the mobo, but you will however need a new copy of windows, because the restore disk is only good for the original machine.

as said above, the restore disk is only good for the original system (a new mobo is essentially a new system), so it will only work if the original mobo is not dead.

Thanks for the welcome! I've been lurking for a long time, you guys are pretty cool.

I agree, I would never pay $500 to fix a computer. But even if I found a replacement mobo, I'd have to buy a new Windows disk, so it's becoming even more costly, right? It just seems like such a waste, though, to scrap the machine, especially with the dvd player.

And by the way, the Geek Squad at BB said all my memory would stay and that I would not need a Windows re-do. Kinda like changing a tire, they made it sound! ...Just a really, really expensive one.

Thanks again!

if you got the same mobo as the dead one, then the original windows install along with the rest of your files can stay the way they are (you would not need another XP disk or a "re-do").

so you have a few options:

1. pay BB or another replair service a ridiculously high amount of money to replace a garbage emachine mobo, with another garbage eMachine mobo.

2. buy a better mobo* than the current one (you can get any micro-ATX board)
2a. install it yourself or have a friend install it for you
2b. have a repair service install it for you (you will have to pay them labor, but you'll avoid the retail markup they'll charge you for the board itself)
*=you will need a retail copy of windows. the good thing is that a retail copy will not be limited to just one machine, and it will be a "clean" copy without all the bundled crap that comes with boxed-PC recovery disks.

3. buy a new PC (you'll only need a tower because you already have a monitor, keyboard, etc.)

I believe the best option would be to simply replace the mobo with a better one. expect to pay about $40-$50 for a mobo, and then about $95 for WindowsXP (home editon w/ SP2). all together you'll have better hardware and a clean OS.

whatever you do, don't goto BB. they want to charge you $300 for a garbage $20 motherboard, and then another $200 for less than 1 hour worth of work???

Wow, what would I do without you?

Great information, thanks! I think I'd like to choose option 2 and 2a. I'm not afraid to try, what harm can I do, it's already dead! But where can I find a mobo for so cheap? I tried (with what little knowledge I have of it) to find a similar one, and I only came up with a new one for about $150. I may not be looking for the right thing maybe.

Thanks again!

e-machine?

you get what you pay for.

El cheapo price = el cheapo parts.

Pebbles said:

where can I find a mobo for so cheap? I tried (with what little knowledge I have of it) to find a similar one, and I only came up with a new one for about $150. I may not be looking for the right thing maybe

Click to expand...

if you live in the US, NewEgg.com has good prices and fast shipping. you can see some mATX boards here

Unfortunetly newegg doesn't ship outside the US, so if you can't buy from newegg then maybe tigerdirect.com??

KingCody said:

And despite what sw123 says, yes you can change the mobo, but you will however need a new copy of windows, because the restore disk is only good for the original machine.

Click to expand...

Actually, no you cant. I tried the exact same motherboard that came with my system and heres what i got:

beeeep beeeeeep beeeeep beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

and i installed it correctly and had windows installed. Therefore, i cannot install a new motherboard on any eMachine

Plenty of people have changed their eMachines mobos (but most buy better quality aftermarket mobos than the ones that came with the PC)

since you replaced your bad mobo with another piece of $%&@ mobo from emachines, it would not surprise me that the second emachine mobo was bad as well.

you either didn't install it right, or the mobo was bad. did you check the error code to see what the beeps were telling you?

how you figure that a mobo diagnostic beep code means that you can't change your mobo?

I know the beep codes from the motherboards manual. I installed it correctly and i got it from a small computer retail store.

Im telling you, You Can swap a emachine mobo! I hav a neighbor that did it himself. Same with dells (people often say the PSU will not work) But Dell uses OEM Hipro PSUs.

/rant

again sw123... what does the beep code tell you the problem is?? you say you know them... so??

and as i said before, you either installed something wrong, set something wrong, or something is defective, broken, or incompatible...

you should bring the mobo back to the "small computer retail store" and buy a good aftermarket mobo instead.


BTW... modern Dells use Hipro ATX PSUs, but older dells used a proprietary PSU that would fry an ATX mobo when connected.

I still disagree about swapping the mobos, and smaller computer retail stores often are better than circuit city, etc..., also, the beep code was that it needed a special certification from eMachines, which is nearly impossible to get, so eMachines motherboard replacement is impossible.

Hi All,
Well my emachine w2247's MB is fried as of the other day. I pluged in another keyboard w/out turning it off ,which ive done before, and dont ask me but the MB is fried. anyways i wanna get a new or used mb see if my memory and prosser and such is ok and more importantly (cs) retrive whats on my hard drive. So the TECH guy at emachines said i can put a micro atx form factor somethin, somethin in it and change the cpu ,but then id need a new hd but i can use the old one for a slave drive, or i can wait around until i can find a used AM37 AMD Athlon™ XP 2000+ 1.667 GHz mb and put that in and providing everything else is ok can run as if nothin happened (until that mb goes out) hardy har, yea i know now that emachines are crappy . So if any one else has any other suggestions then plezz let me know! i was kinda interested in what one guy said i guess in another thread about changing the mb with an aftermarket and reinstalling windows or something and still having everything on his hd, but i cant find it now?? (blond) anyways any help would b great, thanks

Okay guys, I need help!! I installed a new board, I got it from newegg, the page you referred me to. I got it in okay, but something's wrong. The power switch works, the fans run, and all the lights work on the front panel. It sounds like it is starting as usual, which is good, it hasn't done that in a long time. But, the monitor light stays amber and the hard disk light on the front stays amber also. I tried reseating the CPU and the RAM and they're both in tight, as are all the connections that I know of. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Guess I'm on my own again...

Similar Issue

Pebbles,

Did you ever resolve the replacement of your eMachine motherboard.
I want to replace my board (FIC AM37L) in a D2346 eMachine and I'm wondering if the Operating System (WinXP) is tied to the system bios or motherboard serial number that would prevent a simple swap of the boards. I'm also wondering if the restore disks that came with the computer would work on another eMachines board that is not identical to the one I'm replacing.

I'm sorry your issue was not ultimately resolved on TechSpot.

Thanks in advance,


F. Fota

Where can I find out all of my motherboard specifics. I have an eMachines T2682 and my motherboard is fried. I have an Intel Celeron 2.6 GHz, but I know nothing about the motherboard. Where would I find the socket information and size of whether it would fit in my case? Forgive me I am a newbie!