Uncreative Labs

Guest

Okay I just got an emachines computer that was given to me by a friend. When I go to turn it on. The CPU and case fan power on for a about two seconds then stop. The case light on the front stays on. I get no video to the display.

What is the problem? could the board be shorted out? does something need to be reseated? I don't understand. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 594 Location: Western NC

Sounds like a P/S issue (guess you knew that already). Start by removing cards from the mobo individually (leaving the video (assuming the video is not on-board) and RAM for last) and power-on each time after removing each card to see if this leaves the P/S running. If you're down to the video/RAM, remove the RAM first (you will likely get error beeps) and then video. If of no help, then you either have a mobo problem or a fault in the P/S itself. It would be difficult to diagnose a power supply itself without a schematic (and replacements for e-machines aren't cheap unless you can find a working one from a discarded machine).

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:30 pm

T-R-A's got the right idea, but I'd try to disconnect power from the drives first. (Why? They're easiest to get to and a probable trouble area.)

Guest

It appears that the board is dead.
I took the board out of the case and placed it on a non-conductive surface (i.e. Cardboard box) The only devices I had attached to the board was cpu fan, the power button, and the ATX12V and the main power connector. I still get the same response. 2 seconds of activitiy then dead. I tried it with the monitor attached (the board has integrated video) and I get a dead screen.

I suppose the board I will have to toss it but I will keep the memory and CPU/fan. Thanks anyway. Smile

Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 377 Location: Stuttgart, Germany

I dunno how fast an emachine is, but try listing the mobo on ebay. there are people out there who buy broken mobos ( for some strange reason ) and you might make some money with it, if it's a fast one. if it's like below pentium-III no one will buy it though I think. I once sold a broken IDE 20gig hdd not too long ago for $30! And I mentoined that it was broken and I even got good feedback and all....

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 8:25 pm

mf_2 wrote:

I dunno how fast an emachine is, but try listing the mobo on ebay. there are people out there who buy broken mobos ( for some strange reason ) and you might make some money with it, if it's a fast one. if it's like below pentium-III no one will buy it though I think. I once sold a broken IDE 20gig hdd not too long ago for $30! And I mentoined that it was broken and I even got good feedback and all....

I take it there are lots of avid electronics enthusiasts or computer engineers who love to solder components. The system is probably not even a year old. It is an Intel 865 chipset motherboard with dual channel. It has integrated video but no AGP slot, which is the only other thing that sucks about it.

This same short-circuit problem I have had with my recent purchase of a new Chaintech nForce 2 mobo for my AthlonXP system. I just took out the cards and reseated the motherboard in the case and it worked. But with this intel/emachines mobo it still doesn't work. Sad