It's dead, Jim... Along with the monitor!

Hi everyone. I’m a long time lurker, first time poster and I thought I might get your guy’s opinion on a perplexing computer problem. First off, the computer in question is an E-Machines T2200. It’s three years old and has had no serious problems in the past. I mostly use it as my Internet browsing computer. (I have a nice big G5 Mac for my professional business.) I’ve kept it clean and running with Norton along with Adaware and Spybot to keep the spyware out. It runs on Windows XP home edition, has an AMD Anthlon processor, 512 megs of memory, and a 100GB hard drive.

I turned on the computer this morning. It booted up fine. As I was waiting for it to go onto my desktop, I looked down to read something. After awhile, I realized that the computer was not making any noise. I looked up to see that my computer turned itself off. I also saw that the monitor was turned off as well because its power light was off. I tried starting the computer again. Nothing, not single beep or even a whirr of the hard drives.

I pulled the computer’s plug out of the surge protector and placed it in the socket directly. Nothing. I check the socket by plugging in a lamp and turning it on. The lamp works fine, so I know that it’s not the socket. So then plugged the computer into another socket. Still nothing.

Admitting that I have a big problem on my hands, I open the computer’s case and check inside. It’s a bit dusty, but everything inside looks fine. I check all the wires and they’re all tight. There’s no scorch marks, nor do I smell any metallic burnt smells. Still, I clean the dust out with some canned air and attempt once again to turn the computer on. Still nothing.

I also tested my monitor to see why it’s not turning on as well and I got the same results. Strangely enough, the printer and my speakers are working fine and they were connected to the surge protector and computer too.

So now I’m at a total loss. I’m usually good at fixing hardware problems so long as I have a screen boot up to figure out what’s wrong. I’m guessing that:

A) The computer got some kind of surge through the protector and fried it along with the monitor.
B) The power supply went on the fritz and somehow fried the monitor’s power as well.
C) Static shock fried it.

Anybody have any ideas as to what went wrong? It just seems odd to me that both the monitor and computer would just drop dead instantly while the printer and speakers are unharmed.

BTW, I tried contacting E-Machines. A call to tech support would cost about $2.00 a minute. Ouch. I also tried their tech support chat, but all that did was freeze up Explorer and Firefox on my Mac. Seems like E-Machines doesn’t like Macs.

 

If the monitor feeds through the PC to get its power you could tyr plugging in the monitor directly to the mains. If that then works then the PC may be something simple like a blown fuse.

 

do you have a Power supply tester?
if not:
check to make sure your psu is still set to 115 and try unplugging your psu from everything (mobo, drives, etc.) then plug it into the wall and see if the fan spins up. if it does try plugging your cdrom drive into it and opening it. does it work?

 

A common problem with the older emachines was the power supply going south, most often it takes the mother board with it, may not be your problem tho. By the way the monitor wont seem to work when it has no signal from the pc, im sure the monitor is fine. ed

 

I just fixed an Emachines T2895 for a friend...actually waiting for him to come pick it up...but to cut to the chase...It did EXACTLY what you are saying!!!! Ended up having to replace the motherboard and power supply!!

I started the troubleshooting via just trying a new PSU...nothing.

Replaced the motherboard, and kept the Old PSU in there...was fine for a few days, then the system would start just shutting down and when I restarted it, the post would state that the system was shut down due to an overheat issue, which I checked to see if the thermal paste was the issue, and even bought a different brand, and it still did it, with it happening more frequently as time passed!!

So I put in a new PSU with the new motherboard...VOILA!!

But like I said...It did EXACTLY what you are stating!!

Roger

 

I just got done fiddling around inside the innards. First thing I did was to check to see if the power unit was set to 115. It was. So I unplugged the everything from the PU, then I plugged it into the wall. Still nothing.

Of course it doesn’t help when my cat decides to rub up against me while I was tinkering with the computer’s insides.

I’m guessing the PU is shot and it’s a good bet that the motherboard is as well. I checked some vendors on seeing how much it would cost to replace them both. My best estimate was at $250. I’ve installed CD drives, hard drives, and video cards, but personally I think I’m a little over my head when it comes to installing power supply units and motherboards. Seeing as how for a hundred bucks more I can get another computer, I think I’ll just chalk the E-Machines for a loss and start looking for sales in the fliers this Sunday.

But one quick question before I do, is it possible to salvage at least the memory and hard drive from the computer? Or would they have been fried like the motherboard?

 

I think you'll find that swapping out the power supply unit isn't overly complex. In a standard case, they're held in by four machine screws that are accessible at the back of the case. It's actually easier than swapping a hard drive.

Disconnect the power leads from the motherboard and all peripherals before you loosen the mounting screws. The PSU is somewhat heavy -- you really don't want to undo the last screw and then find that you still need to disconnect a power lead.

Pay attention to where the power leads go as you disconnect them. Make notes if you have to. Connect up the new PSU the same way as the old one after you've fastened it into the case, and that should be it.

Motherboards aren't really more complex. There's just more things to be done. But descriptions of what needs to be done occupies whole chapters in PC repair books. It's time-consuming too. That's why a techie will charge more for that job than the $100 more it'll cost to get another computer.

It's certainly worth a try. The odds are quite good that they're OK. It will depend on what took out your PSU and motherboard.

Other peripherals may also be worth keeping -- like your video, sound, and network cards (if they're not on the motherboard) and your modem (if you have one). And I'd be very surprised if your keyboard, mouse, and any other externals aren't OK. You shouldn't need to replace them.

 

If you have a volt-meter it's fairly straight forward to see if the PSU is supply the correct voltages. The mobo needs a signal called PwrOK to run correctly and the nominal voltage of this is 5V. Anything below ~1V will mean the CPU will be held in permanent reset. The PwrOK wire is the grey wire (pin 8 on an ATX mobo) check this with respect to ground (balck wire).

You do of course need the thing plugged in so be careful as there may well be volts floating around even if the PC seems dead.

 

Useful link Tim. Added to my ever expanding list of useful links.

 

I had an old emachine that died on me in a very similiar way.

I actually opened up the PSU and noticed there were scorch marks on some of the components, motherboard died with it.

My harddrive and video card are alright, but I don't have anything to check whether or not the CPU and the memory is still functional.