eMachine power supply issue

Jim,

From what you've described, I think that the eMachines motherboard is hosed.
eMachines have weak and poor quality power supplies that sometimes take the
motherboard with them. In short, you've tested the motherboard with a known
good power supply (or two), and the system won't boot.

Now, to be doubly sure, disconnect the power from all the devices (hard drive,
CD-ROM drive, etc) and remove any add-in cards EXCEPT a graphics card (if
present). Next, make sure that the memory is properly seated in its memory
slots. Do all this with the computer unplugged from wall current. Then try to
power up the computer again. If it fails to power up this time, the motherboard
is toast.

Many models of eMachines computers use standard ATX or ATX-12V (Pentium 4) power
supplies. I would encourage you to buy another brand, not the cheap power
supplies used in eMachines computers. I recently acquired a failed eMachines
Pentium 4 box. The flimsy 150w power supply was still good, but the motherboard
was hosed. BTW, MORE wattage is always OK. The wattage rating on a power
supply is the MAXIMUM wattage that the power supply will allow. Computers
routinely draw less than the rated wattage... Ben Myers

On Fri, 03 Feb 2006 19:00:14 -0600, Jim Thompson wrote:

A friend has an eMachine T2042 that no longer starts up. When the power
button is pressed, the power actually comes on for a second but then
goes out. I verified this by watching the power light flicker on and
off, and also by opening the case and watching the CPU fan start and
then stop again. If I press the power button again right afterward,
nothing happens at all. The PC is dead. But if I wait a little while
and then press the button again, the power comes on ... and then goes
right off again.

I replaced the PSU with a couple of CompUSA-brand power supplies (both
had the same wattage as the eMachine PSU). With each CompUSA PSU, as
soon as I plug in the power cord, the power light starts flickering and
the fan starts. But the POST process never starts. And pushing the
power button makes no difference. The fan & light just keep going until
I remove the power cord.

I thought it might be the motherboard, since I was getting different
behavior with different different brand PSUs, but I did a bit of
research and saw that eMachine tend to have PSU issues. Are PSUs
essential a proprietary component with eMachines? If so, would
replacing the power supply with an eMachine-specific PSU be the most
likely solution at this point? And if that is the case, where is the
best place to purchase eMachine PSUs online?

TIA