System's Gone All to Heck-- HELP!

S

starhawk

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
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First, sorry I been gone so long... just haven't had the time.

It'd probably have been a longer stay, but about two weeks ago, my backup system went flat. OH CRAP.

The system is an eMachines T2596, specs as follows:
eMachines mobo, 845GME Chipset (I *think*)
Celery 2.5GHz CPU
256MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM
80MB HDD
CDRW/DVDROM Combo Drive
250W POS PSU

So sue me, I got it 3 years ago for $400. Thought it was a great deal.

So fast-forward (rewind?) to two weeks ago. It's morningtime and right about time to head off to school (I'm in community college ATM). I hear a loud BANG! and the power goes out. W00t, transformer blew its guts out. So we call it in, wait about half an hour, and lo and behold, it comes back on. Then Mother notices that my computer is doing something funny.

It's having a seizure is what it's doing. The HDD and power lights are flashing about twice a second, to the tune of pops from the speakers. I get visions of smoke and flames and dive for the power wire.

Both times I have attempted to reconnect the power connector to the computer, the same thing has happened, meaning that *something* has become permanently borked.

So, this morning, Mother pipes up with, "Why don't you visit that "hard"-place you used to go to and ask your friends there about it?" So I have three questions:

(1) What's wrong with my machine? ie is it the PSU or the motherboard or something else?
(2) Can I fix it, and if so, how, and where do I get the parts? Is it better/easier/cheaper to let someone else fix it?
(3) If my machine is totally borked, what are the chances that there are salvageable, non-proprietary components still there?
 
Any power at all? Do you get your fans spinning or any other noise?

If you had a power loss I would suspect PSU, but we need more info on what it does to be sure.
 
:rolleyes: read. the. thread.

To reiterate: the front panel lights blink to the tune of speaker pops every 1/2 sec. or so. This happened after a power outage. PLEASE read the first post that I made to get the full story.
 
starhawk said:
:rolleyes: read. the. thread.

To reiterate: the front panel lights blink to the tune of speaker pops every 1/2 sec. or so. This happened after a power outage. PLEASE read the first post that I made to get the full story.
Click to expand...

Buy a new computer dude. That thing sucked before you fried it. Probably not worth the effort to diagnose in my opinion.
ribs
 
starhawk said:
:rolleyes: read. the. thread.

To reiterate: the front panel lights blink to the tune of speaker pops every 1/2 sec. or so. This happened after a power outage. PLEASE read the first post that I made to get the full story.
Click to expand...

I did read the OP several times. What I am asking you is if your fans are spinning up? I do not see that listed in the information above. When I asked about sound I was referring to the sounds of the fans spinning, sorry if that wasn't clear enough.

I have to assume that your machine is powering on, because you don't give me the information needed to answer that.
 
starhawk said:
:rolleyes: read. the. thread.

To reiterate: the front panel lights blink to the tune of speaker pops every 1/2 sec. or so. This happened after a power outage. PLEASE read the first post that I made to get the full story.
Click to expand...
Dude, you aren't going to get ANY help with that attitude. :rolleyes:

I think Rich Tate was asking the questions he did only to get more information.... saying that some lights are blinking and your speakers are popping doesn't give us much to go on... could be one of a few things actually. If we knew if you have power to your fans or other devices or, heck, even if your heat sink fan is working that'd be a bit more information than what you gave. First impressions for me say your PSU is pooched, but that still doesn't rule out something wrong with your mobo or your hard drive or something like that. Give us more info and you get a better answer. Otherwise, I'd also have to agree with ribs1.
 
many apologies.It seemed to me that I was being more obvious than I actually was.

The fans do come on; but the behavior is more like that of a reboot every 1/2 second. My own inclination is to say that something in the psu has shorted out.

The speaker pops and the lights coming on act just as they do on bootup, if only for a fraction of a second. Then the lights go out. Then, a fraction of a second later, it happens again.

I'd post a movie of it if I wasn't on dialup >.<
 
It sounds to me like you've already got a handle on what the problem is...the PSU. The fix should be obvious, go get a decent replacement for it and put it in the case.

If it's mATX I'd suggest either a FSP mATX PSU or a PC Power&Cooling mATX PSU. Go with quality parts now and even if you replace the PC later you can always use the PSU with a SFF case that uses mATX power for a HTPC.
 
I always thought that eMachines was one of those companies that used proprietary crap in their systems.

The power supply doesn't really look proprietary, but I don't want to find out the hard way that I'm wrong and that it is.
 
starhawk said:
I always thought that eMachines was one of those companies that used proprietary crap in their systems.

The power supply doesn't really look proprietary, but I don't want to find out the hard way that I'm wrong and that it is.
Click to expand...

If you are going to find out anything the hard way, an eMachines is the box to do it on.
ribs
 
starhawk said:
I always thought that eMachines was one of those companies that used proprietary crap in their systems.

The power supply doesn't really look proprietary, but I don't want to find out the hard way that I'm wrong and that it is.
Click to expand...

Some of them are.

Take the PSU with you and compare dimensions and connections. Also if it doesn't fit, a little dremeling can go a long way in this situation. ;)
 
cross parting will get to the bottom of it quickly
Id forget trying to boot into the OS

with a different PSU see if you can make it to BIOS (disconnect all drivs and remove any cards not necessary to get to BIOS, including the vidcard if there is VGA on the board)
if you manage that try booting to the Ultimate Boot CD and running memtest86+ alternately do the same from the FDD
if that passes add the HDD with the OS and run the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic
if that passes tryt for a boot into the OS if it fails its likely corrupted and you need to decide if you want to first rescue any data, and then if you want to try to repair or just reinstall.

Once in Id do more stress testing and start adding back cards
 
Ice Czar said:
cross parting will get to the bottom of it quickly
Id forget trying to boot into the OS
Click to expand...
Agreed. You don't necessarly need to install the PSU so much as hook up the ATX connector to the motherboard in order to deturmine if the PSU is the fault. If it powers on and gets past the BIOS POST then you've already isolated the problem. If it still reboots, play the isolation game. as Ice Czar recommends, next start with the video card. If you've drilled through the equipment and its still rebooting then it might be that the motherboard has given up the ghost.

-E
 
its your PSU. There is 2 voltage stepdowns in a PSU one for 110-12V and one 110-5V Your 12V bit the dust. Its not uncommon for lowend psu's to die. Especially in a budget machine like an Emachine.
 
I looked online... the PSU is NOT proprietary, but it is a weird form factor called "PS2" that is compatible with ATX form factor PSUs in every way but the physical size of the supply...

...meaning that I cannot use my backup power supply. I'm just going to have to take it in to be fixed.
 
I'm contemplating trying to shoehorne my spare PSU into there and seeing how close it comes to fitting :D If that doesn't work, I'll just haul it off to Borked Buy and have them do it.

I'm lazy :D
 
starhawk said:
I'm contemplating trying to shoehorne my spare PSU into there and seeing how close it comes to fitting :D If that doesn't work, I'll just haul it off to Borked Buy and have them do it.

I'm lazy :D
Click to expand...

Bringing it there will cost more than the computer is worth...seriously. It will probably be at least $200. Not worth it. Get the measurements of the eMachines supply and compare it with a regular ATX PSU. The motherboard may have gone also along with everything else, but I hope not.
 
PS2 is ATX

its the ATX PS2 standard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2

The PS/2 line, released to the public in 1987, was created by IBM in an attempt to recapture control of the PC market by introducing an advanced proprietary architecture. Although IBM's considerable market presence ensured the PS/2 would sell in relatively large numbers, the PS/2 architecture ultimately failed in its bid to return control of the PC market to IBM. Due to the higher costs of the closed architecture, customers preferred competing PCs that extended the existing PC architecture instead of abandoning it for something new. However, many of the PS/2s innovations, such as the 72 pin SIMM, the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, and the 15-pin analog VGA video interface, went on to become ubiquitous de facto standards.
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the ATX standard inorporated many of the earlier PS/2 standards but vary in power supplies the older standard being AT but you by no means need an AT power supply, AT power supplies were turned on at the supply, while ATX supplies (and their ATX12V revisions) are softpower on, adding a +3.3V rail and +5VSB (standby) they are powered on by the mobo and are able to be software controlled, power to the mobo for signaling being always present via the +5VSB so it can wake by keyboard, wake by LAN or wake by WAN. Always turn off the PSU or unplug it before working on the board see the ESD & Electromigration Rant

Power Supply Form Factors have always been a subset of the major spec

there are two main bodies that dictate PSU form factors

http://www.formfactors.org/formfactor.asp (ATX \ subset PSU being ATX12V)
http://ssiforum.org/default.aspx (EPS12V, plus rackmout and redundant supplies electronics bays ect)

and the leading members belong to both (the driving force being Intel)
SSI is primarilly for workstations & servers
while formfactor deals with desktops
SSI supplies are generally compatible with ATX mobos the ATX12V spec typically adopting features from the SSI, and even where the SSI spec might have more pins on a connector they will still typically incorporate the same pinout as the ATX12V spec and be keyed the same way, so you can actually attach them provided there is clearence for the extra pins to hang off, or you can employ a simple "straight through"adapter

(a notable exceptions where the ATXGES spec which AMD developed to power its early dual CPU boards, as where a whole slew of Dell supplies which they finally gave up on)

its very likely you can fit the supply in but measure first, it may not be proprietary in function, but that doesnt mean its enclosure isnt
check that there is connector compatibility

The ATX (for Advanced Technology Extended) form factor was created by Intel in 1995. It was the first big change in computer case and motherboard design in many years. ATX overtook AT completely as the default form factor for new systems. ATX addressed many of the AT form factor's annoyances that had frustrated system builders. Other standards for smaller boards (including microATX flex-atx and mini-ITX) usually keep the basic rear layout but reduce the size of the board and the number of expansion slot positions. In 2003, Intel announced the new BTX standard, intended as a replacement for ATX, but as of February 2006 the ATX form factor remains the industry standard and BTX seems to be dying out because of Intel's move away from high clock speeds..

AT-style computer cases had a power button that was directly connected to the system power supply unit (PSU). The general configuration was a double pole latching mains voltage switch with the four pins connected to wires from a four core cable. The wires were either soldered to the power button (making it difficult to replace the power supply if it failed) or blade recepticles were used. An ATX power supply does not directly connect to the system power button, allowing the computer to be powered off via software. However, many ATX power supplies have a switch on the back to ensure no power is flowing to the motherboard (a trickle of energy is normally sent to an ATX-style motherboard even if the computer appears to be "off"). Since the ATX PSU uses the motherboard's power switch, to turn on the power for use in situations that do not utilize an ATX motherboard it is possible to activate the power supply by shorting the green wire from the ATX connector to any black wire on the connector (or ground).

The power supply's connection to the motherboard was changed. Older AT power supplies had two similar-looking connectors that could sometimes inadvertently be plugged in incorrectly, generally causing short-circuits in the motherboard and causing it to fail. ATX used one large keyed connector instead, which made installation much easier and safer. The new connector also provided a 3.3 volt connection removing the need for motherboards to derive this voltage from one of the other power rails. Some motherboards, particularly late model AT form factor ones, supported both AT and ATX PSUs. With the introduction of the Pentium 4 this connector was deemed inadequate and an extra 4-pin connector was added and this was also later adopted by Athlon 64 systems. Some high end systems have also used other connectors to bring in more power. Some high power graphics cards also needed extra power but this was generally delivered through a 4-pin molex connector as used for hard drives and CD-ROM drives.
Click to expand...
 
Wonderful. This means that the backup supply that I have lying around at home will work perfectly in there... I've checked the connections and unless a few wires were switched around, which I don't think is the case, it will work.
 
My backup supply should be arriving tomorrow from my father's place in Raleigh... I will take pics of the installation, assuming my camera is in the mood to work :rolleyes:
 
Pops forgot to bring the PSU :rolleyes: so it's going to be another 2 weeks or so before I can get it...

:mad: DANGIT!
 
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