AboutKarl Zick Expertise Can answer questions on most aspects of PC hardware and software. I build them, program them, fix them, upgrade them, etc. LAN and internet literate. Visit my free web site at www.kzconsulting.net.
Experience Previous USAF Colonel and Aerospace engineer. Professional PC consultant for the past 8 years. Client database of over 70 businesses and individuals.
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Question Emachines tt3626 - ECS ht2000 motherboard approx 6 months old. Was working fine up until two days ago, tried to start up the pc everything turned on (fans, interior workings, etc) then shut off after about 3 seconds. Thought initially it could be a power supply issue but checked the RAM first, pulled both out and reinserted. Tried to turn the pc back on and it went on and stayed on, but didnt start the os. When i try to turn the pc off by holding in the power switch it wont go off and the fans continue running and the whole time while power is running nothing loads?
Answer Hi Steve,
If you had reviewed my answers to eMachine problems over the past 10 years, you would see that they are famous for defective motherboards (both eMachine motherboards and the cheapest custom ECS board they can find). What is worse is that a replacement board can be very expensive and they are still the same piece of junk as the one that died. If you put in a different brand of board, your system will not boot up because the Windows OS is an OEM version that will only work with an eMachine motherboard (or equivalent). I coule start a very large club with unhappy eMachine owners.
Your easiest option is to buy a barebones case/motherboard/cpu combo from a place like 3btech.net for around $140 and transfer your RAM, hard drive, burner, and PSU to the new system. You may also be able to just buy a motherboard/cpu combo and use the existing case - but their cases don't always work with just any motherboard. One step lower would be to just buy a motherboard and use the existing cpu and fan. Just be sure to get one with the right size socket. I have had good luck with Gigabyte boards lately and bad luck with ASUS boards. I shouldn't have to tell you to stay away from ECS.
With either of these options, you will probably also have to buy a new OS. I have seen OEM versions of XP as low as $69 and Vista as low as $79 at Newegg.com.
