PC that won't start?

[eyeCpc]

I hesistant to point out a bad board. But when buying a cheap make at Walmart... it's already too late to return it having had it for months.

 

[Peter.Cort]

well then what's your assessment on the situation? you say that you hesitate to point out a bad board, yet you offer no counter suggestion... Also just because it was bought at walmart, and is an emachines doesn't mean anything. All desktops are built using quality parts.. It isn't like they use inferior parts to make their machines, they are built with the same quality parts as an HP in my opinion, it's just they use ECS who charges less per board than HP who uses MSI/ASUS for their boards, and charge a premium.

Also there is still power going through the board to the connections which is whatever, but the fact that there isn't anything else going on and there is no video signal out, that means that there is either a conflict in drivers/hardware in the onboard and dedicated gpu's. When the card is removed, the onboard will automatically be defaulted to, and since there's no signal coming out of that, that leads me to believe that it's either the HDD or the Mobo. Since the OP clearly stated that there were no beeps when stuff was taken out, and the same thing was happening with the monitor, which leads me to believe it's the motherboard.


If you have an alternate analysis of the situation, then post it but don't post anymore in this thread unless you have a constructive addition to the OP's problem please.

 

[Trotter]

Sounds like a dead mobo to me.

The computer should have a one year warranty on it. Remove the GFX card and button everything up nice and neat and call their support line. eMachine has changed hands a couple of times, but they are still decent boxes.

 

[thinkink]

I'm an eMachine owner with plenty of past experience with problems on this piece of crap!

I am not an expert - Just sharing insight based on my personal experience working on PC's for 18 years, and especially the eMachines onboard GPU conflict with addon PCI graphics cards.

The objective here is to determine if there is a Graphics related issue or possibly a short caused by unseen debris(such as hair) introduced while working on the problem.

1) Buy a can(or 2) of compressed air

2) Disconnect PC power cord

3) Disconnect the Monitor cord from the Video card.

When performing the following steps - be conscious of static electricity!
DO NOT touch any of the contacts on any of the components - but don't let the dire warnings paralyze you either, I've "never" fried a component with static in my 18 years working on PC's. Common sense and caution will serve you well.

4) Remove ram sticks, all PCI cards and the CPU

5) Using the Compressed air - Spray all Ram and PCI slots, CPU socket - your goal is to remove any potential shorts caused by hair or built up dust around any of these areas - also focus around the onboard GPU Chip.
Carefully inspect MB for "any" debris, I use a magnifying glass.
If there are smokers in the environment you may find tobacco tar build up which requires a good cleaning(electrical component cleaner and an old tooth brush works well). "DON'T" use radio shack brand as it leaves oily residue that takes for ever to dissipate

6) Using pencil eraser, "gently" massage all gold contact fingers on Ram and PCI cards.

7) Re-install Ram and CPU "BUT" do not install the PCI Video card.

8) Re-attach monitor cable to the Onboard Video port.

9) Find the CMOS reset jumper, located just south of CMOS battery - there are 3 jumper pins - remove jumper and re-install jumper to the other pin. if Pin 1 and 2 are shorted normally, leaving the 3rd pin exposed then you want to change it so pin 1 is exposed and pins 2 and 3 are shorted.

10) Connect Power cord to PC and switch power on, see if it powers up.

11) If the PC powers up and monitor works - you have to go into CMOS
(Actually the reset position of the jumper should automatically prompt you into the CMOS menu at boot up)

13) I recommend you find the CMOS option to select "Optimal default"

14) Make sure the CMOS "VIDEO" option is set to AGP(I realize you don't have a AGP slot)! This is the setting that tells the system to use the onboard graphics rather than a PCI addon card.

12) Exit CMOS - saving the new settings.

13) Power down and replace the CMOS jumper back to it's previous position.

14) Reboot and see if you boot into Windows.

15) Assuming you boot into Windows - remove driver for the PCI Video card and "enable" driver for Intel video driver.

16) Reboot PC again and see if all works well.

 

[thinkink]

Forgive me for multiple posting but I want to point something out about the Intel board in these eMachines.

If you plan to add a PCI graphics card you "MUST" boot into CMOS "BEFORE" you add the card!!!!!!

You "MUST" change the video setting in CMOS from AGP to PCI -
If you neglect to do this "FIRST" - the system "WILL NOT" recognize your PCI graphics card and "you will not have ANY" out put to your monitor. The inexperienced will assume that their PC is dead!!!

This is the justification for my instructions in previous post regarding the RESET of CMOS "without" the PCI card installed!!!

 

[Gothch1ck]

thanks for the detailed post, I have the computer now, I'll get some air either tonight or tomarrow,


I myself was leading up to bad board, but did want to give it a good cleaning since theres a nearly constant smoker around (his girlfriend) and a cat (lots of fur) and lots and lots of dust in these areas, actually thats the main reason I wanted to borrow his machine, it has 4 inch long dust bunnies in there.


I'll keep ya posted.

 

[thinkink]

If it's that bad, you may want to take it all apart and vacuum everything first.

I've found pet hair and dust bunnies behind the Motherboard before and that stuff could easily stand up from static charge and make undesirable short.

I've even found the Power supply vents clogged so bad that I've taken the cover off and vacuumed the inside.

I've once heard a PC tech brag that the most common cause of "dead" PC's was just dirty and they earn big bucks just to clean them. He doesn't tell the customers this. I've seen it myself, mostly it's the cooling fins on CPU that get clogged and the CPU heats up, but that problem shouldn't keep a PC from booting, just locking up when it get's hot.

thanks for the detailed post, I have the computer now, I'll get some air either tonight or tomarrow,


I myself was leading up to bad board, but did want to give it a good cleaning since theres a nearly constant smoker around (his girlfriend) and a cat (lots of fur) and lots and lots of dust in these areas, actually thats the main reason I wanted to borrow his machine, it has 4 inch long dust bunnies in there.


I'll keep ya posted.

 

[Gothch1ck]

I've personally cleaned a PC that was left in a un finished garage (mud floors) for 6 months. After cleaning out 2 inches of mud, dust bunnies that would gobble you whole, hair, and "gunk", Brushing everything and leaving it overnight in a big plastic trash bag hooked up to a dehymidifier, the PC booted up hassle free, first try. Did take several hours to vacuum out and overnight to make sure it was dry though.

 

[thinkink]

HOLY CRAP!!!
The moral of this story is "Don't give up!"

It's not dead til you throw it against the wall!!

I've personally cleaned a PC that was left in a un finished garage (mud floors) for 6 months. After cleaning out 2 inches of mud, dust bunnies that would gobble you whole, hair, and "gunk", Brushing everything and leaving it overnight in a big plastic trash bag hooked up to a dehymidifier, the PC booted up hassle free, first try. Did take several hours to vacuum out and overnight to make sure it was dry though.

 

[thinkink]

Gothch1ck,

I've re-read all your post carefully and wanted to assure you that your symptoms are "Exactly" what happens if you have the monitor plugged into a PCI graphics adapter and change the CMOS setting to AGP!!!

Your PC will boot with no BIOS beep codes, the fans will operate, the hard drive activity light will activate and the monitor will display that it is working / check your cable! But you will not have any PC output to the monitor.

If the CMOS Graphics setting was changed inadvertently - You have to remove the Monitor cable from the PCI card and plug it into the graphics port on the Mother board.

Whether or not you physically remove the PCI graphics card "shouldn't matter," but I remove it - just to make sure there aren't any hardware conflicts to complicate the recovery effort. Then I boot into windows, remove the driver(s) and software that was installed by the PCI card installation. Then enable(or reinstall if necessary) the Intel onboard driver and update it. reboot windows and make all necessary adjustments to the video, such as "proper" resolution and refresh rate.

If the PCI card is preferred then go through the installation properly.
1) Disable Intel driver
2) Reboot and let Windows adjust to default "VGA" driver
3) Install Driver(s) for the PCI card
4) Reboot PC into the CMOS setup
5) Change the CMOS graphics from AGP to PCI
6) Save settings and shut down PC
7) Install PCI graphics card
8) Disconnect monitor cable from Onboard port
9) Connect Monitor cable to PCI Graphics card
10) Power up PC and boot into Windows
11) Follow any Windows prompts to finish the PCI installation.
12) Make sure to adjust monitor Resolution and refresh settings to proper.

ALSO:
MAKE SURE THE VOLTAGE SWITCH ON POWER SUPPLY WASN'T (accidentally) SWITCHED FROM 110 to 220

My co-worker has a PC from Wal-Mart "E-machine" the only thing hes done is add a GPU to it, and it worked for months, but recently.. it's decided to stop.

When attempting to troubleshoot it, it won't boot. The fans kick on, full speed, but nothing changes. Messing with it some I managed to luck it out and get a boot, but it freezes up during any activity.

Turning the power off via-button is troublesome , most the time it just restarts itself to black screen repeatedly.

Any suggestions? (besides scrapping it)

Costs of repairs would need to be minimal. He's got a baby on the way and no money for "electronic fun".

I could only think of possible:
Mobo
Harddrive
Power Supply

But Have never had this issue so I really don't know how to fix it for em.