Fixing an eMachine

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daRcer

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Situation:
My father's friend recently came to me for help with his eMachine; bad choice of computer in the first place. He's had the computer for two years and now all of a sudden the power supply is shot. I replaced the power supply and still, nothing turns on. After some troubleshooting, I've come to the conclusion that the motherboard is dead. Now, the only proprietary computers I've worked with are Dells and Gateways, and I'm assuming eMachines are the same way: everything needs to be to their "standards". When I realized I had to replace the motherboard, I checked for CPU and RAM compatibility before selecting one. I knew his CPU was a Celeron and it's a 478. For the RAM, Crucial told me its PC 2100 DDR 266Mhz 2.5v.

Questions:
1. Do I have to replace the motherboard with PC 2100 RAM slots or can I go higher; will his 266Mhz RAM work in a 400Mhz slot? Will I have to alter BIOS settings?
2. Will a motherboard such as a Gigabyte or Asus work with his other eMachines parts? I only ask because some RAM voltages don't work with proprietary motherboards or vice versa.
 
Slower RAM will work in faster slots, but the RAM will only run at its designated speed.

An off the shelf mobo should work, because eMachines uses (albeit cheap) off the shelf parts. You might want to go ahead and get a good, new PSU anyways, because most of the ones eMachines use aren't very good.
 
macdude425 said:
Slower RAM will work in faster slots, but the RAM will only run at its designated speed.

An off the shelf mobo should work, because eMachines uses (albeit cheap) off the shelf parts. You might want to go ahead and get a good, new PSU anyways, because most of the ones eMachines use aren't very good.

Great, my plan was to replace the power supply and the motherboard and it seems the motherboard will work. It's good to know eMachines use other company's parts so I can replace anything without any problems. Thanks.
 
A new motherboard might not fit in that case. I would return the power supply and buy a case with a PSU for like $30 on newegg.
 
SHAWN said:
A new motherboard might not fit in that case. I would return the power supply and buy a case with a PSU for like $30 on newegg.

Yeah, his current motherboard is a mini-ATX, so I'm going to replace it with one; that won't be a problem. He has a low budget though and he's a friend of the family, so I don't want to have him spend any extra money on a case. Thanks though.
 
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