This is my first post asking for help, so please be patient with this newbie!

This is my 14 year old son's computer - emachines T2885, 2.8 mhz, 80 gb hard drive, Windows XP, 512 ram - this is just a cheapy computer that we bought him to keep him off of Mom and Dad's. It's nothing special; just pulled out of the box and plugged it in. The case has never been opened and it's at least 2 years old.

He told me that he woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that it had shut itself down and now he couldn't start it back up. I went to look at it and it's sitting there with the hard drive light on, the floppy drive light on and CD drive light on. The fans for the power supply and processor are running. Monitor shows no signal, and confirms that it's OK with the "exit" button.

I tried holding in the power button and it does nothing. Nothing on the keyboard has any effect. Neither the CD or the DVD drives will open when the buttons are pushed. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it immediately goes to the same CONDITION; hard drive light full-on, fans going, lights on floppy and CD drive.

I checked all connections, and opened the case (first time since new), aside from a little dust in side, everything looks fine (albeit to my untrianed eyes).

I tried putting in a boot disc and plugging it back in, but no change.

Thanks in advance for reading this far and offering any thoughts!eMachines have a penchant for having the inexpensive cheap power supplies failing and sometimes taking other components (like the motherboard) out with it. You may be fortunate that only a new power supply is needed, and that would be a reasonable place to start in any case. There certainly is no need to rush out and spend hundreds on a new machine.

Look at the power supply from the inside of the case. I think you will find it is a Bestec and 300-350 w max. It should be a standard size, and can be easily replaced - just four screws holding it in and then replugging in all the cables EXACTLY as they were. Be sure and CHECK to see how many pins are on the MAIN connector - it will be either 20 or 24, so get a replacement power supply with the same number.

If needed you can post a picture of what you have (the main connector to the motherboard).

Here is some pictures and details of the process. The whole thing takes 10 minutes or less and you do not have to be an electrician to do it:

http://www.fonerbooks.com/r_power.htm

Here are some more links:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+replace+power+supply


It is a Bestec power supply, but says 150w max. It has a 20 pin connector.

I'll PICK up a new power supply and see if that takes care of the problem.

Thanks for the feedback!Quote

It is a Bestec power supply, but says 150w max.

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It is a Bestec power supply, but says 150w max.

150W? That has to be a record low!

Oops, I misread it, it's 250 wats max.

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Oops, I misread it, it's 250 wats max.

Did you try replacing the CMOS CR2032 battery first?

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Oops, I misread it, it's 250 wats max.

Did you try replacing the CMOS CR2032 battery first?

No, I'll try that next.
Replacing the power supply made no difference.

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Oops, I misread it, it's 250 wats max.

Did you try replacing the CMOS CR2032 battery first?

No, I'll try that next.
Replacing the power supply made no difference.

And what did you replace it with ? ?