E-machines PC Advice

[Liam]

Hi All,

Today I got my hands on a "broken" PC which I was told was mines if I wanted it.

Now it's a P4 2.8Mhz, 80GB, 256MB Ram with onboard graphics, DVD-Rom Drive, CD-RW etc Not amazing but useable for net stuff and WP.

It's an Emachines PC and it has no graphics output (given it's shared GFX I assume the Mobo is toast?) and subsequent Googling shows that the PSU's are dodgy which leads to frying other components.

So the dilemma is put it right for a few quid £50 or so I reckon or use the working components in my own machine, eg RAM and HDD?

Liam

 

[Hellcat]

mobo/ram is not worth anything. Optical drives and HDD are probably the only salvagable components.

 

[Si]

Personally I'd strip it unless you really need another machine

 

[Morritt]

yeah a friend of mine chucked one away when that happened to him, i mean FFS! all it needed was £50 of parts and its good as new (and was better than my own computer then!).

personally i'd sell the processor on ebay if you cant use it, use the disk and DVD player in another computer and RAM if compatible, keep any other parts that might be working, i have a box of old parts, you never know when a PSU might blow ...

 

[Liam]

Ooops wrong spec up there, it is a 2.7 celeron CPU, kinda makes MOBO hunting a bit harder, having a shifty around just now, someone I know could make use of it so I'll try to resuurect it cheaply.

Liam

 

[chaos]

I reckon you should take what you want off it (if anything) and flog the rest on eBay

 

[Liam]

Bought a cheap MOBO and PSU last night to see what if I can cure it, it's destined for Mrs Liam if I fix it.

Too good for Ebay methinks, specially cos it came to me for nowt and £35 may see it ok.

Liam

 

[Liam]

OK, 2 of the cheapest items I could find later and a good spring cleaning and we have display etc but I can't get windows to load.

Now, I got a clearance mobo which came as the board itself, no instructions etc so I have no support/drivers cd but I've DL'd these from the web.

I can get to the mobo splash screen then I get the big XP something happened scrawl and do I wish to load windows normally, safe mode etc etc and any options I choose means it just resets and back to the mobo splashscreen.

I did read that some setups won't load because of a hardware change so I have tried my own HDD to no avail as well as my own RAM.

Anyone any ideas?

Cheers

Liam

 

[arseofbox]

Wipe the hard disc and reinstall.

Ive heard of PCs not starting or failing to start totally as the Master Boot Record (MBR) is not exactly the same between two different mobo/ HDD combinations

 

[Seraph]

Wipe the hard disc and reinstall.

Ive heard of PCs not starting or failing to start totally as the Master Boot Record (MBR) is not exactly the same between two different mobo/ HDD combinations

yea, that. Some times the MBR matches hardware previously installed. So you would prolly find that an old install of XP would not work. Every time I update mobo/processor, I always reformat, for that reason mostly, secondly, I'm a glutten for punishment.. I'm M$'s bi'tch.

 

[Liam]

I was kinda thinking that way but wanted a peek on the HDD, it should work as a slave HDD on my other machine shouldn't it?

Oh and thanks lads!

Liam

EDIT: Forgot to say that when it goes to boot I get a split second of the loading screen and a kind of BSOD.

 

[chaos]

it should work as a slave HDD on my other machine shouldn't it?

Should do

 

[Liam]

Just whacked it on my PC, full of games must've been all my bro used it for, I'm formatting it then all get it up to spec tomorrow.

Liam

 

[Liam]

Right all is going well, just two more questions.

Since I changed the mobo I have too probs,

1. I don't have a compatible back plate for the connections on the case as the mobo came on it's own cos I am a cheapskate! Where would I get one and I don't know the official name.

2. The connections on the mobo for the power led is 2 pin but it has a pin in the middle meaning it should be a 3 pin connector to make it work, where would I get one of these?

Liam

 

[Liam]

So the bit I'm after is an I/O Shield, will have a shifty for one.

Dunno about the led, suppose I or Mrs Liam could live without it.

Liam

 

[Seraph]

2. The connections on the mobo for the power led is 2 pin but it has a pin in the middle meaning it should be a 3 pin connector to make it work, where would I get one of these?

Not sure what you mean here, as for the I/O shields, your local pc shop will have buckets full of them, they'll be throwing them out cos often mobo's/cases come with a selection.

With the LED, do you mean that the wire that comes from the case has 3 pins on it? or that the space on the mobo has 3 pins on it and the connector only has 2?

LED's are a diode, which means they only have 2 contacts (unless they're part of a thyristor (i think) or variable diode.)
It may be that it's one of them funky multi-coloured diodes...

elaborate please Liam.

 

[Liam]

Right yeah it's an I/O shield, had a looksie on the bay quickly but none suit.

Erm right according to the mobo manual the power led for the front panel connects to the board like see attachment

Liam

 

[chaos]

Right yeah it's an I/O shield, had a looksie on the bay quickly but none suit.

Erm right according to the mobo manual the power led for the front panel connects to the board like see attachment

Liam

Is the case PLED connector 2 or 3 pin?

 

[Seraph]

Right yeah it's an I/O shield, had a looksie on the bay quickly but none suit.

Erm right according to the mobo manual the power led for the front panel connects to the board like see attachment

Liam

well that's suually the case. the middle pin is a blank one.
no wire connects to it.

 

[Liam]

Is the case PLED connector 2 or 3 pin?

A 2pin but the mobo want's three, can I adapt an old optical audio lead to suit perhaps?

Liam