[mtags244]

Hey everyone, thanks for any help in advance. Everyone here seems to be quite knowledgeable, so hopefully someone can help.

My Grandma has a five year old eMachines desktop. The disk drive went bad, so I purchased in internal pioneer unit as a replacement at Best Buy. I unplugged the power, cracked open the case, unplugged the power and IDA cable from the old drive, and then placed the new drive in. Everything matched up, including the voltage specs on the power cord.

Unfortunately, despite following what seemed to be good directions, the computer will not power on now. The motherboard has a light that goes green when I plug in the power, but the computer will not power on. I was wondering:

-did i miss a step with my install?
-Could the issue stem from master/slave/cs settings? The old drive was set to cs, but when I initially installed the drive I forgot to change it and it was set at 'master.' Even when the new pioneer is set on cs, it still will not power on.

Thank you!

[Dave Hybrid]

Does it power on with the new drive removed?

[mtags244]

I should have tried that. Unfortunately I will not be able to go back until tomorrow to check. I did try it with the old drive back in, and it would still not power on. Is there some kind of reset, switch, or something that could need to be changed if the case is open or a drive is removed?

[mtags244]

Ok, I tried disconnecting the new one and starting the new computer without any disk drive. It still will not turn on. The green light on the motherboard is still there, but other than that there is no activity when I press on the power button. any ideas?

[philthomas]

Sounds like the PSU has died.

e-machines were famous for supplying PCs with barely adequate PSUs, its amazing it was still working after 5 years. Probably fitting a ne drive has proved to be the deathnail.

Going from memory, I believe e-machines PSUs are not standard size and may have a different mobo connector ..... maybe someone else can confirm this.

I hate to rain on your parade, but e-machines have a terrible reputation for being cheap & nasty .... if you google e machines complaints, you'll see exactly what I am referring to.

Where to go from here ? ..... well if the PSU has blown, it may have taken other parts out with it (well known on e-machines), so you have to decide whether it's worth spending money on or whether it's time to cut your losses and think about a new PC.

If it's 5 years old, IMO it's time to make a new investment

[mtags244]

Thanks I really appreciate the advice! I was thinking it was the PSU, but really hoping someone would respond and tell me that there was some kind of quirk with this PC and not a real problem. It seems like it is definitely time for a new computer.

I can't believe that they would build a computer like this. It seems like you are stuck once one thing stops working because if you replace it with something aftermarket, the psu goes out, and the psu is apparently a bizarre size and not easily replaceable.

Oh well, thanks for the help!

[Carbon]

Try putting in a decent micro-ATX PSU. eMachines, Compaq, Dell, all use this funky ATX/BTX hybrid PSU type. However, you can line up two or three of the screws, which is easily enough to anchor it securely in place. Grab a aftermarket micro PSU rated at a decent wattage, and try that - or, like you said, just get a new computer.