Help please

**mae** · September 11th, 2006, 05:40 PM

Hello everyone,
First off I'm at my wits end trying to figure out what is wrong with my mother in laws computer.LOL Anyway she has a windows xp home emachine desk top.The problem is it will not boot at all and I have tried several things. The only thing her screen will show is a black screen with a blue box in it with the color monitor symbols in it. At first her hard drive would turn on but it wouldent turn off unless you unpluged it.So today I went to a computer tech, and he tested the power supply and it was shot so we bought the new one.Now that part seems to be fixed because I can now get the cd drive to open but you still have to unplug it to turn it off.I tried to do a recovery console and its like the drive cant detect the cd is in at all.Please bare with me I'm trying to explain this the best I can.lol Its very confusing to me. here are a few more things i've tried. Checked the video card that dident work so she took it back on got her money back I also tried taking the battery out for 30 minutes then putting it back again and that dident help at all.Can anyone give me a clue to what else the problem could be.Thanks in advance.

**CCT** · September 11th, 2006, 05:47 PM

Welcome to WinDrivers.

First, we may need (actually do need is the right term) to know how familiar you are with computers and the parts and workings thereof.

Thanks.

**mae** · September 11th, 2006, 05:56 PM

Thanks for welcoming me to the board.To be honest I'm not to familiar with computer parts everything I know so far I have learned by sites like this one but when it comes to disk format and other things i can to with flying colors.If I dont understand the things that are told about a computer part I look them up. This is new to me because I have never dealt with this sort of problem.Any help given will be very appreciated.

**CCT** · September 11th, 2006, 06:08 PM

I do not want to sound harsh (I often do however) BUT an E-machine older than 3 years is an incipient anchor waiting for water.

Get your money back for the psu and just look for a 'working' used comp.

Please do not take offense - but you MIGHT save some money by taking anything useful off that machine and using it on a 'newer' one. eg, modem card, sound card, cd/dvd.

I wouldn't trust the case because the power switch may be faulty.

The cpu is questionable also BUT you could Ebay the barebones as a fixer for $20 and $25 shipping.

edit: IF you have the XP disks that software is worth more than your comp if the comp is 3+ years old.

**mae** · September 11th, 2006, 06:23 PM

This is not my computer it is my mother in laws.No offense taken.I have a compaq and all though some people dont like them So far its been a good computer and I've had it almost 5 years.Knock on wood lol I've never had a hardware problem.Anyway I've read all over the Internet lately that emachines suck and from what I can tell so far ICAM

**NooNoo** · September 12th, 2006, 04:57 AM

OK, so now it boots? Or does it.. can you explain exactly what happens when you switch on?

**street1** · September 12th, 2006, 05:16 AM

The manufacturer model number may help us.

Can you get to the BIOS?

Does the CD drive show up in BIOS?

**mae** · September 12th, 2006, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by NooNoo

OK, so now it boots? Or does it.. can you explain exactly what happens when you switch on?

Nope all I get is a a black screen with a blue box with the color symbols in it. It will not go to the main screen or nothing.Also the power will not turn off it has to be unplugged.Do you think it may be the mother board?

**NooNoo** · September 12th, 2006, 11:08 AM

OK, this could be a number of things... let's start with the e-Machine model... how do you feel about mucking around with the insides?

**mae** · September 12th, 2006, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by street1

The manufacturer model number may help us.

Can you get to the BIOS?

Does the CD drive show up in BIOS?

I cant get to anything.Its like the drive cant tell a cd is in.I've tried using F8 and F10 but the key board light will not stay on long enough. I would give the model number but I took it to a computer tech, this morning to see if he can come up with something so I dont have it handy.Thanks for everyones help.

**NooNoo** · September 12th, 2006, 11:14 AM

OK, well if it's with a tech, that's fine.

If it came to me, I would pull the hard drive and back up whatever was on there, then I would check the video card (which is probably onboard) by adding graphics card, I would reset the bios, and if still no joy I would pull the ram and make the sucker beep....if no beeps, then back to you to see if you want a new computer or replacement motherboard (if one is available).

**mae** · September 12th, 2006, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by NooNoo

OK, this could be a number of things... let's start with the e-Machine model... how do you feel about mucking around with the insides?

LOL I've already have been mucking around with the inside so it doesent bother me to learn something new.One web site suggested that I take the battery out for about 30 minutes then put it back and see if it will boot and I did and it did nothing.I took the computer to a tech this morning because I thought I was never going to find out anything because I've been trying for weeks and everything I done failed.Thanks for your help.

**mae** · September 12th, 2006, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by NooNoo

OK, well if it's with a tech, that's fine.

If it came to me, I would pull the hard drive and back up whatever was on there, then I would check the video card (which is probably onboard) by adding graphics card, I would reset the bios, and if still no joy I would pull the ram and make the sucker beep....if no beeps, then back to you to see if you want a new computer or replacement motherboard (if one is available).

That is the first thing I tried was a video card and it dident work.I also tried to do a recovery console but when i put the cd in it did nothing.I'm about ready to pull my hair out.LOL