Hi everyone -- I sure hope someone can give me some advice... I have an emachines A26EV17F that's a couple of years old. The other day, it was on & the Num & Cap Lock keys started blinking like crazy & I believe it started beeping too. It wouldn't shut off at all, so I ended up having to unplug it. The power supply was toasted, could see a black spot where something fried, so I replaced it with an Antec 300w (was a 250w). Now, the fans run & the power light on the front of the case lights up, but that's it -- none of the drives try to boot. I have 2 ram sticks, so I took each one out one at a time in hopes I just had a bad memory stick, but nothing. Could I have fried my motherboard (looks like it's an AM37) and/or processor, which is what I unfortunately suspect, and if so, is there any way to test to see? I'm strapped for cash right now & really need a computer for work. Would it be worth replacing the motherboard and/or processor (or whatever else it might be) -- or should I say can it be done? I think unless I go back with the exact same motherboard, it won't recognize my recovery disks (?) -- but even if that works, that would also mean I would lose everything on my hard drive... Or could I use a compatible motherboard (if I could figure out which one...) and still have it recognize my recovery disks? Trying to not have to buy WinXP in addition to everything else because if I have to buy a motherboard, processor, WinXP, etc., wouldn't cost much more to just get another computer. <sigh> Sorry this is so long, but I would appreciate any advice from anyone who's been through this or might have a guess as to what's wrong with my machine! Thanks in advance.

Owww! Calm down! What you meand as none of my drivers try to boot? If you have only the fans sound and power on light, may somethig be very wrong... You hear any sounf from your hdds? If not and they really don´t power-up; if you connect everything in the right place and the HDD still don´t power-up, they can be damaged. Like you said, it sees as your monitor get no signal input from your video card. It really do not get any input, (PC starts in a black screen, or monitor turn on, and off again after a few seconds)? If the fans starts-up and the power light is on, you have power on your new PSU. The mobo get powered too, since the power-on led is generally plugged on the mobo. It makes any beep? If none, may you have toast your mobo in some place. Maybe possible to fix the problem looking for assistence. How about your processor? I don´t know if it can be killed. I don´t think so, but now, that you have a PSU killed like that, with a black spot in it, the better thing you do is to get assistance from a thecnician to see what really was toasted and to fix the resulting problems. You may try the following first: Try to remove the processor. The mobo will beep without it. Or try to remove all memory... The mobo will beep without it. or try to remove the videocard. The mobo will beep without it too. If in any of these tests you get no beeps, your mobo was killed and need repair, or you need a new one. And more: if your HDDs doesn´t start-up (totally silent) you may have toasted your hdds too. I´m assuming you know how to assemble a computer and how to connect your PSU on every acessory.

Thanks for replying -- I meant my "drives" won't try to start, not drivers. They don't make a sound at all. When I turn on the power, just the fans & the front light turn on -- otherwise, no beeps -- oh, and I still can't turn the power off using the on/off button. I will try to do what you suggest & try each component to see if I ever get any beeps, but I think it's not sounding very promising... thanks again!

Again this is a hard call, but if you have power to the motherboard as fans are working, then most lik,ely it is the copu that was also blown, and that is not uncommon in such a power "blast".

Oh! Drivers or drives? It is an translation problem to me... What I said is the phisical HDD, just what you seens to undesrtood at final, anyway :) I suggest you to try your hdd (all of your drives CD or anything else) with someones other computer, but try it at old computer since I don´t know if a potentially dead drive can damage the IDE controller of another mobo. Anyone can bring light to this subject? By testing the drives in someone other computer you can see if you have defective drives or a dead mobo IDE controller. You Mobo is the first step in the path between your PSU and processor. Since it, I doubt the processor may be killed without damage to the mobo first. But I think the processor may be ok, and only the mobo being damaged. Think like this: We don´t know anything about how your PSU may have increased the voltages or power during the blow-up. Since it, we don´t know what power line can be affected. Vcore? 12V? 3.3V (...) all of them? What in the mobo was damaged and what can damage the processor? Since it I think the mobo may be partially damaged, causing it to power-up but not to start. No beeps at all is generally bad signal for the mobo. If you want to avoid call a technician, I suggest you to try now to get a compatible mobo (anything compatible with the AMD Athlon XP you have) and try to plug every one of your hardware pieces and see if it works. Try like this just to eliminate the suspects: 1) plug your processor on the friend´s mobo, using the friend´s memories and see if it starts. If you processor is ok (just see if it has no evidences of overheating like bubles or evident color change in the pcb), you will try it with your memories now... If the processor was killed, try to test your memories with friend´s mobo and friend´s processor, to see if your memories still works. Do the same with your video card, sound card and other peripherals, one at a time. But look, I can´t guarantee this test process with probable killed processor and others will be totally secure to the other people hardware. Since it, you need to decide if you want to take this risk to test, or if you prefer to call for professional assistance. And a basic warning!!! Be very carefull and require assistance to remove the CPU cooler and replace it. Never assemble the CPU cooler without thermal grease! (in case you never done it before, see the AMD website for instructions on installing a CPU cooler) Use anti-static measures to avoid damage your and your friend´s components. I say this in case you´re not familiarized with these concepts. Good luck! I hope you can save the more hardware as possible! And next time try to buy PSU with protection features and from a good manufacturer! ;)

"I think unless I go back with the exact same motherboard, it won't recognize my recovery disks (?)" That's correct. You would need to get the motherboard from Emachines.