Hello, Let me say thanks in advance for any help you can be. I will try to keep this as short as possible. I am dealing with a very annoying issue while trying to fix a friends Emachines W2060. He came to me and said that it kept crashing all the time. When he said it, I thought he meant that windows was freezing and needed to be restarted alot. So all I did was do a clean install of windows. I have since realized that I was misunderstanding what he was saying. He actually meant that the computer would turn itself off at various times. Sometimes it did it 10 times a day. He said that it seemed to do it only when he was performing an intensive task such as updating the songs on his IPOD, burning a cd, surfing a multimedia intensive website, listening to music, etc... Basically, it never does it when it is just sitting there not being used. This led me to believe that it was an issue with the power supply not supplying enough power to run all of the stuff attached to the computer through USB, especially the IPOD. So, I purchased and put into the system a Antec SP-350 SmartPower 350 Watt ATX12V v2.0 PSU Power Supply and had him try to tax the computer enough to get it to shut down by visiting the sites that usually make it crash and syncing his IPOD. Well, the IPOD synced properly, which he said he had been trying to get it to do all week but it would get halfway through and the computer would shut off. So, we were fairly certain that we had the problem fixed. Well, it is still crashing sometimes. Although, he says after replacing the power supply, we have reduced the crashes by 90% since it only does it once a day instead of 10 or so times. Is it possible that it is a Win XP/Emachines issue, and installing Win2000 would possible fix it? If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. If you need more information, I will provide it ASAP. I am at my wits end. Thanks in advance to anyone who helps me with this. I've never come across anything like it.

Edit: Am I correct to assume it soulds like a hardware issue, not a software issue?

We have had many reports of the el-cheapo PSs used in EMachines computers causing rebooting problems, sometimes progressing to the point where the PS dies, or the PS may die suddenly, and often when the PS dies, connecting a new PS is not enough to restore the computer - the el-cheapo PS had damaged something else.
It is quite possible the failing previous el-cheapo PS has damaged other things connected to your mboard or the mboard itself. Outside of checking things using standard t-shooting methods and finding there is something else wrong, there may be nothing you can do about the problem unless there are components you can replace.
E.g. unplug or otherwise remove the power to the case, check all connections and that the ram, and cards are properly seated, check that the cpu heatsink is clean of mung, temporarily plug it in or restore power, make sure the cpu fan is spinning okay. Remove the power again, remove the ram, wipe clean the contacts on the modules with methyl or isopropyl alcohol or whatever, dry them off, install the ram again making sure it is in the right direction and fully seated in its slots, close up the case, restore the power to the computer case, try it.

The computer specs are as follows:
CPU: AMD Athlon™ XP Processor 2000+ (1.667GHz) with QuantiSpeed™ architecture
Operating System: Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Monitor Bundle: eMachines® E15T 15" LCD Flat Pannel Monitor
(0.297mm Pixel Pitch, Active Matrix TFT)
Chipset: VIA KM 266
Memory: 256MB DDR (PC2100)
Hard Drive: 60GB HDD
Optical Drive: 40x Max. CD-RW Drive; 3.5" 1.44MB FDD
Video: S3 ProSavage8™ integrated (1 AGP slot available for upgrade)
Sound: AC '97 Audio
Network: 10/100Mbps built-in Ethernet
Modem: 56K ITU v.92-ready Fax/Modem
Peripherals: Premium Multi-Media Keyboard, 2-Button Wheel Mouse, Amplified Speakers
Ports/Other: 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 on front), 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 PS/2, Audio In & Out, Mic-In & Head Phone jack on front, 3 PCI slots (2 available)

When all data is entered into the PSU calculator it comes out to 191 Watt, +30% should be around 250 Watts.

Tubesandwires, thanks for the quick reply. I was afraid of that. I know that emachines uses crap PSU's, but was hoping that replacing the PSU could be enough to remedy the problem. I am going over there monday to do more troubleshooting. I am going to clean out the entire inside of the PC with canned air. I will try cleaning the memory contacts like you said. Also, I will remove all unnecessary pci cards and try reseating the processor. After this, I will just have to tell him the bad news the it is likely that his emachines computer is shot. I personally will not ever buy an emachines, since I have recently learned many negative things about them... I.E cheap components. What do you expect for under $400?

If you were to replace the el-cheapo PS with somthing better before it malfucntions, EMachines computers are okay for economy packages otherwise.

I highly doubt the computer is shot. As Tubesandwires pointed out, eMachines is known for using cheap power supplies...usually Bestec units. You could have saved yourself a lot of hassle had you troubleshooted rather than being so quick to pull the trigger on the reformat/reinstall. This is almost certainly a hardware issue, not software. And since it seems to occur under loaded conditions, it's either heat related or power related. Check the BIOS for temp readings. A through cleaning of the interior, especially the heatsinks & fans, should be the 1st thing done...the PSU would be the next thing to look at. A decent quality 350W unit for an older socket A system goes for about $30-40

jam, thanks for the reply. The reason I was quick to 'pull the trigger' and reinstall windows was because I misunderstood what he was saying when he said it 'crashed'. I thought he meant windows crashed. Also, as I said, I have already purchased a new antec 350watt PSU and installed it. It is still powering off on it's own, though not nearly as often. Thanks again to all who replied... your help is much appreciated.

Why don't you download and burn a free Linux Live CD and boot with that and play around and see if it will crash.

I agree when those eMachines PSU's go out they can damage the motherboard, and more.

GXI Man, thanks for the suggestion, I may try that. Although, I am almost 100% certain by this point it is not a software issue. But, still worth a try. Thanks again to all who replied, I now have many ideas to try on monday when I go over there.

I know someone who had an Emachine that shut down suddenly within minutes of startup and it was a bad motherboard. I tried a HD with FreeBSD on it and it did the same thing.

Well, sorry it has been so long since my last post. I just went over there and checked the temperature with motherboard monitor as was suggested, and wow was I surprised to see that the cpu was operating at 76C (168F)! This was about 10 minutes after it had rebooted itself twice (started rebooting, never finished rebooting and rebooted again) because he was trying to rip a cd into his itunes. So the temperature was actually probably up to 80C. when it crashed. So, I opened it up and checked some stuff. First of all, the heatsing was almost completely encrusted with dust up top just under the fan, basically blocking all airflow from the fan from cooling the heatsync. I cleaned that off. Also, the thermal paste was almost totally worn down to nothing in the spot where the CPU makes contact with the heatsync. I cleaned the old stuff off and reapplied some arctic silver paste from compusa. I also installed a 90mm fan in the back of the case pushing air inward. Possibly I should have made it exhaust air out? In any event, I am almost certain the problem is solved, I am just awaiting him to repost back to me after he gives it a workout and then lets it run all night. Thanks very much to all who helped me, I never thought of it being a heat issue, since this is the first time I have come across this kind of thing. Thanks again, and any additional comments or thoughts are appreciated :)

If you don't need to run your computer 24/7 then don't. The inside of your case will get dirty much slower, and your hard drives will probably last much longer, if you don't run your computer 24/7.

"Also, the thermal paste was almost totally worn down to nothing in the spot where the CPU makes contact with the heatsync."

It doesn't matter how thick it is - it matters whether whatever thickness it is, it is making good thermal contact between the cpu core and the heatsink. Thermal paste doesn't wear, but it's possible for it to be too thin and to migrate away from where it should be, especially if the cpu gets too hot. On most computers these days the cpu core is the only thing touching the heat sink because it protrudes upwards above the cpu package - you don't need thermal paste anywhere between the cpu package and the heatsink except where the core is.

"I also installed a 90mm fan in the back of the case pushing air inward. Possibly I should have made it exhaust air out?"

The latter is recommended - the higher in the case the better. If you're going to pull in air somewhere, pull it in at the front, or if you have the tube and hole for that from the side directly to the cpu area.
Check that the holes or slots where the fan is mounted allow you decent airflow, comparing it to when it is not mounted.

I am trying to help a friend fix their emachine w2060. Not for sure what their initial problem was, but they got the rebootable cd and reloaded the c drive. the cd seemed to work and when finished told you to reboot. once you reboot, the emachine logo displays and then it goes to a blank screen. Got another set of cd and tried again and same thing happened. emachine support tech said then it must be a hard drive bad. Could the ps unit becausing this to happen? I am planning on air dusting the entire inside and try again. It I turn off machine and turn back on it displays the not properly shut down and ask what you want to do. You can select safe mode, but it displays the list of drivers that are loaded. Any help would be appreciated.