My daughter was given a broken Emachines T3624 that she wants me to fix. I know the psu needs replaced because I used mine to test it. I'm just not sure if she needs a new motherboard or not. Here's what happened: Her friends mom had it hooked up to the light switch. Needless to say, someone that didn't realize this was flicking the switch off and on. Dumb to have it hooked up there, I know. Anyway, it wouldn't power on. I put one of my working psu's in and the light comes on the mb now but still won't power on. Not sure what to try next. Any help is appreciated.

Replacing the PSU and the MBoard on an Emachines is not cost effective. When you tried a different PSU would the computer post at that time? Don't be concerned about getting into Windows right now. Emachines are notorious for weak PSUs. However, the one you substitiuted may not have been powerful enough. Switching the computer off when Windows was running most likely corrupted the Windows installation. That can be addressed later.

Thank you for the reply. The computer would not post. It did absolutely nothing. (only the mb light came on) The psu I put in to try is out of my Dimension 2350. And actually came from an earlier model emachine with a dead motherboard and has been powering Dell for over a year. She would rather spend a $100.00 or so on a new motherboard and psu than buy a new computer. Or am I missing something. And no, I'm not worried about Windows right now. I will slap PCLinuxOS2007 on it if I have too.

Check the wire colors on the two power supply connectors to see if they agree. If they don't, they might not be compatable. A point to keep in mind is ... if you find a generic one 'that fits', the Emachine software might not work with it. OEM manufacturers normally tie their software to the motherboards. If you are forced to purchase a motherboard from Emachine, I doubt that you will get it for $100.

You may have a problem with WinXP running at all if you change the MBoard. I can't say for sure but that is the concept behind OEM copies of WinXP. They are only designed to work on the computer models they came on. I have read here that some folks have successfully changed MBoards on OEM computers and got Windows to work. It could be another expense. Do you have any knowledge about what the original problem was with the computer? Have you looked carefully inside to verify that RAM, CPU and hard drive are present?

aegis: I can't check that right now. My husband is on my computer playing his game :-) I will get him off ASAP. And by software do you mean Windows? Like I said, PCLOS2007 here we come. I have it on the computer I'm on right now. onthehill: The computer was fine until the light switch was flicked off and on. The ram, cpu and hd are still inside. I am the one that they come to when they need something done to their computers. That's how I got the 2350. :-) I did so much (virus) work on it, they gave it to me when they got the emachine. Might it just be the psu? What would the light switch, besides shutting it off do? Unless it was set to reboot after a power outage...hmmmmmmm. (Sorry, thinking out loud.) I have mine set not to reboot since I'm in Fl. and we get a lot of power outages with the storms.

That could have ruined the PSU. Sometimes when a PSU goes out it can take other hardware with it. The issue with the emachine version of WinXP running with a new MBoard is based on you assumption that you could buy both for $100. The only way that would happen would be to buy an aftermarket compatible board. As aegis stated a MBoard from emachines would cost way more than that. It is not worth it unless you have a spare PSU laying around or you buy one at retail and return it if that doesn't solve your problem.