# emachines w5243



## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

I took in a emachines w5243 (yeah, I know ... "Wal - Mart") as a trade in, it would power on but there wasn't any video. I found that the Motherboard (mcp61sm-gm) had five swollen/leaking Capacitors next to the cpu. Just to try and make sure that was the problem, I disconnected everything that wasn't necessary and tried again. Same results. Pulled memory out one stick at a time, didn't help. Tested the power supply ( one red light, but still should power system) it has problems, but not critical. I even tried a new Power supply, no help. I have no way to test the cpu.

So figuring it's the Motherboard, I bought a used one, put it in and it won't even power on now! Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks
dad47


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

If the first board had leaking or bulging caps its bad, with the second board try another psu those emachines psu are terrible.

Tells us what the new board is.

Try a bench test there is a sticky with instructions on top of the forum


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

I replaced it with the same board...mcp61sm-gm.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

First try the bench test

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f15/how-to-bench-test-your-system-262998.html

If no go report back, also try another psu.

Seeing as you are using the same board we know the parts are compatible, I had to ask to be sure


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

I will try a new power supply tomorrow.

Thanks


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

Well I tried a new power supply, right off the shelf, and I did the bench test with negative results! About the only thing left is the cpu. I did notice that when I plug into the power supply, the light in my mouse flashes on and off for an instant. Normally the light would stay on.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

With a case speaker connected pull the ram and see if the system beeps if not a good indicator the motherboard is bad. I know its new/used but you never know, normall with all the machines I see the cpu is the last thing to fail unless it gets overheated


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

Well I pulled the ram and connected external speakers. Guess what! No beeps! A bad mb is better than a bad cpu. cpu's for this machine, cost wise... are out of this world. Cheapest used one I saw was $100.00, some idiot had a new one for $800.00. I would part it out before I would replace the cpu!


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

OK. I've been able to get power to the motherboard, but still no video and now it beeps constantly (with memory in place). The reason that I wasn't getting power....... a stupid rookie mistake (which I am not), so dumb that I'm not going to tell you the reason! LOL! !!!


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

The beeps are a good sign but I am going to need the full specs
Are you sure the ram is compatible?
Are you using a known working video card? or does the board have onboard?
This is why we need full specs so we know what parts we are working with


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

Hi,
The board has the following specs as far as I can determine.

Computer - W5243

Operating sys - Vista

Processor - AMD Athlon 64 Sempron

Motherboard - mcp61sm-gm

Video - nvidia 6100 (on board)

Sound - Onboard 

Nic - onboard

Toshiba DVD Writer 

WD 250 gig Sata HDD

No add on cards

At the moment I do not have a Video card that will work with vista, I do have several ordered. I have an old one that I use for testing 98, me, 2000 machines, but I don't think it will work with Vista.

Thanks
Bob


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

your specs are incomplete you need to include the brand and model and wattage of the psu


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

Bestec

ATX - 300 - 12e REV: D1R

300 watt


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

1 gig DDR2 pc5300 Ram. Original to the system, came with it.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

I doubt the 300w bestec will power the machine you should be in the 400 to 450w range and a quality psu.

Try the old video card its not necassary at this point to boot to windows just see if you can get video and get into bios.

Reseat the ram and try only 1 stick.

Make sure the 4 pin power connector from the psu to the mobo is connected it has 2 yellow and 2 black wires


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

The 300 Bestec is oem and came with the system. I put in a new 380 watt and still nothing.

I tried the old video card, nothing.

I took all of the ram out of the w5243 did as you suggested, nothing.

I even took a 512 stick of ram out of my computer (uses the same ddr2 pc5300), removed all the ram from the w5243 and placed it in the first slot, nothing.

not much left but the cpu.

Bob


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Yep not much else to check, emachines are notorious for weak power supplies and when they fail they take all kinds of things with them


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## dad47 (Feb 21, 2009)

I think I'll wait until those Vista compatible Video cards come in and try one of those. If no luck, I'll part it out.

Thanks for all your help.

Bob


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