computer help needed

[Sideoftheroad]

I have an emachine (yeah I know all the past unreliability about it before emachine was bought out). I bought it in 2005 and I will say that ever since I have owned it, it has been a very reliable machine (until now). Of course I don't use it for much else other than surfing the web and storing photos. I really don't have use for a computer beyond that.

 

It started acting really slow. Antivirus and spybot didn't pickup on anything. So I decided it was time to wipe the hard drive clean and start over. I backed everything up (including the recovery partition) to my USB HD and used the recovery partition. For whatever reason it didn't work and the pc kept freezing. I also have Norton Ghost which I saved an image a couple months ago. I restored the image and that didn't work (usually does). I tried burning the recovery partition files to a dvd-r and see if it will boot from pc and recover from there. That didn't work.

 

I contacted emachine to see if I could get a recovery cd as one was not provided when I bought it brand new. Well come to find out that if it was manufactured prior to 2006 (mine was in 2005) that they didn't supply recovery cd's. What I did find out that the last 2 digits of the serial is the year built. So for me the last 2 are 50, which stands for 2005.

 

I guess my fault on not creating a restoration cd. They give you the opportunity to do it when you boot the pc, but for whatever reason I decided not to.

 

I don't have $100's for a new pc, or a new HD and OS. I have seen the OS's on e-bay for dirt cheap, but honestly I don't trust them enough to buy from there in cases like this.

 

So what I am asking is anyone else has an emachine if you can check your serial to see if yours was manufactured 2006 and after. If so can you PM me your serial so I can order a recovery cd? I have XP home edition. I can't use Vista. It is a system hog and my pc won't be able to handle it.

 

I know how to get a free copy of XP, but honestly I want a legal copy.

 

Thanks.

 

Jerry

[rjg1985]

Hello,

Do you have a Microsoft sticker on the outside of the case with a product code number?

If you do you can use any XP home disk to install the OS and enter your oun product key when prompted. Hope this helps.

 

Randy

[Sideoftheroad]

I do have a product key, but no XP cd to use. Prior to 2006, emachine used a recovery partition on their hard drive and after you boot up you get a window asking if you want to make a recovery cdr. Well I never made the recovery cdr, which is my fault. So w/out a CD, then I can't do anything.

 

If I had a serial from an emachine manufactured after 2005, I can go to the emachine website and order a cd for much cheaper than buying the OS legally.

 

I think I understand what you are saying though in that I borrow someone's cd and use my product key. The access I have to the free XP copy is downloadable not a hard copy. But I don't want to go that route.

[Mariner Fan]

Jerry,

 

I'm sure I have a XP recovery disc if you need it.

 

Bob

[chabicheka]

[rjg1985]

If you were able to get a set of recovery disks for a newer machine they might not work properly. Because a newer machine will have newer hardware and the newer hardware drivers might not work with your older computer. Have you tried to goto emachines support site and download the drivers for your computer?

 

http://www.emachines.com/support/product_support.html

[Sideoftheroad]

At least for now, I am not able to access the e-machine since the HD is pretty much gone at this point. I do have internet access at work and at home. I have a loaner pc from a friend that I am able to get on the internet with at home. It is pretty slow. Takes about 15 minutes before I can even get on the internet (seriously I have timed it).

 

I think of it more like one of those spiral lightbulbs. I think it gets faster as the machine warms up. LOL

 

I can see what you mean on the drivers. Most of the things that I have are not emachine equipment, meaning keyboard, monitor, mouse, printer, etc... so I would have to install manufacturer driver's anyway if they don't preload when the new software is installed. I think I am facing a HD replacement also so that would be newer than the XP software.

 

emachine support was not of any help when I talked to them due to the age of the computer.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Jerry, I have bought OEM Windows off ebay and it worked well. I've installed 2 different OS's on 2 different machines and no probs at all.

 

ebay number: 270375230263

 

Put that number in ebay search box. Its and OEM XP copy for $55. This is just an example of OEM disks. You can probably find some cheaper. I know you want to do this for free, but whats your time and aggravation worth?

[SilvrT]

Unless I didn't read everything, how do you know it's a software issue as opposed to hardware?? You may have a memory chip gone bad, video card issue.... etc

 

On another note, I don't know about emachines but Dell PC's have their own drivers for motherboard, video, network cards, and so on... a Windows CD by itself won't necessarilly pick up and install correct drivers for Dell's hardware... this may be the case with your emachine so getting a Windows CD is not necessarilly going to be the thing that fixes it.

[Mariner Fan]

I gave up trying to keep computers running. We buy lower end units and replace them every two or three years.

[SilvrT]

I gave up trying to keep computers running. We buy lower end units and replace them every two or three years.

 

heh... wish I could give it up but it pays good money...more than I could get at some other job that I might qualify for... looking at another 3-5 years before retirement. Worst thing about computers is trying to keep up with changes in technology. Here where I work the environment doesn't change a lot so technology changes don't impact me as much or as often.

 

As for keeping "home based" pc's running, just changing them out every 2 or 3 years doesn't ensure they will run right... software and users are what generally screws them up and no matter how new it may be, someone still has to fix those issues.

 

The easiest way to keep a computer running smoothly and for a long time is not to add a whole lot of "junk" onto it...but who can do that nowadays? LOL

[Guest tx2sturgis]

The easiest way to keep a computer running smoothly and for a long time is not to add a whole lot of "junk" onto it.. LOL

 

 

Or...buy a Mac!

 

[spingley]

As far as the locking up goes.. have you checked to be sure the cooling fans are all working? Like the CPU fan and the power supply fan? I take care of 65 computers at work and the biggest reason they start locking up is bad fans.

[SilvrT]

Or...buy a Mac!

 

 

heh... I don't think you've missed the opportunity once to say that!

[SilvrT]

As far as the locking up goes.. have you checked to be sure the cooling fans are all working? Like the CPU fan and the power supply fan? I take care of 65 computers at work and the biggest reason they start locking up is bad fans.

 

Ditto that... hardware issue

[Sideoftheroad]

Unless I didn't read everything, how do you know it's a software issue as opposed to hardware?? You may have a memory chip gone bad, video card issue.... etc

 

I am not in the computer field, so I can only say what I think the issue is. If you have suggestions on how to check for those items, please let me know.

 

At least to me on a hardware issue, I would say it is the HD since it freezes. At this point, it won't even go to the desktop anymore when it boots up. Also since I tried to a Norton Ghost and that didn't work, that leads me to believe the HD. The next step I want to try is to use Partition Magic, do a complete reformat of the HD and do Norton Ghost again.

 

I still get video and it still registers the total memory installed. I know that isn't a guarantee that doesn't mean one of those items is not the issue, just not sure how to test for that.

 

On another note, I don't know about emachines but Dell PC's have their own drivers for motherboard, video, network cards, and so on... a Windows CD by itself won't necessarilly pick up and install correct drivers for Dell's hardware... this may be the case with your emachine so getting a Windows CD is not necessarilly going to be the thing that fixes it.

 

Makes me wonder if emachines/Dell manufacture their motherboards, video cards, etc...I doubt it but you never know. If not, wouldn't I be able to go to each of the manufacturer's site and download the appropriate drivers?

 

I know rjg1985 also mentioned about the drivers too. I just wasn't able to comment more about the drivers until now.

[Sideoftheroad]

As far as the locking up goes.. have you checked to be sure the cooling fans are all working? Like the CPU fan and the power supply fan? I take care of 65 computers at work and the biggest reason they start locking up is bad fans.

 

The CPU fan is working. I am not sure if it is a power supply fan, but it is below the power supply and it is working too. Now let me ask this. They are there to cool the components. Are there any negative effects for having one side of the case open for any period of time? The reason why I asked is with Norton Ghost I have the hardest time with it recognizing my CDR drive when you use the boot disk so I had to get a 1.44 floppy and installed it in the e-machine temporarily until I could do the backup. I left the one side open for a while longer (couple weeks). The pc is in the basement and quite frankly a very cool basement. We usually have to put on a sweater and pants even on warm days.

[SilvrT]

The CPU fan is working. I am not sure if it is a power supply fan, but it is below the power supply and it is working too. Now let me ask this. They are there to cool the components. Are there any negative effects for having one side of the case open for any period of time? The reason why I asked is with Norton Ghost I have the hardest time with it recognizing my CDR drive when you use the boot disk so I had to get a 1.44 floppy and installed it in the e-machine temporarily until I could do the backup. I left the one side open for a while longer (couple weeks). The pc is in the basement and quite frankly a very cool basement. We usually have to put on a sweater and pants even on warm days.

 

heh... the "box" is only to hide all that "ugly" stuff inside from folks's eyes... in fact, you could remove all the components inside, set them on a bench and hook them up and you'd have a working computer ... less the box....but it would look quite a mess!

 

The fans are there to cool the CPU chip and the power supply...they would still do that without the "box" encompassing all the components.

Edited April 21, 2009 by SilvrT

[SilvrT]

I am not in the computer field, so I can only say what I think the issue is. If you have suggestions on how to check for those items, please let me know.

 

We, in the business, generally have a boot cd with utilities on it to check such things. Not sure I could help you on that from this far away.

 

At least to me on a hardware issue, I would say it is the HD since it freezes. At this point, it won't even go to the desktop anymore when it boots up. Also since I tried to a Norton Ghost and that didn't work, that leads me to believe the HD. The next step I want to try is to use Partition Magic, do a complete reformat of the HD and do Norton Ghost again.

 

Using Partition Magic and then ghosting an image back onto the hard drive is redundant as the image creates the partitions.

 

I still get video and it still registers the total memory installed. I know that isn't a guarantee that doesn't mean one of those items is not the issue, just not sure how to test for that.

 

just because you get video and the RAM shows as tho it's all there doesn't mean it's all working correctly. Again, I would use one of my boot cd's or a boot floppy and run some testing utilities on the hardware. Sometimes these things are best left for the "experts" ... in other words, someone who has the technical skills and the tools.

 

 

 

wouldn't I be able to go to each of the manufacturer's site and download the appropriate drivers?

 

You could get all necessary drivers if there were any; however, you'd need to know which motherboard/video card, etc your system has in it. Dell driver CD's , for example, can read the installed hardware and install the proper drivers. When I rebuild a Dell PC, I install Windows and then I run the Driver CD. Until I install the drivers, the video card doesn't work right, the network card isn't accessible, etc etc.

 

hope some of this helps.