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A client of mine has an XP era eMachines. The power supply has died and been replaced 3 times. I've discharged the motherboard and checked the surge protector.

In the middle of a scan with ComboFix, the machine died.

It powers on and hangs before the BIOS and shows a solid yellow light. I believe the model # is T5062 or something like that.

Aside from a bad outlet, what would cause the PSU to die a few times?

EDIT:

I did notice that the PSU had two similar "four prong square" motherboard connectors (near the CPU) . I don't know that there should have been two of them. I think that the wrong one was plugged in. What would the difference be and why would there be two of them?

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  • I can't begin to answer what causes the problem, but I used to own the model myself and had similar experiences, so you may be able to rule out the possibility of the a bad outlet.
    – Emory Bell
    Commented Apr 23, 2010 at 20:56
  • short-circuit? overloading (too many components)? improper grounding because he spraypainted the interior of the case (or other factors)?
    – quack quixote
    Commented Apr 23, 2010 at 20:56
  • @quack, where would the short be? The case has not been modded at all.
    – Moshe
    Commented Apr 23, 2010 at 20:58
  • @Emory - What was your fix?
    – Moshe
    Commented Apr 23, 2010 at 20:59
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    @Moshe I eventually just gave up on the box and picked up a new computer. The only components I did not try to swap in the computer were the motherboard and processor.
    – Emory Bell
    Commented Apr 23, 2010 at 21:13

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This is an issue that eMachines are notorious for, your client is lucky. Usually the motherboard goes as well about the same time. It's just a low quality product. One of those "you get what you pay for" deals.

Are you replacing the PSUs with eMachine's branded PSUs? If so you should really get an aftermarket one.

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  • No, not an eMachines PSU. It's a Xion (chinese) one. At least the one i saw was.
    – Moshe
    Commented Apr 23, 2010 at 21:02
  • Ditto. eMachines, especially from that era, were built using marginal components.
    – J. Polfer
    Commented Apr 23, 2010 at 21:14

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