"Rich" wrote in message
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"GTS-NJ" wrote in message
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SNIP



Ben,
I have heard of this power supply/motherboard issue with eMachines. I
currently own 3 eMachines; a T3306 & 2 T5243's. The worst problem I have
had was the DVD burner self-destructed after a year on the T3306 which
is almost 5 years old now. However, I have just purchased a docking
station for my daughter's Dell laptop & took over her T5243 (you don't
want to know the age of the Dell XPS it is replacing). It was
dual-booting Vista & 7 but I downgraded to XP & 7. Now I am concerned
about the power supply. Is it a standard PSU? Would a preemptive
replacement with a new PSU prevent any issues?

Also, on an off-topic note, I contacted eMachine by e-mail to ask what
the fastest processor this motherboard would support (MCP61PM-AM). They
wanted pay-per-call tech support to call me the answer. It currently has
an AMD Athlon 4000+ (2.1Ghz). I have figured out that this is a Brisbane
core running it at 65W. I think the 5600+ is the fastest at 65W but
there are 95W processors running up to 6000+. Would you know what the
fastest processor would be that would run natively on this board?

Any help appreciated.....Thanks.

Rich

I have also seen many eMachines with fried motherboards after power
supply failures. The Bestec 250W PSU is the one to especially watch out
for (label will show Bestec ATX-250-12E). If yours is that model and
you want to keep the machine for a few more years, a preemptive
replacement is well worth considering. I have done this for a few
customers. I'm leery or the Bestec brand because of this, but have seen
reports that the later modes (like the 350W) have proper overload
protection.,

See
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...print&reid=154
for some interesting info. Particularly near the end "5VSB will kill
your mainboard when (not if) the caps fail "

Thanks for that link....extremely interesting & informative.
Here are the PSU's in the eMachines':

T3306 - Bestec 300W
T5243 - Delta Electronics 300W

I am inclined to believe that the problem is with the
250W Bestec model. So now I am cautiously on the fence about leaving the
Bestec 300W in the T3306 & comfortable about leaving the 300w PSU's in the
T5243's since it is made by a different manufacturer Delta Electronics.
Would you agree?

Thanks,

Rich

Yes. The Delta should be OK. "cautiously on the fence" re. the Bestec
300W is a good way to put it. It's probably safe though the Bestec name
makes me uneasy. It is the 250W unit that is known to have been the major
problem. FWIW, I have been seeing quite a few recent HPs with Bestec 300W
units and have not been recommending pre-emptive replacement.