replacement AV31 (or AU31) emachine motherboard

I'm trying to help out my sister and haven't worked with computers in a
few years. They have an EMachine computer that they took in for repair
and we've been told the m/b is fried. I'm assuming this is correct,
and they didn't give any options for repairing short of essentially
selling a new system. I asked about getting a new m/b, but they said
it is a propietry thing that they didn't deal with, but yes, I could
probably find one online.

So, I've cracked the case and here's the basics:

- model EMACHINES H2885 (part no. 72-10353-12
- m/b is a an AV31 (D33007; CAU3A17485; AV-L)
- single 512 MB DDR PC2700 CL2.5 (PC2700U-25331-Z)
- CPU is an AMD Athlon 2800 (AXDA2800KV4D) - pretty sure this a 166 MHz
FSB

A couple questions...

1. I've found a what "appears" to be nearly an exact replacement for
this motherboard on ebay, but it seems to be a newer version supporting
minimum 200 MHz FSB and PC3200. Am I right on this? Of course
overclocking the CPU might be possible, but I think the RAM would be a
show stopper? And I'm really only interested in a plug and work type
scenario since I'm really not that into building systems anymore,
though I'm not usually an idiot either.
http://cgi.ebay.com/AU31-eMachines-M...QQcmdZViewItem

2. Is it still possible to find a m/b for this computer? Any pointers
/ places to check out?

3. Assuming I can find one, any major warnings from people before I
drop $70 or $100? Obviously dumping it in the garbage and spending
$500 to buy a new system remains a viable alternative. Always seems
crazy the mark up on parts relative to the cost of an entirely new
system.

thanks for any pointers!
David

In article om,
"archean1" wrote:

I'm trying to help out my sister and haven't worked with computers in a
few years. They have an EMachine computer that they took in for repair
and we've been told the m/b is fried. I'm assuming this is correct,
and they didn't give any options for repairing short of essentially
selling a new system. I asked about getting a new m/b, but they said
it is a propietry thing that they didn't deal with, but yes, I could
probably find one online.

So, I've cracked the case and here's the basics:

- model EMACHINES H2885 (part no. 72-10353-12
- m/b is a an AV31 (D33007; CAU3A17485; AV-L)
- single 512 MB DDR PC2700 CL2.5 (PC2700U-25331-Z)
- CPU is an AMD Athlon 2800 (AXDA2800KV4D) - pretty sure this a 166 MHz
FSB

A couple questions...

1. I've found a what "appears" to be nearly an exact replacement for
this motherboard on ebay, but it seems to be a newer version supporting
minimum 200 MHz FSB and PC3200. Am I right on this? Of course
overclocking the CPU might be possible, but I think the RAM would be a
show stopper? And I'm really only interested in a plug and work type
scenario since I'm really not that into building systems anymore,
though I'm not usually an idiot either.

http://cgi.ebay.com/AU31-eMachines-M...QQcmdZViewItem

2. Is it still possible to find a m/b for this computer? Any pointers
/ places to check out?

3. Assuming I can find one, any major warnings from people before I
drop $70 or $100? Obviously dumping it in the garbage and spending
$500 to buy a new system remains a viable alternative. Always seems
crazy the mark up on parts relative to the cost of an entirely new
system.

thanks for any pointers!
David

The only thing I'd be worried about, would be the recovery CD
and whether it would still work or not.

"What is motherboard tattooing"
http://groups.google.ca/group/TheGee...c714ce3d85b6e5

The FSB_sense pins on the bottom of the processor, signal to the
motherboard, what speed of clock is required. When a motherboard
supports a FSB400 processor, it should also be able to support
all the ones before that as well (FSB200, FSB266, FSB333). Unless
the motherboard uses jumpers to override the FSB_sense (making
it the user's responsibility to input the right 2 bit value),
it should just work on its own. (If the machine boots, you
can use CPUZ to check that the frequency is correct. www.cpuid.com )

So, if you got exactly the same motherboard (same chipset version
and everything), you could try moving the BIOS chip from the
old motherboard to the new one. If the motherboard uses the
same chipset, but has other small differences (different Ethernet
chip or whatever), then moving the BIOS chip might be a dumb
idea. And without the tattoo (assuming the info is in the
BIOS flash chip), then the only loss should be the easy use
of the recovery CD.

The motherboard is not worth what some of the sites that
specialize in Emachines might charge, and if you go to what
is essentially a non-Emachines motherboard, then you might
have to buy another copy of WinXP if you ever need to
reinstall the OS.

So, probably, getting the motherboard to work is the easy
part. It is the side effects I cannot predict for you.
And some of the Ebay ads, don't make identifying exactly
what you are getting, very easy.

My best guess,
Paul

On 19 Jul 2006 20:19:45 -0700, "archean1" wrote:

I'm trying to help out my sister and haven't worked with computers in a
few years. They have an EMachine computer that they took in for repair
and we've been told the m/b is fried. I'm assuming this is correct,
and they didn't give any options for repairing short of essentially
selling a new system. I asked about getting a new m/b, but they said
it is a propietry thing that they didn't deal with, but yes, I could
probably find one online.

So, I've cracked the case and here's the basics:

- model EMACHINES H2885 (part no. 72-10353-12
- m/b is a an AV31 (D33007; CAU3A17485; AV-L)
- single 512 MB DDR PC2700 CL2.5 (PC2700U-25331-Z)
- CPU is an AMD Athlon 2800 (AXDA2800KV4D) - pretty sure this a 166 MHz
FSB

A couple questions...

1. I've found a what "appears" to be nearly an exact replacement for
this motherboard on ebay, but it seems to be a newer version supporting
minimum 200 MHz FSB and PC3200. Am I right on this? Of course
overclocking the CPU might be possible, but I think the RAM would be a
show stopper? And I'm really only interested in a plug and work type
scenario since I'm really not that into building systems anymore,
though I'm not usually an idiot either.
http://cgi.ebay.com/AU31-eMachines-M...QQcmdZViewItem

2. Is it still possible to find a m/b for this computer? Any pointers
/ places to check out?

3. Assuming I can find one, any major warnings from people before I
drop $70 or $100? Obviously dumping it in the garbage and spending
$500 to buy a new system remains a viable alternative. Always seems
crazy the mark up on parts relative to the cost of an entirely new
system.

thanks for any pointers!
David


This looks to be a microATX mainboard. I'd just replace it
with another microATX mainboard that will accept the CPU, and RAM. If
she's not looking to upgrade the CPU to a Barton with a FSB 200Mhz
(DDR400), then one of these boards would problably work.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ice=&maxPrice=

The thing is that none of them are Nforce2 chipsets, so no
dual channel memory support, and only upto 166Mhz FSB CPU support.
They are cheaper than buying that used mainboard from eBay though.
Another thing is I doubt the system restore disc will work with a
different mainboard. If the OS on the restore disc is WinXP, then it
is an OEM that's usally tied to the BIOS of the original mainboard.
Even if you found an exact model of her mainboard, the restore disc
problably would not work.

"archean1" wrote in message
ps.com...
I'm trying to help out my sister and haven't worked with computers in a
few years. They have an EMachine computer that they took in for repair
and we've been told the m/b is fried. I'm assuming this is correct,
and they didn't give any options for repairing short of essentially
selling a new system. I asked about getting a new m/b, but they said
it is a propietry thing that they didn't deal with, but yes, I could
probably find one online.

So, I've cracked the case and here's the basics:

- model EMACHINES H2885 (part no. 72-10353-12
- m/b is a an AV31 (D33007; CAU3A17485; AV-L)
- single 512 MB DDR PC2700 CL2.5 (PC2700U-25331-Z)
- CPU is an AMD Athlon 2800 (AXDA2800KV4D) - pretty sure this a 166 MHz
FSB

A couple questions...

1. I've found a what "appears" to be nearly an exact replacement for
this motherboard on ebay, but it seems to be a newer version supporting
minimum 200 MHz FSB and PC3200. Am I right on this? Of course
overclocking the CPU might be possible, but I think the RAM would be a
show stopper? And I'm really only interested in a plug and work type
scenario since I'm really not that into building systems anymore,
though I'm not usually an idiot either.
http://cgi.ebay.com/AU31-eMachines-M...QQcmdZViewItem

2. Is it still possible to find a m/b for this computer? Any pointers
/ places to check out?

3. Assuming I can find one, any major warnings from people before I
drop $70 or $100? Obviously dumping it in the garbage and spending
$500 to buy a new system remains a viable alternative. Always seems
crazy the mark up on parts relative to the cost of an entirely new
system.

thanks for any pointers!
David



I replace emachine boards with aftermarket ones all of the time. I have
discovered that if you use a similar chipset board (via, nvidia, intel
i845), the existing windows install will boot and you will just have to
install a few drivers. In this case, any Nforce2 board will work. Windows
will have to be activated, but I have also found that emachines COA labels
can still be activated while many other brands, like toshiba and sony can't.
That being said, here is a link to a simlar board that is actually an
emachines nforce2 board.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...BULK-N&cat=MBB They are out
of stock at the moment, but I seem them in stock most of the time. I had
ordered a couple but once I found out they were actual emachines boards, I
purchased several of them. With this board, you won't have to activate
windows and the nforce2 drivers from nvidia.com are all thats needed for the
board.

"Larry Roberts" wrote in message
...

This looks to be a microATX mainboard. I'd just replace it
with another microATX mainboard that will accept the CPU, and RAM. If
she's not looking to upgrade the CPU to a Barton with a FSB 200Mhz
(DDR400), then one of these boards would problably work.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ice=&maxPrice=

The thing is that none of them are Nforce2 chipsets, so no
dual channel memory support, and only upto 166Mhz FSB CPU support.
They are cheaper than buying that used mainboard from eBay though.
Another thing is I doubt the system restore disc will work with a
different mainboard. If the OS on the restore disc is WinXP, then it
is an OEM that's usally tied to the BIOS of the original mainboard.
Even if you found an exact model of her mainboard, the restore disc
problably would not work.

With the emachines, the restore disks will work in that they will boot and
restore the ghost image on any machine. Whether or not the resulting image
will boot depends on whether or not a similar chipset motherboard was used.
Brands like HP restore disks do a machine check before they start, but the
emachines (at least the ones from a year or two ago) don't. I have been
replacing the Celeron based emachines boards with Intel branded boards with
the same chipset with excellent results.

Thanks for the good advice.

EMachines wants over $200 for the replacement motherboard, which I find
rather offensive. I'm going to go ahead and buy a replacement mb (for
$40) and see where it gets me. Worst case scenario as I see it is that
Windows balks at the different hardware and the repair disks won't
work. Then I buy a new Windows XP license to reinstall, which isn't
the end of the world. This would be better than on par with giving
EMachine $200 for a mb since I'll at least get a decent copy of Windows
out of the deal (and can maybe avoid dealing with the same problem
again in the future).

2nd question though... it seems there's a lot of talk about bad power
supplies in EMachines. There is currently a 250 watt in the box.
Should I replace this too as a precaution? Or maybe this was even the
cause of the mb failure?

thanks!

an1
PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:19 am Post subject:
replacement AV31 (or AU31) emachine motherboard
Thanks for the good advice.

EMachines wants over $200 for the replacement motherboard, which I
find
rather offensive. I'm going to go ahead and buy a replacement mb
(for
$40) and see where it gets me. Worst case scenario as I see it is
that
Windows balks at the different hardware and the repair disks won't
work. Then I buy a new Windows XP license to reinstall, which isn't
the end of the world. This would be better than on par with giving
EMachine $200 for a mb since I'll at least get a decent copy of
Windows
out of the deal (and can maybe avoid dealing with the same problem
again in the future).

2nd question though... it seems there's a lot of talk about bad
power
supplies in EMachines. There is currently a 250 watt in the box.
Should I replace this too as a precaution? Or maybe this was even
the
cause of the mb failure?

thanks!




is there any way you can get me the drivers for that mother board. i
also have the same motherboard but different emachine mine is a t3256
and i lost the recovery disk and i call the company and they want more
that what the win xp pro is worth this company is taking advantage of
costumers. ship computers but at the end you end up paying more. next
time this one breaks i would deffinely build my own

"fancy" wrote in message
...
an1
PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:19 am Post subject:
replacement AV31 (or AU31) emachine motherboard
Thanks for the good advice.

EMachines wants over $200 for the replacement motherboard, which I
find
rather offensive. I'm going to go ahead and buy a replacement mb
(for
$40) and see where it gets me. Worst case scenario as I see it is
that
Windows balks at the different hardware and the repair disks won't
work. Then I buy a new Windows XP license to reinstall, which isn't
the end of the world. This would be better than on par with giving
EMachine $200 for a mb since I'll at least get a decent copy of
Windows
out of the deal (and can maybe avoid dealing with the same problem
again in the future).

2nd question though... it seems there's a lot of talk about bad
power
supplies in EMachines. There is currently a 250 watt in the box.
Should I replace this too as a precaution? Or maybe this was even
the
cause of the mb failure?

thanks!




is there any way you can get me the drivers for that mother board. i
also have the same motherboard but different emachine mine is a t3256
and i lost the recovery disk and i call the company and they want more
that what the win xp pro is worth this company is taking advantage of
costumers. ship computers but at the end you end up paying more. next
time this one breaks i would deffinely build my own


The last time I ordered recover cd's from emachines, I think they charged
$25 shipped. I started a chat session on their website. Other than the
person trying to sell me upgrades, it was relatively painless.

thanks for your reply but i have found the drivers in driverguide took
me long time but finally found them thanks

by the way i had a bad experience with tech support on emachines
therefore i will never buy from them again. i guess it all depends
on the person any ways thanks