Ok don't laugh. I have an eMachine T5254 that is a pain. The HDD crashed and I have formatted the drive completely as instructed my some dude at best buy and I have purchased a retail version of xp. I'm trying to install the OS but the PC crashes during the installation at about 34mins remaining. Here is what i've done. I unplugged all unnecessary components from the MainBoard Tested the Ram Tested the HDD with GWScan What I have eMachine T5254 ECS mcp61sm-gm WD 320gb SATA Sony DVDR all the drivers for the pc Headache This is for a neighbor kid down the road. Times are tough and I'm helping out but I'm stuck
I would go to the WD website and download their diagnostic tools...it sounds like there might be something wrong with the drive, but it sounds like it is the kind of problem that can bypassed using these tools.
ok.. define "crashes" .,. does it just lock up or does it blue screen?.. maybe it reboots.. In every case after a failed install it's a good idea to actually wipe the drive properly.. formatting achieves nothing if the partition table stays the same.. I use active@killdisk and let it chew about 10% then start installing from scratch. There is a reason for this, but I'm not going to bother explaining because anybody who has a sit and think about how formatting works will understand quickly why this happens. Other causes are.. bad ram.. regardless of "testing" it, because you don't say how you are doing that either and many so called "tests" aren't meaningful compared to a full heavy many pass diagnostic routines. last comment.. e-machine.. junk.. bad caps and poor build quality throughout. If you have an older dell usually xp installed on those will run on the e-machines hardware without much problems... usually the same or similar chipsets.
It's probably the ECS board gone bad. Check over the board and look at all the capacitors on it. They need to be all flat-topped. If any are bulging or burst like this: then the board has had it unless you're willing to resolder new capacitors.
It just shuts off and then when i reboot it reaches the same point and dies again. I don't have many parts and I'm just doing this to help a family in need. I have already purchased a retail xp.
I use something called Hiren's Boot Disk to run the diagnostics. I have used it before and the tech tools help me solve many problems. I have even checked the power supply. The only thing connected to the board is the keyboard,CD Rom,Ram and HDD. I have removed the USB,sound, and the card reader.
