Bestec ATX-250-12E Power Supply: why a lot of eMachines Computers Fail

[steingat]

I work for a company that services a major computer manufacturer, These besttec power supplies still suck to this day. Normally i see a few a week that have been blown.

[djwhut98]

What does it mean when my old eMachines computer motherboard turns on a green light inside? It had a Bestec ATX-250-12E Rev: P7 power supply since I bought it nearly seven years ago. It hasn't been able to turn on for nearly a year & a half. I recently replaced the power supply, but it won't turn on. It still has the green light though

[misternumberuno]

why do so many companies NOT PAY ENOUGH ATTENTION to HEAT?

[MrChezco1995]

my emachine was fixed from that psu... just heat gun reflow the chipset and gpu and you're on :D

[CubeComputerChannel]

@MrChezco1995 Just like I replied to your comment in your other video, reflowing has to do with fixing the chipsets on newer model nVidia chipset based emachines, and has nothing to do with the failures caused by the 250-12e Bestecs. These power supplies had issues with their 5vsb rails, to where they would shoot up to as high as 13 volts. Your emachine more than likely has the 300-12e unit, which did not cause your failure, rather a defect in the cooling design of the chip caused the problem.

[me4u]

Hahaha I love it! Love it! Love It! Never seen a wall of shame like this before lol good stuff :-) yeh my emachines died this way during a lightening storm. The motherboard fan would spin and thats all I had to get a whole new system.

[Oerg866]

Bestec ATX12Z on the other hand is a very good power supply, except for the capacitors. Once you recap it (like I did :D!), it is very good.

[CubeComputerChannel]

@Oerg866 Yeah, it's a much better design, though some people on forums talk about relocating a capacitor on the 5vsb rail. I recently had a D3R rev 12z with bad CapXons, which one of caps actually popped with a short when it failed. Recapped it, and it works like new.

[c0rrupts3ct0r555]

theres a reason these failed, cheap parts, from a cheap company, mass production, they dont care if the ps takes out the board, it happens after a year warranty passes, then they make you buy another pos pc with the same parts.. do yourself a favor and get a nice thermaltake, and the pc will last quite longer.

[CubeComputerChannel]

@c0rrupts3ct0r555 This problem only occurs with the 250w 12E model. the 250w 12z, 300w 12z, and 300w 12e don't have this problem, since they don't use a two-transistor 5vsb circuit with the lack of overvoltage and short-circuit protection. This PSU wasn't from my computer, rather a parts machine.

[MrGomobo]

@c0rrupts3ct0r555 naaah, don't get thermaltakes, I'va had 3 of them fail.

[c0rrupts3ct0r555]

@MrGomobo never had an issue here. great psu's and never an issue with any of them, including a 1.2kw one that i had a in a high end gamer system.

[MrGomobo]

@c0rrupts3ct0r555 And I beleive you, many times its just preception of individual experiences that gives people a general impression of a brand or product quality which may not be true for everyone. They are rated #1 on newegg. I had a 600 watt that failed after a few months, they sent me a new 700W which lasted 3 years, now the sent me an 850W, let's see how long it lasts. Me, personaly, I am not buying a TT ever again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[MixerVM]

I had that PSU, but it not only had bad caps on the 5VSB and secondary side, but the whole primary capacitor side was charred.

[CubeComputerChannel]

@MixerVM Maybe yours got hit by lightning, and the MOVs couldn't handle the surge. It is unusual for primaries to fail, even when they're crap brands.

[geforcefly1982]

I agree. The reason I thought the those PSUs were bad was because the symptoms were the same (board wouldn't power on even with a known good PSU). Next time I run into a board like that that is working I'll have to mount a 40mm fan on the northbridge heatsink to extend it's life. And just about any other Geforce 6100 series board for that matter.

[CubeComputerChannel]

@geforcefly1982 Even when they're dead, you can remove the heatsink from the chip, then aim a lighter or small torch toward it to re-seat the solder under the chip itself. In some cases, the reason these boards don't post is because the chip has gotten hot enough to break the solder connection. HP DV6000 laptops with the Turion X2 CPUs have had these same issues with their geforce 6150LE chips getting too hot and breaking the solder connection.

[geforcefly1982]

I actually think the ATX-300-12Es are bad too. Ran into one with a Socket 939 motherboard in it recently. Had to replace the board and PSU at a considerable expense, 939 boards are NOT cheap. How those boards hold 90% of their value after 5 years is beyond me.

[CubeComputerChannel]

@geforcefly1982 No, it is actually not the PSU. rather it's the graphics northbridge at fault. eMachines uses a custom-designed MS-7207 motherboard which used a very tiny black heatsink to cool the nVidia 6100LE chip, resulting in a slow process of frying the chip. I have reused the 300-12E power supplies out of systems with dead mobos, and they have worked fine for years. I have had systems with bad 939 boards which used Delta 300w units.

[MetallicBill]

My original eTower has original components that work, the only thing not working right is their SHITTY keyboards which was terrible for long term use, it fell apart and got dirty bad! The speakers were crap too, but everything else? Not bad, it's Intel motherboards, many were basic chipset based, not a lot of thrills, I got just two USB ports, but I had DVD RW and that was the main purchase goal

[compdude957]

I have had 2 emachines do this on me! One of them was my grandparents and it was a T2 series and one that was mine that was a T3958. The T2 computer wasn't the best computer anyways so it was not a big deal but the T3958 was a decent computer. If i had known along time ago i would have replaced the power supplies in them before that happened. I am currently using an Emachines T3393 which the power supply smoked and died but did not kill the motherboard. I replaced the PS and all is good now

[serineprotease]

holy shit thats is exactly what happened to my computer. my emachines t1842 just wouldnt turn on one day. i took it apart and noticed one of my main chipsets had a white burned out crater in it. if i had know about this vid id have given you all of the main components instead of throwing it away a few weeks ago. that thing has been out of commission since 07'

[TUNEDBYRET]

well my t3092 that i got back in the summer of 2004 is still running strong, all i have done to it is max out the ram to 2gb, everything else is original.

[CubeComputerChannel]

@TUNEDBYRET Check to be sure that it doesn't have this power supply in it(Bestec ATX-250-12E). It will fry your motherboard WHEN(Not "IF") the capacitor fails on the 5VSB circuit.

[TUNEDBYRET]

@CubeComputerChannel alright ill check it out. thanks for the warning man.

[TUNEDBYRET]

@CubeComputerChannel also if i do have that power supply, what replacement do you recommend for my computer.

[bugginout]

so I put some new thermal gel on the hsf, I started it up with windows disc and it gets to the windows is loading files and the bar goes all the way, then it goes to the next screen with microsoft corp with the little bar on top and just shuts down. I have no idea why it shuts down at that point. could it be the bios?

[CubeComputerChannel]

@bugginout It just shuts completely off? Go into the bios and check your temps. Does your particular machine have the MSI MS7207 motherboard? The cooling design on the graphics controller (what looks to the the northbridge) isn't very well. It uses a tiny little black heatsink which gets hot enough to burn your fingers. If it isn't burning hot, then the paste on it may be bad. This will require repasting it (it will require removing the motherboard to detach the little heatsink)

[bugginout]

alright, thanks for that itell. I check the psu and its a delta, I also check the hsf, its not sitting on the chip. In fact its not sticking. I will be buying thermal gel and will be putting a layer of it on before I put the fan on. Maybe it will help? I will keep you posted thx again!

[bugginout]

I have the same problem and I would like to know how this can be fixed? Mine is the same kind of emachine T5254 mine shuts down at the windows screen. I tried to reinstall windows and it goes to setup and shuts down. Its not the hard drive nor the motherboard. Could it be the power supply or the heat sink fan? The only think i can do now is boot from a disc. Please help!!

[CubeComputerChannel]

@bugginout If the power supply is the Bestec ATX-250-12E, replace it IMMEDIATELY. Also, it would be a good idea to check your HSF for dust, and to be sure that it's seated properly.

[pepsiru1es92]

I have an emachine in the basement that died some years back. I had a look inside, and sure enough the dreaded 12e was inside. Right into the trash that thing went. It's been a while, but from what I remember, it didn't totally kill it. It'll usually just spin the fans, but if you try enough times it would boot. Whether it would stay on long enough for Windows to boot and you to get done what you wanted to was another story.

[aszypula]

I had a eMachine T1742 that i got in 2002 the PSU died in it. last year i got an eMachine T2040 that was made in 2002 the PSU died in it i bought a brand new PSU from eBay the other day had it put in and the computer turned on but the fan in the PSU did not work and it overheated and shutdown and the PSU Died

[Lukeno52]

I had a Bestec 300W in my Dell Inspiron 531, had to junk it as it couldn't handle the machine any longer (despite the fact that the PC didn't actually exceed the 300W that the PSU was supposed to supply) - it didn't fail but when hard drive transfers start to freeze after travelling at 60 b/s... xD

[CubeComputerChannel]

@Lukeno52 The 300w units from Bestec rarely ever fail... their build quality is actually fairly well.

[diesalweasel]

i repair computer i'v seen 2or 3 issues with the emachine regarding psu it takes the motherboard out as well as the keyboard these have been with the intel with the cpu support

[SMASHITFORTHELULZ]

seen this psus in hp computers too

[CubeComputerChannel]

@SMASHITFORTHELULZ Those are actually a lot better than what's in emachines. The PSUs in emachines end with "12E" in the model # while the ones in HPs and Compaqs end with "12Z". The 12Zs have a more solid 5 volt standby rail that the 12Es. The 5VSB rail in the 12Es are what cause them to fry mainboards, The rest of the supply rails in those units are actually pretty good. JonnyGuru load tested a 12e and was able to pull well over the rated 250w out of it.

[SMASHITFORTHELULZ]

@CubeComputerChannel yea but the computer it was in was cooked the north bridge on all those hp pcs was burnt out black crispy looking it was at collage in the scrap bin 25-30 of these hp systems all had p4 2.8ghz and ddr 1 ram with this brand psu cant remember the model of the systems but the psu was 350w bestec made in china with teapo caps well the one i pulled apart had teapo caps but i wasn't meant to there so didn't have all the systems just cpus and ram lol all mobos where cooked

[whiskeyify]

cheap capacitors...and sometimes they cut corners....where they should have installed a 50v cap they put in a 35v cap to save money. As one of my co-workers would say "they are finding cheaper ways of making things cheaper".

[CubeComputerChannel]

@whiskeyify In some cases, it has to do with cheap caps, but not in the value/voltage of the capacitor, but in the choice of the brand. Back in these days, a lot of Chinese/Taiwanese capacitor manufacturers had a flawed solution in their electrolytic capacitors, causing them to prematurely fail. In the video, you see me talk about about the Bestec ATX-250-12E PSU . Tjis PSU's 5VSB circuit is horribly made. No PWM, just a capacitor and the regulator. No short-circuit protection either.

[CubeComputerChannel]

@whiskeyify continued... The capacitor on the 5VSB rail (in the Bestec ATX-250-12e PSU) is placed right near a hot-running diode, which ends up causing the problem. The heat from the diode cooks the capacitor, the capacitor fails, regulation gets all out of whack, sometimes (with a small load) it even shoots as high as 12V! Remember, this is a 5 volt rail... This high voltage cooks the board's chipset, and if a short occurs, the PSU ends up finishing itself off. It's like a chain reaction.

[whiskeyify]

@CubeComputerChannel Actually I was talking about what I have seen in tv's and other electronic stuff today. Same with resistors, where they should use a 1/2 watt resistor they put a 1/4 watt resistor. Some times we would replace caps with ones rated with a higher voltage just to prevent the set from coming back to the shop.

[CubeComputerChannel]

@whiskeyify I have come across some PSUs that had capacitors bypassed (and possible using lower grade caps like you're talking about)... but I hadn't seen the problem in an emachine though.

[whiskeyify]

@CubeComputerChannel I used to work in a repair shop...used to be you bought a tv and it lasted some 20+ years. I still have a 1989 model JVC that is working, it's never needed any repairs. The picture tube is getting weak but otherwise it works ok.

[Nameless666Maggot]

I've got a Emachines EZ1601 is this one any good?

[CubeComputerChannel]

@Nameless666Maggot How old is it? In this video, I'm referring to emachines computers that were manufactured from 2002-early 2005

[Nameless666Maggot]

@CubeComputerChannel Not sure how can I find out?

[CubeComputerChannel]

@Nameless666Maggot I looked it up, and I see it's an All-on-one. I don't think you have anything to worry about. This problem has to do with older computers.

[Nameless666Maggot]

@CubeComputerChannel Ah ok... I'll sub ya :)

[Nameless666Maggot]

@CubeComputerChannel 2004 time I think

[Thescotthalldotcom]

I am scared! lol! I bought the eMachines ET1831-07 Refurbished Desktop PC - Intel Pentium 2.7GHz from TigerDirect and i will receive it that week....I already bought a OCZ ModXStream Pro Power Supply - 600-Watt... i hope my new computer will work... =_='......

[CubeComputerChannel]

@Thescotthalldotcom Why did you buy a 600w PSU for a computer that will only require at most 300w?

[Thescotthalldotcom]

@CubeComputerChannel

Because in near futur, i want to upgrade my computer with a graphic card will demand more power. I am a newb and that will be my first time i will modify a computer. I am thinking if i add a 600W power supply + a GT 240 video card, i will be able to play newst game for a low cost. If my modifications work, i will buy a powerfull video card. I just don't want to spend $1200 or more for be able to play a game like Battle Field Bad Company 2.

[ASS546]

YES! THANK YOU! This is EXACTLY what happened to me! For a long time I was wondering what went wrong with my eMachines. Okay I've been really into computers since I was little and this was our first computer but became a tool for my computer engineering skills and it worked and all but one day It didn't turn on and I found that something was loose in the power supply (capacitor) tried to fix it, no luck XP. Recently got a new power supplies hoping it would work. NOPE! just spins fans like descr^

[cliffhangslash]

Hey, I have an eMachines et1161 which I bought in 2008 refurbished. I've not got the same power unit, but whenever I press the power button, all I get is the fans spinning with nothing appearing on the screen and no unusual beeping noises... Motherboard perhaps?

[CubeComputerChannel]

@cliffhangslash Seems like a problem with the board. Try the following...

1. Unplug computer

2. Remove CMOS Battery and RAM

3. Plug in and start system. you may hear a series of beeps from the board(a good sign if you hear it, but some boards don't have/don't use the built-in buzzer)

4. Unplug system and re-insert the battery and RAM.

5. Start computer. If it starts, it's fixed, but you'll have to re-enter the CMOS setup and enter the current date and time, and use default settings)

[LuigiFan128]

would this happen to a 533i? as my system just runs the fants and some times I can get it to boot

[jons4real]

Thanks for the video, I'm having an issue think you can help? Monitor keeps shutting off and then the power button begins to flash. I have to unplug altogether and restart the pc. What do you think the issue is?

[hectichorse]

Im buying an e machine 2010 (i think) model i hope.It comes with windows seven, 4gb of ram and 500gb hdd.It also comes with a screen, mouse, speakers, keyboard and the computer.I think it comes with this intel shit but i cant remember wat its called.I think ( remember i said think )it comes with intel core 1.5.Please reply cause im getting it tomorrow and i want to know anything before i buy it cause i dont want a computer that gonna break in the first 3 years, does it work good for gaming

[CubeComputerChannel]

@hectichorse I think emachines systems have improved in reliability. The main reason why a lot of older emachines computers failed was because of the Bestec ATX-250-12E power supply. The newer systems do not use this power supply, so you should be okay, but IDK how good it would do with gaming.

[CubeComputerChannel]

@VitaVeritasVictoria If it doesn't turn on at all, then the power supply is definitely fried. Some good news for you is that hard drives tend to survive after the motherboard's fried, so you should be able to retrieve your documents(by removing the hard drive from the computer and installing it as a slave(secondary drive) in a different computer.

[BasherCoon]

@CubeComputerChannel Dude if someone's using an emachine they probably don't even know what a HDD looks like, lol

[UGDFGSYTGY]

is one of the motherboards from a compaq presario S5300NX?

[CubeComputerChannel]

@UGDFGSYTGY Probably so... I have onne that was pulled from a Compaq that had a Celeron D CPU, if that rings a bell.

[jaesungauzakim]

lol "wall of shame" xD

[CubeComputerChannel]

@jaesungauzakim haha yeah, it shows the poor reliability if emachines computers!

[jaesungauzakim]

@CubeComputerChannel I also got eMachine from my moms friend and motherboard died too, but PSU was fine. It died because of lightning! lolz

[stereomann83]

i have a emachine W1800 from 2002 and the PS went bad on it so i got a new one & put it in & it would power up but there was no video so i thought the motherboard was bad so i just saved it for parts but then one day i got a gateway pc with a besttech PS and the mother board was bad on it so i took it out and put it in my W1800 and guess what it worked So I think only bestech Power supplys are the only ones that will work in a emachine

[CubeComputerChannel]

@stereomann83 emachines use standard ATX units, so you can install pretty much any brand into them.

[EliteComputerBuilds]

Whoever buys an emachine is a failure anyways.. There junk..

[CubeComputerChannel]

@EliteComputerBuilds emachines has improved some over the years. My grandpa has an Intel based emachine from 2006, and it's still working fine. It has the Bestec ATX-300 unit, which doesn't have the flaw that the 250's had.