Which motherboard for a dead emachines?

[Kris]

Hi I'm new to the forum, I hope this is in the correct section...

I've got a dead eMachines 370. I assume the mother board is dead because I tried a new psu but that didn't make it start.

I've been looking on the Novatech website at motherboard bundles but I don't know which ones are compatible because isn't all new stuff SATA?

Yeah I'm a bit of a novice at this!

[Ben]

If your looking at a new motherboard bundle, then there is a possibility you may need a new case. This is because in the past they have used their own "shaped" (known as Form Factor) motherboard which is only designed to fit in their cases. The mainstream standard Form Factor is ATX or Micro ATX, which most of (probably all) of the Novatech bundles will be.
It maybe worth checking your PC's documents to check to see if there is anything that tells you this.

Pretty much all of the motherboards will have one IDE slot. if not there are IDE -> SATA converters you can buy. It would probably be worth buying a SATA drive too, as you will have to reinstall windows. You can then pull any data from your old IDE drive by having as a slave.

Hope this info is useful.

[Kris]

Ben, thank you for your advice.

I'm confused about this SATA / ATA thing. Let's say I buy a barebones system from Novatech, will my old harddrive and DVD drive be ok to use seeing as they're obviously ATA? A mate told me new motherboards have sockets for both ATA and SATA cables, is he correct?

Thanks

[Taxation]

Your mate is correct, but i call ATA cables IDE cables, just gets less confusing that way.
I have had it on my computer, my main drive which is sata then popped in a IDE hard drive which i configured as a slave, and got all my info off of it

[Kris]

Well apparently it is a trigem imperial motherboard and having done a search on google it looks like any mATX mobo will fit. From Novatech of course :lol:
Thing is though perhaps I should just buy a barebones instead of trying to reuse this old emachines case.

[Jonny2Bad]

I would get a new case, give your new pc a shiny new look!!! If not a barebones just get the case of your choice and a mobo bundle!

[system7]

Fixing eMachines is a bit of a specialist subject sometimes. You run into a few things. The first is that the old Bestec 250W power supply is usually the component that destroys the motherboard, lacking overvoltage protection. It is vital to replace it first with a better, say, 350W. Some defective samples put out 30V on the 12V rail... :roll:

A mATX socket 478 motherboard is readily obtainable still:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/products/a555x1y0z1p0s0n0m0
This will reuse all the original components, and you can reinstall Windows with the original COA in the case of a failed motherboard.

Here was my own upgrade in an eMachines case:
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/833/hiperpsuno4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The fly in the ointment for Kris here, is his old Willamette core Celeron 1.7GHz. Motherboard support is patchy, and is best checked in advance. A modern mATX bundle makes sense, but I'd keep the case. :D

[Jonny2Bad]

That celeron belongs in the bin lol!!!