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Danielle’s dad’s computer has been having a bunch of problems, and as some of them seem malware-related I am planning on wiping the computer and reinstalling Windows XP. Unfortunately when attempting to back up data it keeps rebooting unexpectedly, so I’ll have to pull the disk to recover data. I suspect the power supply may be going, which may cost a non-trivial amount if it’s even worth replacing.
Worse than that, when dusting out the machine I decided to pull the CPU heatsink / fan assembly as it was pretty well caked with dust. When I did this the CPU popped out along with the heatsink because the CPU was not latched in place. The downward pressure of the heatsink retention mechanism must have been allowing it to make enough contact to work. (For those that don’t know, CPUs normally sit in sockets with large latching levers which actuate contacts to ensure that all pins make contact. This wasn’t set in the socket, just on it. Here is a diagram.)
I hate working on eMachines. The cost saved up front bites you in frustration and parts later.
Was it really not latched in place, or did you unwittingly rip the chip out of its socket?
I’ve removed several CPUs before by accident after trying to take the heatsink off. Sometimes the heatsink paste dries out and sticks the CPU to the heatsink better than the zif socket holds the CPU.
At least you don’t have any bent pins.
You have my support, friend. E-Machines, and Gateway, and Acer, are all one company, (Acer owns them.) and have been nothing but trouble since. The Owner of Gateway lost big when XP came out, it seems the processor companies were selling him large amounts of seconds. And naturally their customer support suffered. Then they bought e-Machines hoping that would save them. It didn’t. As you have found out it (or they) are built poorly.
Acer has yet to recover their investment in that fraud’s efforts.
Ideally the next best thing would be to reassemble it properly, and then do that next step, also carefully.
Hi Mike, Can you email me at my email addy?
emachines ha DONT BUY ONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!