eMac won't start!

Have you run a hardware test, preferably with the original OS Disk 1?

Which model of eMac do you have? Other than the 1.42 GHz, you may have the infamous eMac capacitor problem.

very likely the bad cap issue which effected all eMacs with boards produced between end 2003 and end 2004 , most had been fixed under the extended repair scheme by apple in 2006/7 , but not all owners did care or did not even know about the scheme
the bad caps are
easy and cheap fix if you know how to use a small tip soldering iron
and the caps cost around £5 and the emac is running again
if you cant do it yourself look for a small tv repairshop ,who does still repair old crt tv`s .
they might do it for you if you bring the board and wont overcharge you as it takes if you got the board and caps and soldering iron in hand just about 20min to do the job

i dont think apple will repair it under the repair scheme thats too long ago , but
they may repair it . but i dont want to see your repair bill

like i said do it yourself or a tv repair center are your cheapest options
sorry

MacHamster68 said:

do it yourself or a tv repair center are your cheapest options.

Click to expand...

MH is right. If you can get the logic board out yourself, an electronics repair place can solder in new capacitors. You can check the condition of about 3 (or is it 5?) of the capacitors just by peering into the eMac via the RAM/battery access hatch. Use a pen torch.

To give you some idea of cost, to get my 1.25 GHz eMac logic board repaired here in NZ (hasn't proved necessary - yet!) would set me back about US$100. A replacement logic board from Apple, with caps already changed, would set you back about US$400 (about 280 euros).

Having said all that, bad caps *usually* result in the eMac seizing or freezing, things just stop working, and the machine does nothing. The fan keeps going, the monitor may keep showing a 'still' of what you were doing, but that's all. There's nothing to do but shut down.