Registered: Nov 1999
Location: washington, dc
Posts: 82

"attempting to repair may cause serious harm" ??

this is off-topic, meaning it has to do with my home PC. Two years ago I bought an "e-machine e-one", a kind of Mac lookalike for Win98 (processor and drives and monitor all in one blue box, like the Macs). (I know, it's a cruddy machine). See below for copies of correspondence with E-machines technical support.. He said "do not open machine-- you may cause serious bodily harm or possibly death" (!?) Is this guy for real?

thanks.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Orignal Message xxxxxxxxxxx

I have an E-ONE

Questions:

1. The door to the floppy drive is somehow jammed, and floppys can not be inserted. Can I replace the floppy drive? See part number Floppy: floppy drive - Samsung SFD-321B Part Num. 559 (from the pcfactoryoutlet.com/emachines website).

2. Can I upgrade the Hard Drive (currently 8.4gb, a hard drive - Samsung SV0844A (8.4GB) Part Number 538)

3. Can I upgrade the memory? currently eRAM Samsung SD-64M Part number 524 .

I would suppose I should purchase the parts from your pcfactoryoutlet.com/emachines/ website. I would then have a qualified technician install the parts.

Thank you.
Steve Williams

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REPLY:

Re: Email ID 2475439
Dear Steven Williams:

Thank you for choosing eMachines.

You can not open the case of the Eone if you do you are subjecting yourself to serious bodily harm and possibly death.. If you choose to open the case of the Eone, Emachines will not be held liable for any personal and or property damage (emphasis added--srw)

You can contact the E-machines warehouse at 1-800-786-6786 to arrange for out of warranty repairs.

Should you require further assistance with your eMachines system, please feel free to send another message. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Sincerely,
Nathan

For eMachines parts upgrade, please call 1-800-733-5858

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 217

There are some components in the monitor and possibly the power supply that can deliver potentially dangerous charges. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can elaborate.

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Mike
I'd rather be upside down in my kayak than rightside up at my desk.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 33

What I think he is referring to is that since the monitor is also part of the case if you open it and touch a part of the tube you could be hurt or even killed. The reason is that even after you cut the power it retains a charge for some time and if you would happen to touch a conductive area it would arc through you, not a good thing.

So that is there way to keep someone from frying themselves on the monitor components if you open the case. I would imagine that if you removed the power from the machine and let it sit for some period of time it would lose its charge, but I would defer to someone that knows more about electronics/monitors.

Visigoth

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

quote:

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Originally posted by visigoth
What I think he is referring to is that since the monitor is also part of the case if you open it and touch a part of the tube you could be hurt or even killed. The reason is that even after you cut the power it retains a charge for some time and if you would happen to touch a conductive area it would arc through you, not a good thing.

So that is there way to keep someone from frying themselves on the monitor components if you open the case. I would imagine that if you removed the power from the machine and let it sit for some period of time it would lose its charge, but I would defer to someone that knows more about electronics/monitors.

Visigoth

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by ToolkiT
Visigoth is right, the back off all CRT's have a big condensator which hold very high voltages which can be dangerous when touch (much more than the 110/220V on you main.)

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Just informational, but it's known as a capacitor in the US. YMMV.

quote:

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A normal PC is safe to open once you unplugg it... [...]

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Provided you don't go mucking about with the power supply.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Nebraska- the Good life
Posts: 695

Ditto- 'picture tubes' (CRT's) are dangerous things, and if you try to discharge it yourself, you can be hurt or seriously mess up the tube or other electronics in the machine. A decent static charge by itself can seriously scramble a lot of components, and the CRT packs a lot more juice than that!

This is one of the bigger drawbacks to the 'all in one' design- they make it harder (or less safe) to do your own upgrades.

I am sorry I cannot give you a more realistic appraisal of the risks involved, but I do not know how the e-Machines are set up and what safeguards are in place. With some of these designs, the CRT is pretty protected and you can work around it in comparative safety.

(By the way, I am an electronics technician)

Registered: Aug 2001
Location:
Posts: 383

I'd say get the warranty repair, however if you feel inclined to be adventurous then I suggest unplugging the computer, and turning the button on to try to kill the energy in the capacitor. After a week of this then maybe you might want to possibly think about considering fixing this yourself if you are feeling brave enough.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

Well, in my prefession, we have these big 'ol rubber insulating blankets with insulated clips. I'd hang one of these first, but be sure to wear your #1 gloves, nomex coveralls and...........

Seriously - take it in for repair if you're unsure - getting hit by DC sucks.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 447

quote:

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Originally posted by dampeoples
Well, in my prefession, we have these big 'ol rubber insulating blankets with insulated clips. I'd hang one of these first, but be sure to wear your #1 gloves, nomex coveralls and...........

Seriously - take it in for repair if you're unsure - getting hit by DC sucks.

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

quote:

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Originally posted by Toby
Just informational, but it's known as a capacitor in the US. YMMV.

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