Suggest you change out the Power Supply, with a KNOWN to be good, and compatible Power Supply.
[Compatible:
Must have the correct power cables, and the correct amount of them.
1) 20-pin ATX main power cable;
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#atxmain202) 4-pin ATX +12 Volt power cable; (Power for the Processor)
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#atx12v43) SATA power cable; (Harddrive)
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#sata4) Standard 4-pin Peripheral power cables for the optical drive/s, and any fans;
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#peripheral5) Floppy Drive power cable. Not used for a Floppy Drive in this case, but power for the Card Reader;
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#floppy ]
Must have the correct Form Factor.
The Form Factor of the Power Supply for the ET1161 is ATX.
Size of the Power Supply case is approximately 3-1/2 inches Tall, 6 inches Wide, and 6 inches Long.
Should have 250 to 300 Watts.
Why am I stating this? Because you, or someone you know, may have an unused computer sitting around that you can borrow the Power Supply for a test. (GOOD and Compatible)
From your statements, and my diagnosis, I believe you have a bad Power Supply.
Weak voltage power rail.
Enough power to turn on LED lights, and spin fans, but not enough to turn the Processor on.
1) ALL of the LED lights combined use less than 1 Watt of power.
2) EACH fan uses 2 to 3 Watts of power.
3) A typical Processor can use 51 to 125 Watts of power.
Depends on what Processor it is.
I also base it on that eMachines uses low quality generic Power Supply's.
Bestec, or Delta, or another generic Power Supply manufacturer.
I also base it on that Power Supply failure is one of the leading causes of computer failure.
(If the inside of the computer, and the inside of the Power Supply, are not cleaned out on a regular basis as needed, this is also another contributing factor.
Use a can of compressed air for computers. Power unplugged to computer, and observe Anti-Static Precautions.
{Use the plastic straw in the ventilation holes of the Power Supply)
Feel the harddrive start? Yes. You feel the Platters inside the harddrive being spun by the spindle motor.
No Processor operating, there is nothing to find the boot record on the harddrive. The platters spin, but the Read/Write heads are not brought into play by the Actuator motor
[BIOS = Basic Input/Output System.
A small program that when the computer is first turned on, looks to see what devices are installed, does a Ram Memory count, then TURNS the Processor on, and hands the computer over to the Operating System.
An optical drive, (CD/DVD drive) will operate even if the Operating System doesn't. It's a mechanical device that uses 12 Volts.
(One example of an Operating System is Windows XP ]
How harddrives work;
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/hard-disk.htm
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