help - computer repair question (motherboard)

[Shakespeare]

So, my motherboard has croaked. I get a flashing cursor in the upper lefthand monitor screen. No bios. No nothing.

Here's my question--after I go through the pain-in-the-ass task of replacing the motherboard and switching out the processor and the memory and the cards and reconnecting everything, what can I expect when I boot up the first time? Presumably, everything on the hard drive will still be there. Will I have to go through any kind of setup?

Much, much thanks in advance....

[kerrywins]

1. your best bet is to reinstall the operating system

first save anything on it you want...

[sir_captain]

2. if everything goes smoothly

it'll boot pretty much exactly the same as before, but you'll probably have to play around with the hardware a bit. windows will probably detect all your hardware as new, but you should be fine since your drivers should all be there. your hard drive will be fine...

[Shakespeare]

5. Great....I feel much better now!

What a major pain this will be, though. I built the thing myself 18 months ago, and I'm really pissed off that the motherboard died on me (it was an semi-expensive name brand--I used only "good stuff" when I built it).

The only part I REALLY dread is getting all the tiny connectors from the front of the case hooked up to the motherboard correctly. That, believe it or not, was the hardest part of the assembly when I first built the thing.

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

9. "Built it yourself"

Just curious, but I've always wondered why anyone would go through the hassle to build one themself when it's just so cheap to go out and buy a new one? And the warranty issue would be a saviour right now with the problem you're having. For me to build my own machine, I think I'd just have to have a lot of free time on my hands. Just seems easier to get Dell on the horn.

[kerrywins]

10. good point...

you make a logically sound point!

[frylock]

12. you can build a better machine for the same cost as a pre-built..

two of my 6 computers were built by myself, including my kick-ass game box. Even the HP I use as my primary PC (it was inherited, I would never buy an HP) has a video adapter and controller card that I installed along with the dual 120GB hard drives I used to replace the stock 30GB HDD. The warranties still apply for the individual components, you know exactly what's going into the box, and it's good clean fun!! I could build a computer in about 90 minutes.

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

13. Other than aesthetics...

what is the difference between, say, an HP and a comparable machine from another manufacturer? I never have figured that out. I mean, I understand the dif between PCs and Apples, but if a box has same drive capacity, ram, clock speed, processor, warranty, etc. What is in a name?


And I don't think the actual process of building the machine is what would consume time. Researching hardware, reading and educating yourself, and finding the best deals/procuring all the discreet components would take days, if not weeks or months, unless you really know what you're doing.


One more question. I just bought a Dell 3.1GHz 80Gig 512Meg, etc. etc. for like $1100. How much could I have really saved by building myself?

[frylock]

17. hard to answer..

you have to factor in the type of video adapter (onboard RAM) the speed of the RAM itself, sound, etc.

My game box, which is my baby (!!), cost about $1700 all told. The biggest expense was the memory (3GB). But it's built for speed, literally as well as figuratively as I run lots of racing sims on it. The stats:

Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.67Ghz
SOYO Dragon Lite P4X400-8235
3GB PC2100 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 with 256MB
Maxtor 120GB HDD
SONY DVD RW DRU-510A

All packed into a Chieftec Dragon case, flat black with clear side and 3 fans with blue LED.

I could probably build a box like yours for $400-$600 excluding OS.

[TrogL]

19. THREE GIGABYTES OF RAM?!?!?

:wtf:

I've got ORACLE servers with 120 users on it with less RAM.

:wtf: are you doing with it?

[frylock]

21. racin' mostly..

I also do some music production on it as well. Sure it's overkill, but I got a deal on the RAM. I used to work for IBM, now gainfully unemployed.

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

23. Sounds like a sweet box you got.

So let's say you could build my Dell 3.1GHz machine for $500 bucks, which I highly doubt. That's a savings of about $600. But I forgot to mention that Dell threw in a 15" flatscreen monitor, color printer/scanner/fax, OS and suite of software, plus 1 year free service/support. I'd say that reduces that $600 dollar savings substantially.

It's cool to build a box, and I'm sure there's a lot of good reasons to do so, but I don't think the savings are what people claim. Certainly they are not on the moderate to high performance machines that most people own. I'd bet a solid setup and trimmings from Dell or Gateway could not be duplicated for more than a two hundred saved.

I'm no techno-geek, but I could build my own system if I wanted. I just don't think the savings are what people claim.

Not bragging, but on another note, I can also rebuild automobile engines, fell trees with a chainsaw, and, no lie, operate a nuclear reactor.

Heh heh!

[Shakespeare]

25. I saved $620 by building it myself.

I did price out a machine with the same specs as what I built, and the Dell came in $620 higher than what I paid for everything.

[sir_captain]

14. lots of reasons

it's far cheaper to build a high-end computer than to buy one. you can customize and choose all the individual parts more easily. a self-built machine is vastly easier to upgrade, and of course, there is the sense of accomplishment!

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

15. "far cheaper"

How much cheaper, really. Give me a metric.

[sir_captain]

16. ok

i recently built a machine for around $850 that would have cost around $2000 at Dell (I looked) and would have used comparable but inferior parts.

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

24. That's a fat savings.

I'd really like to see the accounting breakdown for the parts. Not saying I don't buy it, but it just sounds steep.

But if that's the case, you should go into business selling computers. 100% profit and you could still undercut Dell by 300 bucks? You'd make a killing......

[sir_captain]

27. It's all about

buying parts over the internet with no tax and shipping and looking out for unusual deals--things like $35 for a 160GB hard drive after rebates...it can be done, though

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

Too big

160GB hard drive is too big in my opinion. In my 15 years of experience with computers, hard drives have been the second most common part to fail, after power supplies.

Just two weeks ago I got a S.M.A.R.T drive error message on my machine at work. Fortunately, my company had purchased 3 year on-site maintenance agreement with the supplier and the drive was still under warranty. Not only did they have to give me a new 80GB drive, they had to send a repairman to come out, replace the drive and restore the system. All I had to do was to back up my data and transfer it via network to another machine.

Now, imagine you've got 1 box with 160GB HD and it's 80% full and the HD fails. Even if you keep good backups you're still looking at a ridiculous amount of restoring. Data files, software, drivers. Too much.

I guess if you're going to be storing a lot of multimedia files you might need a big drive, but the risk is not worth it for me. Every time I load software on my CPU I look at it as if my computer's having sex. It may be fun, but you never know what the consequences are going to be months or years down the road.

Like the guy up there that said he has 3Gigs of memory in his box. That's just a waste. Starving kids in Africa and he's got 3 gigs of RAM in his computer :0 Seriously though, if one of those SIMMs goes tits up, bad bytes or whatever, you're out 200 bucks.

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

28. Too big

160GB hard drive is too big in my opinion. In my 15 years of experience with computers, hard drives have been the second most common part to fail, after power supplies.

Just two weeks ago I got a S.M.A.R.T drive error message on my machine at work. Fortunately, my company had purchased 3 year on-site maintenance agreement with the supplier and the drive was still under warranty. Not only did they have to give me a new 80GB drive, they had to send a repairman to come out, replace the drive and restore the system. All I had to do was to back up my data and transfer it via network to another machine.

Now, imagine you've got 1 box with 160GB HD and it's 80% full and the HD fails. Even if you keep good backups you're still looking at a ridiculous amount of restoring. Data files, software, drivers. Too much.

I guess if you're going to be storing a lot of multimedia files you might need a big drive, but the risk is not worth it for me. Every time I load software on my CPU I look at it as if my computer's having sex. It may be fun, but you never know what the consequences are going to be months or years down the road.

Like the guy up there that said he has 3Gigs of memory in his box. That's just a waste. Starving kids in Africa and he's got 3 gigs of RAM in his computer :0 Seriously though, if one of those SIMMs goes tits up, bad bytes or whatever, you're out 200 bucks.

[Shakespeare]

20. For a few reasons.

One, it wasn't a hassle.

Two, I got WAY more machine for the money, and customized it exactly for what I needed (heavy-duty video editing; I dabble in indie film).

Three, it was a fantastic learning experience that helps me understand much, much better how my machine works, and has removed any intimidation I had about doing my own upgrades and repairs.

Hypothetically speaking, unless I'd paid additional $$$ for an extended warranty, even a store-bought machine would be past the warranty right now, and even with the warranty I'd likely get stuck for some pro-rated charges. My parts were all under warranty, so odds are good that I'll get a modest discount on the replacement motherboard (waiting on a call back from the company now), and the whole thing will only cost me a small amount of money.

All of the above reasons, plus I don't have to support Dell's business practices, with which I disagree on a number of fronts.

[aden_nak]

3. Blargh, that sounds like it sucks.

Here's what I'd do. Obviously, if one step works, stop, if not go on to the next.

Step 1: Reset your CMOS (there are usually jumpers you can switch to reset your BIOS back to defauly settings, sometimes that is all it takes).

Step 2: Listen for the beep. Are you getting a beep code error? Any kind of beep at all? It doesn't sound like a memory issue or a CPU issue, but you never know.

Step 3: Toss that mobo out. If you can buy the exact same one again (and you don't want to use this as an excuse to upgrade) then do so. Otherwise, you can expect Windows to shit down your throat until you re-install it, even if the new motherboard POSTs.

[hel]

4. It probably will load as usual,

but your Windows will never be the same...

Especially Windows XP has a problem with hardware changes, since it also keeps track of motherboard and cpu and uses specialized code especially while booting the machine, unlike previous operating systems. So, the best thing to do is to change your hardware, start Windows, backup everything you need, then reinstall; if you have WinXP that is.

[Shakespeare]

7. Yup, I'm on XP.

Good advice. Thanks.

[fknobbit]

6. Normally

You should be ok but have a good Back up in case. I Have a ghosted copy of my hard drive for a replacement in case of Murphy. Good luck.

[ET Awful]

8. If you can get the same model of mother board, do so. . .

It'll be a painless install that way. BUT, be sure it's actually the motherboard causing the problem. That could also be a problem with the CPU. Do you get any beeps at all when you power it on? If the mobo was dead, you probably wouldn't get any output to the screen at all.

If you use a different motherboard, try to get one with the same chipset, this will also usually create a fairly seamless transition without requiring a reinstall of XP.

If you have to use a different motherboard with a different chipset, I highly recommend re-installing the OS. You might be able to get away with doing a "repair" install instead of a full install though.

I build machines pretty regularly, PM me if you need more assistance.

[Shakespeare]

22. thanks--I'm looking for another identical motherboard

As to the beep question, I'll have to check that again when I get home tonight, but I think it's not even beeping. Thanks for the heads-up about the CPU possibly being bad.

[landdaddy]

11. Check MoBo battery

maybe all it is. New Motherboard will require you to install the brand specific software that came wtih it otherwise all should go well for you if it is Win XP. Good luck!

[Wcross]

18. Take the motherboard out of the case.

See if it works when it isn't in the case- it sounds like what happened to me, the motherboard was shorting on the case. Also check for a stray screw you might have dropped in when you built it.

[TroubleMan]

26. With some motherboards you can do this:

Find the bios for you mobo on the internet. Put it on a floppy disk and name it amiboot.rom. Put the disk in and boot your computer. Some mobo's automatically look for this if their bios is messed up.

Let me know what mobo you have and I'll find your bios for you.


....
Also, if you change to a different mobo, don't try to boot directly into windows....it will usually crash. Boot from the OS disk and do an upgrade install.