Motherboard ''mothered'''.....

It appears that the Motherboard is well on its way out on my desktop. I had a cuppa with Inger and Grant yesterday who gave me a general guidline, but the quote from our work computer bod is well in excess of that (approx $1000) and he recommends I buy a new system from him instead.

Do any of you have similar experiences? Did you go for the newer tower or package deal, or just get a new motherboard installed on your existing unit. My problem is all of our aussie and NZ GST info is stored on there, plus some important and legal emails which I have copied elsewhere, but I want to ensure I get my MYOB stuff over to the new computer if that is the way to go.

Does $1000 odd sound right for a replacement of a motherboard?

swaggie;259521 wrote: Does $1000 odd sound right for a replacement of a motherboard?

No.

You can buy a new Dell for that (no monitor).

A

Note: All your data, information and files are stored on the Hard Drive. If the motherboard gives up, your files should still be there.
A new motherboard (and probably processor) would work just as well as putting that hard drive in another computer, and reinstalling your applications including MYOB

As an aside, it is not easy to diagnose a faulty motherboard, how did your guru determine that was the problem?

swaggie;259521 wrote:
Does $1000 odd sound right for a replacement of a motherboard?

I'm a newbie here but been lurking for a while. I run my own computer repair business.

$1000 is a bit steep and sounds like your computer guy can't be bothered with the hassle and would rather sell a new system.

I did two MoBo replacements last week and the cost was around $650 each including labour. I don't usually do this but they were good clients. I usually do what your guy did and recommend they buy a new machine and I will transfer the data across.

The problem is that if the PC is older than 2 years then the chances of finding an exact replacement motherboard is almost impossible so replacing a mobo also entails replacing the CPU and RAM.

If you get lucky the operating system on the old hard drive may boot up with the new motherboard or may require needing a complete re-install.

Another issue is that if you just replace the mobo, cpu and ram then you are still running a machine with an old hard drive and power supply. You can only get a warranty on the new parts installed.

My recommendation would be to look at getting a new machine and getting your guy to transfer the data across. As far as MYOB goes, make sure you are doing regular MYOB backups to a CD, USB stick or other removable device. When MYOB is re-installed then you can restore from the backup and you havn't lost any data.

Just as a bit of remote diagnosis, what is happening to the machine to indicate that the mobo is failing?

for a grand or so I'd expect something like this: pconlineshop.co.nz/pcshop/product_info.p...57181a3ecc0b0ee69672
With the latest 8Mb cache and 1Ghz FSB speed.

for 269+gst you can get a good ASUS brand motherboard, a core 2 intel CPU and 2Gb of RAM. pconlineshop.co.nz/pcshop/product_info.p...57181a3ecc0b0ee69672
A little older, much cheaper, has 2 Mb cache and 800Mhz FSB, but thats still a lot more than you are likely to have now, for a lot less than your computer guy wants to to bend over for.

wyseyes;259534 wrote: Note: All your data, information and files are stored on the Hard Drive. If the motherboard gives up, your files should still be there.
A new motherboard (and probably processor) would work just as well as putting that hard drive in another computer, and reinstalling your applications including MYOB

As an aside, it is not easy to diagnose a faulty motherboard, how did your guru determine that was the problem?

At the moment I am finding after turning on and working the computer initially, after about 7 minutes or so it completely freezes everything, I am unable to start task manager to end programmes (the control, alt, delete thingo) and it will not reboot by pressing the bottons on the front of the tower.

I have done a defrag scan which said I didn't need to defrag it, I have taken off all spyware and cleaned up the drive of temp files etc. I even deleted some of the recently installed programmes in case I had overworked it, however it tells me there is about 75% memory left so that shouldn't be an issue.

The next step then is to turn the darn thing off at the wall. So I do. If I leave it for a minute or so, and turn it all back on, nothing happens apart from the tower lights coming back on. Not even the screen gets told to start.

If I walk away and leave it for 15 minutes or so, then it starts up like normal and off I go for another 7 minutes or so.....

Does that help describe the situation a bit?

Had a similar type problem with my computer befor i scored this one ... it was that the hard drive and cpu was getting to warm ... took the side off the tower, and had a hopusehold Fan blowing into it, and it worked fine .... so replaced the cpu fan , and put an extra fan inside the box and it worked great.
No $1,000 sounds far to expensive for a motherboard

kiwi_jon;259546 wrote: I'm a newbie here but been lurking for a while. I run my own computer repair business.

$1000 is a bit steep and sounds like your computer guy can't be bothered with the hassle and would rather sell a new system.

I did two MoBo replacements last week and the cost was around $650 each including labour. I don't usually do this but they were good clients. I usually do what your guy did and recommend they buy a new machine and I will transfer the data across.

The problem is that if the PC is older than 2 years then the chances of finding an exact replacement motherboard is almost impossible so replacing a mobo also entails replacing the CPU and RAM.

If you get lucky the operating system on the old hard drive may boot up with the new motherboard or may require needing a complete re-install.

Another issue is that if you just replace the mobo, cpu and ram then you are still running a machine with an old hard drive and power supply. You can only get a warranty on the new parts installed.

My recommendation would be to look at getting a new machine and getting your guy to transfer the data across. As far as MYOB goes, make sure you are doing regular MYOB backups to a CD, USB stick or other removable device. When MYOB is re-installed then you can restore from the backup and you havn't lost any data.

Just as a bit of remote diagnosis, what is happening to the machine to indicate that the mobo is failing?

Hi Kiwi_jon and welcome to the site [8D] There are always a lot of PC problems on the site and another expert is always welcome...

Cheers
Kate

Welcome Kiwi_Jon and congratulations for being brave enough to confess you are a computer techo. I am sure we will all be hounding you with questions about these metal boxes we all have that have a mind of their own on many occasions [}]
Let's hope we will be able to halp you with other matters.

Swaggie, you have just described exactly the problem I am having on the working computer. Tax is due on the 7th and, like everything, it seems to have been left until the last minute. Last night the computer would not start up....... I persisted and it worked fine for the evening........ today could be a different matter.

I do think putting the money into a new setup would be better use of hard earned dollars. I have been through the motherboard replacement, was more expensive that a new machine [!] Dell are good, we bought them for work, no problems in the last 5 years..... shhhhhh!

spoook;259568 wrote: Welcome Kiwi_Jon and congratulations for being brave enough to confess you are a computer techo. I am sure we will all be hounding you with questions about these metal boxes we all have that have a mind of their own on many occasions [}]
Let's hope we will be able to halp you with other matters.

Thanks for the welcome. Oh, don't worry I have plenty of questions.

I plan to be looking at a 20 acre block next weekend and while I am ok with evaluating bricks and mortar I am not sure of what I am looking for or what questions to ask about the land. I will post these questions seperately so as not to hijack this thread.

swaggie;259556 wrote: At the moment I am finding after turning on and working the computer initially, after about 7 minutes or so it completely freezes everything, I am unable to start task manager to end programmes (the control, alt, delete thingo) and it will not reboot by pressing the bottons on the front of the tower.

I have done a defrag scan which said I didn't need to defrag it, I have taken off all spyware and cleaned up the drive of temp files etc. I even deleted some of the recently installed programmes in case I had overworked it, however it tells me there is about 75% memory left so that shouldn't be an issue.

The next step then is to turn the darn thing off at the wall. So I do. If I leave it for a minute or so, and turn it all back on, nothing happens apart from the tower lights coming back on. Not even the screen gets told to start.

If I walk away and leave it for 15 minutes or so, then it starts up like normal and off I go for another 7 minutes or so.....

Does that help describe the situation a bit?

swaggie,

Your problem could as simple as a failing power supply. A cheap ATX power supply from a computer hardware store will set you back up to $80.

However the first thing I would do is take the side cover off the PC and check that the CPU cooler/fan is not clogged up with dust, dead mice, cat fur, hay etc. If you have a vacuum cleaner with a blow function (not many do these days) then give it a good blow out. Do this outside.

While the side is off check the capacitors on the motherboard for swelling or leaking. The capacitors are the components that look like small tin cans and have a X or K stamped on the top. The top of the capacitors should be flat. If they are bulging at the top or look like they are leaking a brown material that looks like rust then the MoBo is on the way out and needs replacing.

Your computer guy should be able to do this diagnosis for you and would have a spare ATX power supply to test whether the problem is power supply or not.

It could also be a memory problem. Download memtest and make a bootable floppy or CD:

www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/Memtest86.shtml

Let it run for a while (overnight is great).

If it doesn't find any problem it doesn't mean your RAM is good , but if there is a problem it ought to flag it.

A

kiwi_jon;259608 wrote:
While the side is off check the capacitors on the motherboard for swelling or leaking. The capacitors are the components that look like small tin cans and have a X or K stamped on the top. The top of the capacitors should be flat. If they are bulging at the top or look like they are leaking a brown material that looks like rust then the MoBo is on the way out and needs replacing.

Had that happen to the last desktop here... exact same symptoms as described. a total of 7 capacitors gone west.

ame;259628 wrote: It could also be a memory problem. Download memtest and make a bootable floppy or CD:

www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/Memtest86.shtml

Let it run for a while (overnight is great).

If it doesn't find any problem it doesn't mean your RAM is good , but if there is a problem it ought to flag it.

A

first step so far, I have 252 invalid entries on it.....[:0] is that normal? But they want me to buy the programme before it deletes them, is that normal?

swaggie;260047 wrote: first step so far, I have 252 invalid entries on it.....[:0] is that normal? But they want me to buy the programme before it deletes them, is that normal?

No. That's not normal. Are you confusing memtest with something else?

Firstly, the software is free.

Secondly, memtest does not detect and delete anything. It tests the RAM and prints an error message if there is a fault. It does not touch the hard drive (that's why you run it directly from a floppy or CD).

Here's a link to the source:

www.memtest86.com/

You can click on 'Free Download', but it will probably give you what you already have.

You can click on 'Technical Info' for information about how to make a floppy or CD for testing.

HTH,

A