Replacing a motherboard

[sm4christ]

A friend of mine was just told by HP tech support that his motherboard
is dead. His computer is only three years old, and everything else is
working fine. He thinks he should go to Best Buy's Geek Squad to get
it replaced. What is your reccommendation? Oh, its an Athlon I think.

 

[RonK]

Tech Support could be wrong about the mb being "Dead"

What are the problems with the computer ?

 

[Leythos]

A friend of mine was just told by HP tech support that his motherboard
is dead. His computer is only three years old, and everything else is
working fine. He thinks he should go to Best Buy's Geek Squad to get
it replaced. What is your reccommendation? Oh, its an Athlon I think.

Is he looking for a HP Official Replacement or just anything that will
do?

Does he want to replace it himself or can you do it?

Things to consider:

1) Many HP cases are not standard form cases

2) HP motherboards are also not always standard sizes with standard
mounting holes.

If the CPU, Memory, Drives, video card (if it has a video card and not
just video on the motherboard) are good, then your friend can purchase a
cheap computer case for about $50 (with power supply), a cheap
motherboard for under $100, and build the new computer without paying
anyone else for it.

The key thing to remember when building a computer is that you MUST
properly mount the board in the case so that none of the mounting screws
or stand-offs short out the electrical traces on the board.

One last thing - if his version of Windows is an HP locked version, it
may not permit him to run it on a non-HP board.

And the final thing, changing the motherboard (according to MS)
invalidates the license for the OEM copy of HP Windows. It also means
that enough components will have signature changes that he will have to
re-activate Windows if it lets him. Running a REPAIR/REINSTALL will save
him time in getting the new board working with the old software.

 

[beb]

What problems is your friend having. I would get a second opinion.

 

[Michael Stevens]

In

A friend of mine was just told by HP tech support that his motherboard
is dead. His computer is only three years old, and everything else is
working fine. He thinks he should go to Best Buy's Geek Squad to get
it replaced. What is your reccommendation? Oh, its an Athlon I
think.

It's a toss up, sometimes the change on a branded OEM is accepted and
sometimes it isn't
He will have the choice of replacing the MB with an approved MB that will
probably cost as much as purchasing a generic MB and an OEM XP License.
Branded OEM versions of Windows XP are highly restricted with regards to
motherboard replacement. Generic OEM versions are usually supported by the
builder and if you are the builder you would determine what upgrades are
allowed.
Do not purchase Branded OEM Windows XP version from any vendor other than
the manufacturer of your computer.
Move XP to new hardware.
See the link below for more info on options.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[sm4christ]

I have not looked at it myself, he lives only two miles away though.
He called and told me that when he turned it on, the power supply fan
turned on but nothing else happened. Even the power LED wouldn't come
on. Sorry, but that's all I know. I can always drop by and look at it
myself if you think I should.

 

[Malke]

A friend of mine was just told by HP tech support that his motherboard
is dead. His computer is only three years old, and everything else is
working fine. He thinks he should go to Best Buy's Geek Squad to get
it replaced. What is your reccommendation? Oh, its an Athlon I
think.

Your friend should have HP tech support replace the motherboard or, if
the computer is out of warranty, at least buy the motherboard from HP.
Otherwise the HP Recovery Disks will not work and your friend will also
need to buy an operating system.

I don't see how "everything else is working fine" can be possible if
something is wrong with the motherboard, though.

Malke

 

[Leythos]

I have not looked at it myself, he lives only two miles away though.
He called and told me that when he turned it on, the power supply fan
turned on but nothing else happened. Even the power LED wouldn't come
on. Sorry, but that's all I know. I can always drop by and look at it
myself if you think I should.

I would check the PSU first - the bad thing is that the PSU (if out of
warranty) might cost more than a new motherboard/case would. I had to
replace a Vaio PSU once, they wanted more than $280 for it - I bought an
Antec and used a dremil tool to modify the Vaio bracket and ended up
with 200 more watts and a standard PSU ability for $70...

 

[RonK]

The problem could be the Power Supply or a problem with the motherboard.
You could remove the case side cover and see if there is a light on the
motherboard that would indicate power is going to the motherboard.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

A friend of mine was just told by HP tech support that his motherboard
is dead. His computer is only three years old, and everything else is
working fine.

That "everything else is working fine" is a very strange statement. What are
the "everything elses" that are working? Normally if the motherboard doesn't
work, nothing works.

He thinks he should go to Best Buy's Geek Squad to get
it replaced. What is your reccommendation? Oh, its an Athlon I
think.

I wouldn't let anybody at Best Buy touch one of my machines.

 

[Plato]

A friend of mine was just told by HP tech support that his motherboard
is dead. His computer is only three years old, and everything else is
working fine. He thinks he should go to Best Buy's Geek Squad to get
it replaced. What is your reccommendation? Oh, its an Athlon I think.

How could a motherboard be bad and "everything else" is working fine?

 

[Jonny]

You could probably buy a current Dell by the time all is said and done
replacing the motherboard by someone else.

Athlon is a control processor unit (CPU) made by AMD. This plugs into the
motherboard.