[Kalian]

My friends motherboard went dead. He initially thought it was the power supply so he swapped it. He then brought it to me (because he thought he did something wrong).

I thought that maybe the mainboard was grounded or that the power sw was dislodged from the panel (but it wasnt). Nonetheless i disconnected everything loosened the motherboard and set it back down (on the spacers) and i built it back together again.

the mainboard still doesnt power on. what i'm wondering is what is wrong here? Is it the cpu or the motherboard thats fried? or is it both?

unfortunately i dont have another socket a board to test the cpu, nor do i have another cpu to test the mainboard. when a mainboard fries or vice versa, does it mean that both are ruined or can it be just one?

this is very important because im trying to find a solution that is very economical. If the cpu is okay then im just going to buy a new mainboard. but if its the cpu, then im going to upgrade his cpu/mobo setup.

Please let me know.
thanks
Paul

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Well try building it up on cardboard outside the PC if youre unsure check out our guides forum in the new builds bit it covers that i think.

If that doesnt work make sure the speaker is connected then pull the ram or the gfx card or both and try to boot if you get no beeps then its a good sign its a gonner(i assume you have tried the basics like reseting the CMOS try the stuff in the guide it should cover most bases).

If the board was damaged by a surge then usually the safeguards kick in and protect the CPU from damage usually, im assuming this was a generic PSU and it surged or it was an ESD. The CPU may be ok, best thing if the mobo is gone is you can try the cpu in the new mobo if it doesnt work the CPU may be gone, or alternativley you could always take it into a shop and get them to try it out for you but that will probably cost you unless your pally with the owner.

[warriorscot]

Well try building it up on cardboard outside the PC if youre unsure check out our guides forum in the new builds bit it covers that i think.

If that doesnt work make sure the speaker is connected then pull the ram or the gfx card or both and try to boot if you get no beeps then its a good sign its a gonner(i assume you have tried the basics like reseting the CMOS try the stuff in the guide it should cover most bases).

If the board was damaged by a surge then usually the safeguards kick in and protect the CPU from damage usually, im assuming this was a generic PSU and it surged or it was an ESD. The CPU may be ok, best thing if the mobo is gone is you can try the cpu in the new mobo if it doesnt work the CPU may be gone, or alternativley you could always take it into a shop and get them to try it out for you but that will probably cost you unless your pally with the owner.

[Kalian]

Well try building it up on cardboard outside the PC...

If that doesnt work make sure the speaker is connected then pull the ram or the gfx card or both and try to boot if you get no beeps then its a good sign its a gonner...

...im assuming this was a generic PSU and it surged or it was an ESD...

The CPU may be ok, best thing if the mobo is gone is you can try the cpu in the new mobo if it doesnt work the CPU may be gone, or alternativley you could always take it into a shop and get them to try it out for you but that will probably cost you unless your pally with the owner

Hi thanks for the fast response.

I will try building it on the cardboard and see how that goes. Yes i already tried clearing the bios by moving the jumper and removing and replacing the battery.

And yes you were right again when you guessed that it originally had a generic PSU.

Basically that was what i wasnt sure about (bcuz ive never fried a motherboard before), whether the cpu was protected or not when a motherboard fried.

It helps to know that theres a possibility the CPU could be salvaged instead of going and throwing it all out.

Going to a shop is definitely a NO. California prices for tech services are off the wall. Once upon a time i paid best buy $30 to upgrade my ram And not to forget the $117 for my 128mb of pc133 ram that he selected out for me(although i guess that was considered good back in 2000).

but anyways im getting off topic. Thank you very much for your help. I'll post back to let you know the result.

thanks again
Kalian

[Kalian]

i tried rebuilding it on cardboard and it didnt work. i ordered a new motherboard and its on the way. i'll let you know if that fixes the problem. sorry for taking so long to post.

[Kalian]

Okay,

so i installed the cpu onto the new motherboard. the motherboard powers on (cpu fan is spinning), but the onboard gfx doesnt send any video signal to the monitor.

the motherboard is set on washers and i did clear the jumper and remove and reinsert the battery to clear the cmos.

I tried uninstalling all the components (memory, drives etc) to see if i could get a video signal but no luck.

Also, while inspecting the PC i noticed that the fans on the PSU are not spinning (im not sure if its supposed to be like this because its an antec quiet. there isnt much of a power draw the fans may not be set to spin until more power is needed. The pc is pretty quiet!)

or could it be that there isnt enough power to send a video signal because something is wrong with the PSU?

Also if the motherboard is powering on, does that mean that the cpu IS compatible with the motherboard?
And does this mean that the cpu IS NOT fried?

sorry for all the noob questions. Just to trying to expand my knowledge a little. thanks

Kalian

[Thebinaryman]

it would make sense for the cpu not to be fried, i once fried a motherboard by acidentally shorting a circuit in a usb port (dont ask me how), toasted, later replaced with different processor and mobo, but saved the cpu, months later, put it in a new build, and worked great.

[Kalian]

i tried a differnt PSU and STILL no video signal.

also that doesnt answer my initial questions.

can the motherboard still power on if the cpu is fried?

if anyone has any ideas. please let me know.
thx

[Mikail]

Hi Kalian...

Yep the mobo will still have power (signs of life) EVEN IF THE cpu IS FRIED.

Whats your mobo's brand? model?

[Kalian]

The mobo that was FRIED was a MSI k7n2g

the motherboard i switched to is this one Motherboard

i dont know the name of it because i took the computer to work to work on it there.

from what i understand the cpu's should have been compatible. =/

What do you guys think? fried CPU?

[Mikail]

What's your CPU's frequency? (1.5ghz, 2.6ghz???)

[Mikail]

Oh and another thing...

Try checking if your new mobo has a jumper setting for CPU CLOCKS.....

[Kalian]

i dont know the cpu frequency or processor type. all i know is it is the same socket, and it is one of those three types of processors.

i received the computer while it was already fried. i couldnt find the same motherboard. so i looked for a similar one with similar specs. i then purchased it hoping the CPU would still be good and that it would work.

because my friends comp previously had onboard gfx, i tried findding another board with onboard gfx and thats how i came across the one you see there.

[Kalian]

also would the jumper setting affect VIDEO SIGNAL???

[Mikail]

ah ok....

Yes if the jumper is not set correctly you will not have any display.... Try to check if your new mobo has a jumper setting for cpu clocks.. it is important to know what your cpu frequency is. You can check the cpu, it's frequency is usually written on it.

Its 10:45 pm here at the philippines and my shift is over so i'll check on you tomorrow... take care

[Kalian]

New motherboard. new cpu. fixed the problem.

thanks for all the help and suggestions