# How can you tell if you have a bad motherboard?



## Mercury23us (Oct 9, 2003)

Hi, I have a Sony Vaio and its acting really weird? It would power on and thats about it. I was told at first that it was the hd, but after changing the hd it did the same thing. Even when I put the hd in another computer from the vaio it booted up. So then I was told it was the motherboard....I was told to use the jumper option on the motherboard and if it didnt help then its probaly the motherboard. I was curious is there a way i can test the motherboard to make sure its that before I go out to buy another.


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## sting06 (Sep 28, 2005)

THere is no real easy way to determine if a mobo is bad without expensive equipment. You can look and make sure that none of the capacitors are blown. 

Some of the capacitors (cyclinder components) will not have flatten tops on them and sometimes have rust/dirt looking stuff hardened on top of them. That means a motherboard is on it's way out.


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## Mercury23us (Oct 9, 2003)

sting06 said:


> THere is no real easy way to determine if a mobo is bad without expensive equipment. You can look and make sure that none of the capacitors are blown.
> 
> Some of the capacitors (cyclinder components) will not have flatten tops on them and sometimes have rust/dirt looking stuff hardened on top of them. That means a motherboard is on it's way out.


I actually found one (motherboard) on ebay but i'm not sure if I can exchange them without taking it to a computer shop. Is changing the Pentium 4 processor (from one board to another) a simple snap in component or will it take some soldering?


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## Skivvywaver (Mar 18, 2001)

No, you won't need to do any soldering. Changing out a motherboard isn't hard but it does take some TLC from whoever is doing the change out. Be very careful when handling the CPU. I couldn't begin to tell you how many times I have seen people post about bent/broken pins on a CPU. I have bent a few myself when I was learning.

The important thing to remember is a CPU doesn't take any pressure at all to drop into the socket. If you need to push something isn't right.

Another very important thing is to be careful not to "shock" the board with static build up from your body. I always ground myself to the case when handling anything inside of the case, this goes for memory, video cards etc.

Other than what I mentioned just be careful and do not over tighten any screws that hold the board in place. I only give mine a slight snug after the "free spin" of the screws has bottomed out.

I would suggest you buy a board somewhere other than ebay unless it is a new board and the seller has excellent feedback. I have seen allot of folks (self included) get ripped off on ebay. I have only bought one computer part off ebay and it was bad.

I figure you can change the board, it really isn't hard as long as you remember it isn't like changing a transmission in a car. You do need to be gentle with your parts.


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## Skivvywaver (Mar 18, 2001)

Have you by any chance tried another power supply? If you can't try another perhaps you could have yours tested. A no power on sounds like it could be the power supply to me. Even if the fans spin up it doesn't mean the power supply is good.


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## Mercury23us (Oct 9, 2003)

Skivvywaver said:


> Have you by any chance tried another power supply? If you can't try another perhaps you could have yours tested. A no power on sounds like it could be the power supply to me. Even if the fans spin up it doesn't mean the power supply is good.


Power supply??? I never thought of that.....Well when you plug in the pc and hit the power button..you can hear the fan and there's an orange light to the right of the actual power button. That light stays on for 15 seconds then goes out. Its not the light for harddrive because that light is on the left side of the power button and it never comes on( in its current state). I mentioned before that a guy here at a local shop told me to use the jumper option on the keyboard and to see what will happen and nothing. So my next question is if the MB is not getting power what will happen?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Usually if the motherboard isn't getting power at all, no lights will come on. However, a faulty power supply, as mentioned above, may be sufficient to power the lights, but not the whole system.

Have you also considered that the motherboard may be shorting out against the case or metal standoffs?


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## Mercury23us (Oct 9, 2003)

AcaCandy said:


> Usually if the motherboard isn't getting power at all, no lights will come on. However, a faulty power supply, as mentioned above, may be sufficient to power the lights, but not the whole system.
> 
> Have you also considered that the motherboard may be shorting out against the case or metal standoffs?


Ok I'm convince that the board is bad..I just plugged up the computer it did power on but thats it...both dvd and cd burner receive power. On the other hand the monitor, keyboard and mouse are not reconized. I need to know how to pick out a motherboard so I can have the same option or more


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## SirKenin (Nov 17, 2005)

You know you have a bad motherboard when it intenionally disobeys you.  I kill me.

Anyways, it depends on the model of the Sony which mobo will work. How old is it? Is it not still under warranty?


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## Mercury23us (Oct 9, 2003)

SirKenin said:


> You know you have a bad motherboard when it intenionally disobeys you.  I kill me.
> 
> Anyways, it depends on the model of the Sony which mobo will work. How old is it? Is it not still under warranty?


lol that was funny..  ......But ok Its a Sony Vaio PCV-RX370DS its a 2001 and we bought it used from a friend a couple of years ago. Can anyone help me find a good replacement? I shouldnt need a processor, I could use the pentium 4 from this one.


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## SirKenin (Nov 17, 2005)

Ok, it's a 1.3GHz Williamette processor with SDRAM. That means that it's a socket 478. It has a built in Geforce 2 graphics card and everything, meaning you probably want a matx motherboard with everything built on. I don't know where you're going to find a mobo like that. Try ebay or something. You never know though. Newegg might have them.


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