old box died, would replacing MOBO fix it?

[Hugh-Jass]

EDIT; I reread your original post ...about nopost beeping..sorry i missed that ... I wish I knew of a way to isolate whats busted without buying hardware....

ignore all the HDD stuff i typed .... sorry i jumpedthe gun typing
Is the hard drive spining up at all , are you sure the drive didn't just die? When my previous systems have "shit the bed" it has always been the HardDrive...sometimes they even stsart to spin up then just stop too.

you might try to boot knoppix off of a cd or try run a repair install of windows off the cd...If the mobo or cpu fried I doubt you'd even get to see anything off of a cd...so maybe that'll tell you if its the cpu/mobo...

at first I thought it wasthe HDD... if you have any way of taking it out and putting it in another machine to see if its okayI 'd check that before I start swapping out hardware...

perhaps someone more pc guts savvy can give you advice as to diagnosing the mobo or cpu

Sometimes onHDD I've had boot sectors go bad so the drive has been fine...and most data intact... if not then you may have trouble getting data off of it...
fyi knoppix is a linux thingie basically you run it as an OS to troubleshoot right off the cd so it can help you single out what pooped.. you can google it ...I have only used it once..and that was when my windows got pooped but t he rest ofthe data was in tact

good luck with that...

[Tarrbot]

Did you try resetting the CMOS on the motherboard? It's usually a jumper that must be moved for about 5 seconds and then put back. Look in the motherboard's manual for where this jumper is at.

It's usually near the battery but not always.

[MassTA]

Does it make sense to replace the mobo for an identical one and see if then it works?
If you need to pay for it, buy a newer modell. KT266 chipset is pretty old, get something on KT600/KT880 or Nvidia nforce 2.


Also in the newegg's reviews it says that you have to 'flash the bios', is that hard to do? I'm pretty illiterate when it comes to build computers. I'd like to know if this is something that could work so I can get that machine up and running without much work, reinstalling windows, apps, etc

I'd appreciate any feedback
It may be possible, that the manufacturer of the mobo has a windows flashing utility for download on their website. You just download it, press one button, and it updates your bios automaticly.

More probably is, that its the mobo dead. CPUs usualy dont die of a sudden, unles you apply too high voltage to it.

[gustojunk]

Hi All, Thanks for the help so far, I have a couple more questions....

Tarrbot,

I followed your advice and pulled out the CMOS jumper and plugged it back. It did not help.


Massta,

I know that chipset is old and kind of sucks. But can I replace this mobo for a different/better one (Nforce 2) and just do a hot-swap WHITOUT reinstalling windows and get this silly machine back to work quick? Because that's just what I want to do, find the quickest/easiest way to get this machine running again.

Thanks

[SweetDreamz]

You could do it, make sure you really clean out the old chipset drivers and what not. And stability may be an issue.

[MassTA]

And stability may be an issue.
I doubt it. If he cleans old drivers and instals new one, there should be no problem.

And even if there is, he can try to do a repair windows instalation.

[lots]

Windows doesnt transfer from computer to computer very wilingly. On top of stability reasons, XP has preventative measures to prevent the installation from being moved to a different system.

Basically, its best to reinstall the OS if you're going to move to a new motherboard chipset.

[Hugh-Jass]

someone earlier mentioned there's a battery on the mobo... I was wondering...what's the battery for and what happens when it runs out...what behavior would the pc exhibit?

[lots]

If the battery dies, the PC will be somewhat weird. Random unexplainable things could happen.

Basically, the battery on the PC keeps the CMOS chip powered. This chip is where the programable information for the BIOS is stored. Should the chip lose power, the BIOS settings will be lost, and the computer would behave very strangely. Generally though, these batteries last for quite a few years, though it wouldnt hurt to pop it out and put a new one in. At least the battery is fairly cheap to replace :P

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.