dead pc quick question

[Jonesy83]

my pc is dead its either the procceser or the motherboard has gone

its got windows vista built in on the harddrive so if i replace the board and proccesor will the operating system work

 

[ian.settle1]

my pc is dead its either the procceser or the motherboard has gone

its got windows vista built in on the harddrive so if i replace the board and proccesor will the operating system work

Depends on what make and whom you got the PC from.

Remember some years back when Time and Tiny built PC windows would only work with the original motherboard, if the motherboard was replaced then PC would not work.

 

[mydigitalhome]

have you checked the PSU on the computer these fail regularly and cost about £10 to replace. Sometimes they can kill the motherboard too but worth checking in most cases change PSU and all is well. As far as hard drives are concerned if you buy a new pc install old hard drive as secondary drive that way you can read the data on it so you dont loose anything. Or by an external HD case from PC world or from ebay and once again you can access the info. Other option is to install another operation system onto the drive without formatting it first it is a tatty way of doing it but once again will give full access to the drive again. By the way Laptop Computers | Refurbished Laptops, Cheap Laptops, Buy Cheap Refurbished Dell PCs Online | Dell Optiplex, Toshiba, HP are very good.

 

[Mr.Si]

The Short answer is yes, it should. Sometimes, with the later versions of Windows, you will need to re-activate it due to different hardware.

Try to get the same brand Motherboard & CPU and ALSO you should get them from the same supplier.

What computer do you have?

 

[Adam W]

If you replace a certain number of components or a major part, ie the motherboard, you might need to reactivate windows.
It'll prompt you to do this and give you the number to call. It only takes a couple of minutes but you'll probably need a genuine copy of windows.

 

[Marvo]

Chances are if you replace mainboard and CPU, Vista will definitely start bleating for you to put the keycode in and reregister. If your new mainboard/CPU is 64 bit and your version of Vista is only 32 bit (x86) then you'd be better upgrading to Windoze7. In fact any kind of upgrading or re-installing would be all the excuse I would need to get rid of Vista.

 

[Mr.Si]

That's why I use Linux!

 

[ian.settle1]

That's why I use Linux!

If it is the motherboard, processor or OSU Linux would also not work

 

[Mr.Si]

I know that - If any serious hardware like that fails, then it's hardware and thus will stop the machine from working.

What I'm talking about is once the item of hardware has been replaced, I won't have to do any of that activation rubbish.

 

[topquark]

Not always quite as simple as just the board and processor change. It will depend on the chipset used by the old and new motherboards. It's quite likely the chipset used will be different, unless you can find the same or a similar motherboard. If the chipset is different it is possible that your IDE/SATA drives may not work.

I'd start with the PSU check as a previous poster has suggested. You can get a PSU tester from Maplin that will give you a readout of all of the supplied voltages. If it's a standard ATX form factor then you just need to check that the voltages supplied are suitable for the motherboard you have. Most power supplies will provide a standard set of voltages via either 20 or 24 pin connector.

Meter from maplin here: LCD Power Supply Tester : PSU Tester : Maplin

 

[antimatter]

my pc is dead its either the procceser or the motherboard has gone

its got windows vista built in on the harddrive so if i replace the board and proccesor will the operating system work

When you press the power button, does the / a light come on, or is the system totally dead.

 

[Jonesy83]

the light will flash for a split second the fan will nudge then all will die again i got it from pc world 2 years ago never took out the extended warranty to be honest think i might just splash out 500 quid for a new system i was under the impression that replace the motherboard and chipsets and should be able to get it to work but dont look like the case lol

it died a while ago before my son was born so 5 months ago at least its in been in the cupboard since it died was used for games mostly was thinkin bout getting it working again but might work out cheaper just get a new computer

 

[antimatter]

Then the PSU is dead, save your cash and get a new PSU (power supply unit, about 10 - 15 pounds, can be fitted in a matter of minutes). Really easy to do yourself

400w PSU Ace Grey 400W 20+4pin 80mm Fan PSU - With 2x SATA, ATX12V Connector - Retail Box Digitalpromo.co.uk

This is all you need to get your PC running again no need to change board, etc, this should sort it out

 

[Jonesy83]

ill give it a go cheers mate

its a 24 pin tho pretty sure it is

 

[antimatter]

Doesn't matter, they have both options on them (the connector can unclip to give 20 pin option or you can use it unclipped 24 pin option, depending on your board connection).


20+4 Pin Main Connectors: 1 (as you can see here)
P4 4-Pin 12V Connectors: 1 (this is if you have a Pentium 4 pc) connect this to the board

 

[Rochelle]

We go with Linux, for now

 

[Mr.Si]

We go with Linux, for now

Sorry to sort of change the subject, but which distro? and also, do you have any Electrical software you use?

 

[grantr37]

I'm a trained PC/Laptop/Netbook/Games Console repair person (one of my other trades) you can check the Power unit with an ordinary multimeter set to 20v DC on the Dial, pull out the IDC (insulation Displacement Connector) power lead that goes from the power supply box to the motherboard, plug in the PC and test it using the metal case as ground, you should get 5 volts on one of the ends,8 volts on another and 12 volts on another, the motherboard does not use all of them it will probably use only the 12 volt one, dont worry about the Power supply fan not coming on, this is load dependant and will not come on until the computer heats up a little in normal functioning use, after you have checked that the connector can be pushed back into the socket on the board, dont worry it only fits in one way round so you dont need to worry about reversing it...I think what your problem will be will not be the power supply unit, I think it will be the FAN on the processor, it is most likely dead, after a few years, depending on the original build quality of the computer, the bearings in the fan motor will go and it will stop functioning, all of these are now 3 wire types and the fan outputs a small signal/ripple from the third wire, this is picked up by the motherboard/mainboard and detected as a working/functioning fan..
When the fan dies and you push power on, the board begins to start up, and the first thing the control circuit does before loading the BIOS (Basic input ouput system) and then searching for the boot strap(set up instructions) on the Hard Disk is to pole (check) the processor temperature management BIST (Built in self test) circuit and the fan controller IC (this controls and monitors the fan speed depending on the load, hence faster when playing games than browsing the web) and if this returns either "no fan present" or "fan fault" then the board cuts off in order to protect the main processor (CPU) from damage, if this did not happen then the computer would come on as normal but with no fan, and the processor chip would pop in a puff of black smoke.
All you will need to do is change the fan, now these normally come in a kit with a new processor and PC shops will either try to sell you a whole new processor kit at 100quid or try to get you to pay them to fix it at 200 odd quid plus parts, silly money considering the cost of a whole new computer, so dont go near them.
take the processor fan out, write down whether its an intel chip or an AMD chip and what speed of processor it is, then you can go on the internet and buy a new fan for a tenner or a top of the range one for 20 pounds.

the Fan will come off easily as it will have two little silver lever clips on the side that tug out then lift up, or it will have 4 outsized plastic screws, also easy to take off, when you lift it up do so very slowly as there may be some sticky thermal transfer paste(like gooey glue) underneath that is there to improve heat transfer to the heat-sink and fan, it will come away but dont yank it out fast...or you will pull the processor to bits...
The small wire on the fan just clicks out of its little white connector and will go in just as easy when you fit the new fan, DONT touch the last little lever next to the processor as this is to hold it in place, sometimes there is a small screw there instead, again you should not touch this...


The fan will be a standard model and you would just go online or into a decent small computer shop and ask for it by processor type, so you would just walk in and say "Athlon Fan please" or "Celeron Fan Please" or whatever your processor model is....

you can find this by either looking at the sticker on the back/side of your PC or by going into (control panel-performance and maintenance-system) and it will be displayed there, or you can go to the start bar then (search) and type in command, click on it when it comes up, it will make a black box appear on the screen.....type in the word SET and hit enter, the processor type will be displayed on there as well, to close this type the word exit and hit enter.....
You should now have the processor model name and can get your new fan, fitting it should take about 3 minutes including getting the side of the case off and the computer should now be fully working again...