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replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 4:29:38 PM   
defiantbadgirl


Posts: 2988
Joined: 11/14/2005
Status: offline 		Is it as expensive to have a motherboard replaced as it is to buy a new tower?

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 4:31:40 PM   
MsSophie


Posts: 142
Joined: 3/26/2006
From: Stockholm, Sweden
Status: offline 		Good lord, no! You can easilly do it yourself!
Go to a well equipped shop with your old one and they will help you get a new one which will be compatible with yout processor. After that it's basically just a matter of "playing with LEGO" and fitting it all back together.


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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 4:38:49 PM   
Griswold


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quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

Is it as expensive to have a motherboard replaced as it is to buy a new tower?


No...but it's vastly more expensive to replace an entire computer (moreover a hard drive) once you tweak the motherboard when you attempt to replace same.

(Buy a new computer).

(Honest).

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 4:43:32 PM   
Sanity


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From: Nampa, Idaho USA
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quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

Is it as expensive to have a motherboard replaced as it is to buy a new tower?


How old is your tower. Why are you thinking about having the motherboard replaced, exactly? And who would you have do it?

< Message edited by Sanity -- 11/7/2007 4:45:00 PM >

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 5:11:36 PM   
defiantbadgirl


Posts: 2988
Joined: 11/14/2005
Status: offline 		My desktop computer is a Dell 4700, pentium 4, dual dvd player, reader/writer, 1 gig of ram and I bought it new two and a half years ago for $1300. When I got home from class (I'm in college) today, there was no picture on my monitor and the power light on my tower was flashing on and off. I tried pressing the power button and nothing happened. I tried unplugging the tower and plugging it back in and all I got was the same flashing light. Fortunately, I have a laptop or I wouldn't be online right now. I don't want to buy a new tower because I would have Vista and I want XP. I've heard too many bad things about Vista. Any idea how much it costs to have a motherboard replaced? What are the chances of a new motherboard making my hard drive crash as posted in one of the responses? I'd probably have a computer repair shop replace it since I don't know anyone that knows how.

< Message edited by defiantbadgirl -- 11/7/2007 5:13:27 PM >

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 5:15:31 PM   
AquaticSub


Posts: 14867
Joined: 12/27/2005
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quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

My desktop computer is a Dell 4700, pentium 4, dual dvd player, reader/writer, 1 gig of ram and I bought it new two and a half years ago for $1300. When I got home from class (I'm in college) today, there was no picture on my monitor and the power light on my tower was flashing on and off. I tried pressing the power button and nothing happened. I tried unplugging the tower and plugging it back in and all I got was the same flashing light. Fortunately, I have a laptop or I wouldn't be online right now. I don't want to buy a new tower because I would have Vista and I want XP. I've heard too many bad things about Vista. Any idea how much it costs to have a motherboard replaced? What are the chances of a new motherboard making my hard drive crash as posted in one of the responses?


If you like you can e-mail Valyraen on the other side. He builds computers for people and is going to build one for me once I get the money to buy the parts and the will (I'm in mourning for my dying desktop and am not ready to pull the plug). He may be able to give you some advice if you tell him what you are working with. However, you may end up basically having to buy a new computer. My desktop is a Dell and they made the thing so that you couldn't upgrade it. However, this new computer will not have Vista and you will be able to upgrade it in the future with a lot less hassle.

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 5:25:55 PM   
farglebargle


Posts: 10715
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From: Albany, NY
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quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

My desktop computer is a Dell 4700, pentium 4, dual dvd player, reader/writer, 1 gig of ram and I bought it new two and a half years ago for $1300. When I got home from class (I'm in college) today, there was no picture on my monitor and the power light on my tower was flashing on and off. I tried pressing the power button and nothing happened. I tried unplugging the tower and plugging it back in and all I got was the same flashing light. Fortunately, I have a laptop or I wouldn't be online right now. I don't want to buy a new tower because I would have Vista and I want XP. I've heard too many bad things about Vista. Any idea how much it costs to have a motherboard replaced? What are the chances of a new motherboard making my hard drive crash as posted in one of the responses? I'd probably have a computer repair shop replace it since I don't know anyone that knows how.


*MIGHT* be a bad power supply.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4700/sm/index.htm

Here's the service manual. I'd check it out, especially the "Advanced Troubleshooting" section.



< Message edited by farglebargle -- 11/7/2007 5:28:33 PM >

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 5:26:49 PM   
ChicagoSwitchMal


Posts: 417
Joined: 9/9/2007
Status: offline 		Replacing a motherboard isn't difficult in term of intellegence. You can figure it out. It can be difficult in terms of dexterity if you are nor so inclined. People who do this for a living can do it in 10 minutes. It's probably worth the xtra $75 in labor just to know it's done right IMO. Your machine is not a bad one although I would bump up the RAM by a gig or so. I'd say take it in somewhere, get it benched, and see how much it would cost. If it's a few bones just do it.

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 7:14:22 PM   
Durus


Posts: 184
Joined: 7/9/2007
Status: offline 		Let me ask a few questions.

Do you typically leave your machine on? Was it exceptionally warm in your room? Have you been experiencing any strange or erratic problems with your machine previously?

Unplug your machine from the wall or strip it is in, wait a couple of minutes and try to turn it back on. Does it post...meaning do you get any video at all?

If you still have no video can you determine if anything in your machine is on...like are there any fans spinning or any LEDs lit? If not it is a power supply. Dell PS's are usually propritary so you would have to get it replaced from dell but it's dead simple to replace. If you do have fans and lights then it could be a bunch of stuff and it could be more complicated then a MB. You could have a burnt video card, CPU...well a number of things.

Try the unplugging trick first. Hopefully it just over heated and hard shut down and you just have to drain the capacitors.

By the way…Shut your machine down if you aren't going to be using it for more then 4 hours.

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 7:19:42 PM   
Durus


Posts: 184
Joined: 7/9/2007
Status: offline 		Oh...and in terms of replacing your MB. Again it may be specific to your dell so you are going to get boinked on cost and it's very likely that you will have to reload the OS.

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 9:14:10 PM   
MistressHolly71


Posts: 354
Joined: 7/4/2007
From: Southern Maryland
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: defiantbadgirl

I don't want to buy a new tower because I would have Vista and I want XP.


Actually, there are several companies that are still selling computers with XP. My mom got a IBM laptop about 2 months ago & it has XP pro. She said that Dell, IBM, & couple of others had XP available but you have to look for the links.


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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/7/2007 9:37:56 PM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline 		XP will not migrate to a new system like 98 would.

If you change the MB the OS will have to be reloaded, and if you do it wrong you lose alot of stuff. Also, most PCs with XP pro have a bootleg copy. XP home cannot be bootlegged, but pro can. That is why the basement builders use it. Pay the $500 once but never again.

You already have a P4 you might be able to get a direct replacement, but it's not all that likely. If it came to my bench I would first remove the lithium battery. Wait a while and then boot it up. If that didn't work I would remove all of the expansion cards, again without the battery. If that didn't work I would unplug all the drives and see what I got.

If your RAM is in two sticks, I would remove one, then replace it and remove the other, unless it is necessary to run in pairs (some still is). There are checks that can be done on the power suply with a voltmeter, but I doubt that is the problem if you have a flashing light.

Speaking of the flashing light, does it seem to flash a certain number of times and then pause ? If so, how many ? The flashing light is, alot of times a fault indicator. The codes can usually be found on the net.

So far, it can be a short in some card, like the video or sound card, but alot of times these are on the MB, so it's the same thing. It can also be the processor. If that's the case you waste money. That would be a good reason to take it to a pro, because they will have these parts to swap out, because there is no way to test them. In the end, if all the swapouts fail to get a rise out of it and the power supply checks out, it's MB time.

You are not likely to get the exact same MB, so the OS will have to be reloaded. If this is done right you lose just about nothing. There is some fenagling to be done to get your desktop back, and to get back in as the user you used to be, or have all of the preferences transferred, but it can be done.

I hate computers don't you ?

Good luck. If you are in Cleveland I might have a look, but over the wires here, that's about all I can say.

T

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/8/2007 12:07:32 AM   
farglebargle


Posts: 10715
Joined: 6/15/2005
From: Albany, NY
Status: offline 		http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/DellPartsFamily.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&redirect=1

P.S. Go here, put in your Service Tag, and you can price replacement motherboards, power supplies, etc...


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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/8/2007 1:47:59 AM   
Real0ne


Posts: 21189
Joined: 10/25/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: farglebargle

*MIGHT* be a bad power supply.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4700/sm/index.htm

Here's the service manual. I'd check it out, especially the "Advanced Troubleshooting" section.




thats what it sounds like to me too.  30 bucks 4 screws and unplug/plug 5 or 6 wires in most systems.


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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/8/2007 12:03:54 PM   
Sinergy


Posts: 9383
Joined: 4/26/2004
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Durus

By the way…Shut your machine down if you aren't going to be using it for more then 4 hours.



I would say exactly the opposite.  Having worked in computer support for 23 years, as well as
hardware support, your computer will last a lot longer left on all the time than rebooted regularly.
The most significant amount of wear and tear on everything in the computer happens during startup
and shut down.  In other words, the more startup and shutdown, the sooner the thing breaks.

I almost never shut down computers in one of the networks I managed that had over 10,000 desktops
and these would run for months or years without anything going wrong with the vast majority of them. 

Get it off the floor, though, because dust will get sucked into the fan and cause heating problems. 

Sinergy

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RE: replacing motherboard - 11/8/2007 12:34:35 PM   
Durus


Posts: 184
Joined: 7/9/2007
Status: offline 		Having worked in IT for a very similar amount time (20 years exactly in two weeks) I stand by my statement. You do have a point about constantly shutting down and restarting, but based on p4 architecture without aggressive cooling, heat will kill the machine before another component fails from a power off/on sequences. This is one of the primary reasons Laptops and small towers have a much higher incidence of failure. If everyone had a full tower with decent cooling then I would be more likely to agree. (or better yet a climate controlled datacenter)

Once solid capacitors and solid-state hard drives come into their own I will definitely agree with you.

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