Motherboard Blown?

[Valiant23]

I'm no PC expert, although I'm confident enough to dive in the case and sort it out if need be.

Anyway yesterday the kids PC went tits up. You can turn the PC on and get power to the fans and case lights but the monitor, keyboard and mouse don't recognise that the PC is on (eg. monitor stays on standby) and it doesn't boot up.

I'm 90% certain that its the motherboard, but how do I check?

Also, if it is the motherboard (and not the graphics card which I think is number 2 on the list) can I replace the m/b with another?

I'm worried that if the m/b has blown then my memory/HDD/graphics card etc will be fooked too. So do I 'just' buy another tower?

[AJ]

sounds 100% like your MB, open it up and turn it on, there may be some sort of diagnostic lights on the MB. You have the manual right ?

chances of blowing everything else are low, unless you had a power surge, the fact that the psu is good means this is unlikely.

Before you buy anything though, try reseting the motherboard, could simply be it's shorting by touching the case.

[archaeus]

Are you hearing any beeps when you turn the PC on? It could well be the RAM or the BIOS could be fooked. It happened to me a few times and getting all the cards out of their slots, cleaning them of dust, putting the RAM OFF and then on again worked. This would be the nicest option, but from what you're saying the MB is probably the cause.

[robert99]

With the case and power off you can sometimes spot some charring where the PU cables or the graphics card joins the motherboard. With power on see if graphics card fan turns. If no charring and fans turn then it may be a mobo swap. If PC is more than a couple of years old the economics of repair are nil. You will likely be replacing a mobo, and possibly graphics card and PSU (this gets damaged when the mobo fails) which are obsolete in a year's time. Very cheap complete PCs (or without monitors etc) are now available that cost far less than replacing individual components.

[Valiant23]

Thank you all for your help already.

I powered it up with the side off.

• All the fans are working as they should.
• Instead of the start up beep I heard a muted two-tone sound that reminded me of R2D2.
• The graphics card has no fan.
• There is no charring* as far as I can see.
• The case was opened when I put in the graphics card, but the m/b was installed by the shop.
• I checked to see if any caps had blown. None as far as I could see.

*I guess this is almost burnt wiring Robert yeah?

You will likely be replacing a mobo, and possibly graphics card and PSU (this gets damaged when the mobo fails)

Robert I'm certainly not disputing this, but my PSU appears to be working normally (insofar as I can switch it on and off).

My first preference would be a short term fix - replacement m/b, but if I'm running the risk of ruining that one then thats a false economy, in which case its time to start looking for a new one, although I may wait for the Christmas 'premium' prices to pass.

Thanks for your help.