Hey computer / tech people

[Steerpike]

My desktop computer stopped working. I get a green motherboard light, but nothing powers on. No fans, no drives, no beeps or anything from the mobo. I checked all connections, even put in a new power supply. I'm thinking maybe the motherboard is bad. Any thoughts?

 

[Reaver]

I'm not what you'd call a real tech-savvy guy, but here's what I would try:

Go all OFFICE SPACE on it and then buy a new one.​

 

[FatCat]

Agreed with Reaver, the Russian way is the only way.

 

[Penpilot]

I'm not a big hardware guy, but my first instinct was power supply too. But since that's been ruled out, I'd agree it's probably the M oBo.

 

[Aosto]

If you aren't hearing anything spin then it's possibly the mobo. Also, do you have a graphics card or on board graphics?

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Yep, next thing to try is the mobo. Although first try disconnecting everything else from it except the power supply, and then see if it powers up.

 

[Steerpike]

Thanks for the advice, guys

I don't want to sledgehammer it, because I want to keep most of it! I disconnected everything except the power supply. No luck. On a positive note, I found a good deal on an AMD Phenom X4 960T processor and mobo combination. My RAM isn't compatible, so I'll need new RAM as well, but I can keep all of the other components from my current machine.

I looked at some of the high-end i7 processor/mobo combinations, but for my purposes they don't really seem worth the price. They ran anywhere from $500 to $900.

 

[Aosto]

What I typically do is remove any installed cards. If no power then remove all but one ram stick. See if it powers on, if not replace that ram with another stick that you removed. If it won't boot after that then the mobo is shot.

 

[Steerpike]

Thanks, Aosto. I tried that as well. Looks like the motherboard is the culprit here. I built the thing six years ago, so I'm going to get a good motherboard that is older than the brand new stuff coming out now, and I'll still have a computer that performs better than this one did before it died

 

[a dreamy walker]

I looked at some of the high-end i7 processor/mobo combinations, but for my purposes they don't really seem worth the price. They ran anywhere from $500 to $900.

What about the new AMD processors (A8 series - otherwise known as the Bulldozer chips. They're a lot, lot cheaper than Intel processors at the moment. Of course, they're not as powerful computationally, but they have very, very good integrated graphics. I've got an AMD A8 chip in my current desktop, and it's... well, fast (although I'm using a hybrid HDD, which is probably why my computer loads up so quickly)