Motherboard replacement

The OS drivers are on the HDD.

Just replace the motherboard with a close rev and be prepared to reset the bios settings at start-up to the default values at least once, before inputing your own changes and preferences on a later boot cycle.

The default start-up settings will make sure that any board enhancements are recognized by the operating system.

If the MB bios is older than on your previous MB, you may consider reflashing it to a more current rev, but unlikely on products mfred after ~2008.

RL

Probably just as cheap to get a whole used computer off ebay . I did see one of the ones like that without the hard drive for about $ 100 shipped.

As I do not need 'gameing speed' I have bought about 5 or 6 refurbished computers off ebay over the last 10 years. All but one is still working fine. Some were bought just to get a slightly faster computer with Win

10 on them because Turbo Tax quit working on other systems.

Motherboard alone sells and ships more economically. You don't even need the processor, as the old one will fit.

If you buy the whole PC, it means scrapping your old one.

I've bought and replaced a few motherboards without incident.

RL

I agree with that except it is often very difficult to find just an old motherboard.

I prefer to sell the customer an upgraded machine, but have replaced motherboards with those found on eBay with good success. It's especially handy for odd situations like this HP Elite 800 mini-tower with a BIOS problem. It's the monster case on the far right. The machine worked (after some minor repairs). However, the previous repairman decided to update the BIOS to the latest greatest. That turned out to be a mistake because the updated HP BIOS created all kinds of weird problems and could not be downgraded to the previous version due to alleged "security reasons". I agreed to look at the problem but was unable to make any more progress than the previous repair attempts. I was ready to scrap the machine for useful parts, when I though that perhaps a replacement motherboard might fix the problem. I found one on eBay with an older BIOS for about $35. All the BIOS related problems disappeared when the old motherboard was replaced. Windoze

10 wasn't happy and wanted a new activation code, but that was solved by my passing a typing test provided by Microsoft.

Unfortunately, the original owner found a better, faster, smaller, and more capable replacement machine and does not want the HP Elite 800 monster case back. So, I'm stuck with it. I'll probably donate it to a local impoverished student or senior.

One more example. One of my customers has Dell GX620 he wanted fixed. I didn't have time and suspected that something on the motherboard was cooked (because the case fan had stopped). So, I ordered a replacement motherboard for $40: It took me about a hour to replace (mostly cleaning) the motherboard, which worked just fine and didn't cost much to repair.

--
Jeff Liebermann                 jeffl@cruzio.com 
PO Box 272      http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 
Skype: JeffLiebermann      AE6KS    831-336-2558

So you had to get your $ 40 back for the mother board and charge the customer arund $ 100 to replace it. He could probably get a refurbished one off ebay for the same price.

I guess he would have to reload everything off his hard drive so maybe for him the price is worth it to just get another motherboard.

He would not be doing any software reloading. The various software vendors would charge him to have someone do it online using remote control software, or I would end up doing it. For the operating system and network setup, I would be doing the work. Going from an old XP machine to a new Win 10 machine is not easy and does take some time.

The customer is the auto shop where my car (Subaru 2001 Forester L) was getting a new drive shaft. Don't ask what happened. The Dell GX620 SFF computer ran Windoze XP and was used mostly for looking up vehicle parts, instructions, procedures, specs, etc and running various engine analyzers. There were other computers available that could do all this, but this one was in a convenient location. After I was sure that the computer had a motherboard problem, I discussed various options with the owner. We both wanted a new and better replacement, but I didn't have time to do much more than a quick fix. So, I recommenced a quick fix in the form of a new motherboard. If it didn't work, we go shopping for a replacement. I paid for expedited shipping and had it fixed 4 days later. The old machine was somewhat functional during the 4 days as long as it was allowed to cool down between lookups. Eventually, the machine will be replaced with something better, but for now, getting it back in operation without reloading old software and dealing with a possible XP VM (virtual machine) to run the old software made the motherboard replacement a good idea. Since they gave me a good price on the drive shaft work, I don't plan to bill them for the $40 or the 1.5 hr labor needed to do the computer work.

--
Jeff Liebermann                 jeffl@cruzio.com 
PO Box 272      http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272 
Skype: JeffLiebermann      AE6KS    831-336-2558