Troubleshooting a Dead Motherboard on My Desktop PC

In summary: If there are no advanced options in the BIOS, then I'm sorry but I don't know what else you could do.Well in summary, I think my motherboard is fried and I'm not sure what to do.
  • #1
trajan22
134
1
Well I though I would give it a shot posting here since no other computer or help forum seems to come up with any results. So here goes.

About six months ago my motherboard on my desktop computer went dead suddenly. It was on one minute, I left it to eat dinner (no more than 15 min) I came back and it was off and would not boot up. Basically it came down to me RMAing the board to ASUS and they replaced it. However, they didnt give me any reason as to why it had failed. The packing slip simply said it was defective. Well 6 months later (almost to the day) the same thing has happened. The only sign of life is the green led on in the motherboard when the power supply is connected.

I have ruled out the power supply because I have switched it and it works in other computers. I have also tried starting it with only the motherboard and powersupply but to no avail. I also doubt it is the temperature since I installed a monitoring program from the last time this happened. The temp seemed normal whenever I checked it and the computer has been behaving normally until this happened. Nothing seems to work. I am hoping maybe someone here will be able to offer some insight into what is going on.
My system specs:
Motherboard: K8N-E Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
VGA: Asus NVIDIA n6600 256 mb
Memory: Corsair xms pc3200 1 gigabyte

So any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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  • #2
It could be a bad PCI card (graphics card, network card...) or bad RAM.
If possible take these out one by one to see if the computer starts up.
Are there any Leds at the back/front of your machine for conveying an error code?
 
  • #3
No there arent any led's on the front or back. But if it was bad ram or graphics etc shouldn't it at least post?
 
  • #4
It should, but it might not, you're looking at probably a bad motherboard (i've had one very recently). I would try to rule out any component.
 
  • #5
well what does it mean if I connected the power supply motherboard and cpu and absolutely nothing happens? Because I've done that much and there isn't any activity. Should it even do anything if I take the cpu out?
 
  • #6
I've read about this happening to a lot of ASUS mobo's. Is there any chance they will give you money towards a different board? I've read a lot of good things about ASUS and am really surprised with all of the trouble they have been having recently. Is there any onboard graphics? If there is you could always try that to see if its a bad PCI slot. I had a problem with my board turning on then off a few seconds later. It turned out what I thought was a click from the power supply clip wasn't so when I moved the computer it just lost connection.
 
  • #7
Yeah I really like asus as a company especially since they already replaced the same board six months ago without a hassle, although I doubt they would let me get a different board but I guess I can ask since Ill be corresponding with them anyway. I've read on their forums that this is a fairly common problem with this board but the only possible fix I've found is the power supply thing. But again, I am about 99% sure its not the psu. I have tested it in another computer and I've tested another psu on my motherboard.
Im betting the board is fried again. But I would like to figure out what is causing this problem so I can prevent it. I'm thinking of investing in a new case that has more fans since I only have 1 80mm side fan and the processor fan and the powersupply fan.
 
  • #8
I have a Gigabyte board and haven't had any problems. It's too bad to hear about yours though, especially having it fry twice. I doubt that there is anything you can do to prevent it from frying unless you have the wrong voltage set up. If there was a problem with the PSU you most likely would get a burst of power then off or it just wouldn't start at all. Theres probably just some part of the board that isn't made as high quality as the rest is and its just frying. You don't have any jumpers on the mainboard do you? Are there any settings you have changed under advanced options in the BIOS that would prevent a boot?
 
  • #9
You could check the capacitors (cylinder shaped objects on the mobo, often (black, orange or blue) with silver top) and see if any are domed instead of flat on top.
Most likely the ones near the mobo sub power supply (look for donut shaped parts about 1" in diameter).
Any domed ones are bad.
 
  • #10
If I had money I would probably just update my system and not worry about it but I have to stick with what I have for now. I actually have'nt made any modifications to the board or to the bios. (save changing the power supply to cool'n quiet mode.) What do you think about the fan configuration I have? I have a single 80mm fan on the side of the case and the psu fan and cpu fan. From what I've seen on other cases it seems short on fans. Seeing how a lot of the better cases have 2 or more 120mm fans.

NoTime
You could check the capacitors (cylinder shaped objects on the mobo, often (black, orange or blue) with silver top) and see if any are domed instead of flat on top.
Most likely the ones near the mobo sub power supply (look for donut shaped parts about 1" in diameter).
Any domed ones are bad.
I actually have checked the capacitors and they all appear to be in good order. But I will go over them again when I go through the check asus is bound to send me, before they rma it.
 
  • #11
Your fan settings should be fine. I have a friend with an intel computer which just has the cpu fan and it works fine. There are no case fans and there haven't been any major problems. Ill put money on the board being bad and its not anything you have done. RMA is a pain, I hope you get your new mobo soon!
 
  • #12
Stevedye56 said:
Your fan settings should be fine. I have a friend with an intel computer which just has the cpu fan and it works fine. There are no case fans and there haven't been any major problems. Ill put money on the board being bad and its not anything you have done. RMA is a pain, I hope you get your new mobo soon!

Thats basically what I have concluded too. Thanks for all the help.
 
  • #13
trajan22 said:
No there arent any led's on the front or back. But if it was bad ram or graphics etc shouldn't it at least post?

I wouldn't rule anything out.

Once I thought my motherboard had gone bad. I took everything out, all the PCI cards, my AGP card, I cycled the RAM. I spent two days doing all of this. The computer would not even post. You will never guess what the problem was.

It was the mouse.

Yep. The mouse.

After that, the motherboard actually did go bad though a few months later. It made my hard drive click like crazy first though. I thought my hard drive was bad.. but nope! After I replaced it, I still had problems.. After lots of testing, I determined that it was the motherboard. The clicking hard drive is still functional today, about 4 years later. lol

This could be from unclean power. Newer motherboards are more sensitive than older motherboards. If the power from your outlet is "unclean" and/or you have a cheap power supply, you will shorten the life of your motherboard.

If you plug the computer into a wall outlet that isn't grounded, you could damage it. If you get some spikes in your electricity, the motherboard could go bad. If you install the motherboard improperly and you get your finger prints on the circuits, it might burn them out after a while. If you build a computer and you slightly shock the board with some static electricity, it might work for a while, then suddenly die.

Aren't computer problems fun?

I think so.
 
  • #14
BoredNL said:
If you plug the computer into a wall outlet that isn't grounded, you could damage it. If you get some spikes in your electricity, the motherboard could go bad. If you install the motherboard improperly and you get your finger prints on the circuits, it might burn them out after a while. If you build a computer and you slightly shock the board with some static electricity, it might work for a while, then suddenly die.

I am sure he is well aware of these factors. But I still highly doubt that anything he has done has caused the problems. I was going to buy an ASUS board before reading that a bunch of people had them die withing 6 months. I am still putting my money on it was a faulty board. As for your mouse error BoredNL, wouldn't the computer have a "pointing device" error on the boot? :confused:
 
  • #15
Nope. It just would not post. I've never heard of anyone ever having that sort of problem with their mouse, and yet I did. This was with an Asus board too. I normally only build with Asus boards, but lately their quality seems to be lowering so I'm considering alternatives for my next build.

I didn't mean to say that it probably wasn't the board being defective, I just meant that it really could be anything.
 
  • #16
BoredNL said:
Nope. It just would not post. I've never heard of anyone ever having that sort of problem with their mouse, and yet I did. This was with an Asus board too. I normally only build with Asus boards, but lately their quality seems to be lowering so I'm considering alternatives for my next build.

I didn't mean to say that it probably wasn't the board being defective, I just meant that it really could be anything.

Gigabyte FTW!:biggrin: I love their boards they are excellent. I also agree with the fact that ASUS has begun to decrease in quality. I thought you were kidding about the whole mouse thing. That is really weird and seems like one of the most trivial things that could happen to a computer. :grumpy:

I'd stay away from MSI. My friend has an MSI and it is the slowest thing I have ever seen in the wrold! :rofl:
 
  • #17
For cooling, I leave the sides off my computer case, and it ends up being quieter (than with the sides on), because the fans (especially video card fan) run at slower speeds with the case opened up.
 
  • #18
Jeff Reid said:
For cooling, I leave the sides off my computer case, and it ends up being quieter (than with the sides on), because the fans (especially video card fan) run at slower speeds with the case opened up.

Do you have dust problems doing that?
 
  • #19
trajan22 said:
Do you have dust problems doing that?

That's what I was going to say too. Also I have some stupid setting which locks my computer down when it is open. It's in the BIOS, and I just have to disable it, but I haven't gotten around to it.
 
  • #20
http://i0005.photobucket.com/albums/0005/icanhascheezburger/128230392337566250_fa117af5-5b15-41.jpg [Broken]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #21
BoredNL said:
This could be from unclean power. Newer motherboards are more sensitive than older motherboards. If the power from your outlet is "unclean" and/or you have a cheap power supply, you will shorten the life of your motherboard.

This was my first thought. Doesn't sound to me like fans are a likely source of the problem. Dust is generally bad, but my first guess is dirty power.

BoredNL said:
If you plug the computer into a wall outlet that isn't grounded, you could damage it. If you get some spikes in your electricity, the motherboard could go bad.

I regard a UPS as essential.
 
  • #22
My power comes from a surge protector strip, so I guess that would throw out the dirty power idea. They RMA'd the board but I am still not sure what caused the problem. Hopefully when I get the new board it will say what was wrong with the old one.
 

What could have caused my motherboard to stop functioning?

There are several potential reasons for a dead motherboard on a desktop PC. It could be due to a power surge, overheating, physical damage, or a faulty component.

How can I determine if my motherboard is the issue?

If your desktop PC is not turning on or displaying any signs of life, it is likely that the motherboard is the problem. You can also try troubleshooting steps such as testing the power supply and removing and reseating components to confirm the issue.

Can a dead motherboard be repaired?

In most cases, a dead motherboard cannot be repaired and will need to be replaced. However, if the issue is caused by a faulty component such as a capacitor, it may be possible to replace the component and bring the motherboard back to life.

Is it possible to prevent a motherboard from dying?

While there is no way to guarantee that a motherboard will never fail, there are steps you can take to prolong its lifespan. These include regularly cleaning and dusting your computer, using a surge protector, and avoiding physical damage.

Should I attempt to troubleshoot and repair a dead motherboard on my own?

Unless you have experience and knowledge in computer hardware repair, it is not recommended to attempt to troubleshoot and repair a dead motherboard on your own. It is best to seek the help of a professional technician to avoid causing further damage to your computer.

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