Page 1 of Any PC Experts out there?

My PC refused to boot up and I got someone in to have a look. :(
They have advised that the Motherboard is at fault. :o
Their recommendation is I get a new motherboard and chipset, and also said that XP would need reloading so a chance of losing data.
If I get a motherboard, chipset and new hard drive. Can I then add the existing drive as a slave and copy any files across to the new HDD?
Will there be any compatability problems or any other pitfalls I should be aware of.
Any recommendations of good chip`s and motherboards.
Thanks in advance. ;)

unless the hard drive has already been wiped there is no reason you couln`t boot the existing hard disc with the new motherboard, then just update the drivers etc & whilst it is true that you can experience some problems with driver clashes etc i`ve found xp is very flexible when it comes to this type of thing whereas windows 98/me could be a nightmare, at best it will work perfectly & you save the expense of a new hard drive, at worst it gets "buggy" & you put a new hard drive in for a re-install, either way you should save your data.

Why were you advised that the motherboard was at fault? It may not be. Also, how can you change a chipset? Did he mean change the memory?

You do not need to reinstall XP. The new PC setup would normally boot up but new hardware can occassionally prevent booting up in which case you can load the operating system in safe mode and install motherboard and chipset drivers from there. Also, you don`t need to buy a new hard drive.

As for recommendations for chipsets and motherboards, it depends what socket type your processor is eg. if you are after socket 939 then Nforce 4 is easily the best chipset available offering more features than VIA`s KT8000.

The PC engineer that came round , swapped out memory, psu, and graphics card. When PC still wouldn`t come up he advised that it was the motherboard.
He suggested replacing the motherboard and getting a different processor ( currently it is a pentium 4, 1.6ghz ) possibly an AMD.
He asked what data I wanted saved from my HDD as he said he`d need to reload XP because the HDD wouldn`t recognise the new motherboard?
Afraid it`s all a bit beyond me!

Not totally correct. Sometimes, if you boot into safe mode the version of Windows on the hard disc will boot up and you can reinstall drivers from there. Sometimes it won`t boot up even in safe mode so before formatting it, it is worth booting into safe mode first. As for Pentium 4 vs AMD, it depends what you use your PC for and your budget. The Athlon 64s used to be a better performer in general (except for video encoding) but Intels 6 series now more or less equals it. The AMD`s are much cheaper but if you really are on a tight budget then go for Celeron D which is almost as quick as a 64 bit AMD 3200+.

As for chipsets, Nforce 4 is by far the best (in terms of speed and features) for Socket 939 and 754 boards (used by AMDs). The LGA775 socket boards for Pentium 4s have Intel chipsets. If you go for AMD, then socket 939 is a better option than 754 as it is "more futureproof" if there is such a term in the PC industry and offers slightly better performance but at a price. There are various other options but to go into all that is beyond the scope of this reply.

Oh the motherboard may still not be at fault. Can you describe the symptoms when you first switch on the PC?

This item was edited on Tuesday, 15th November 2005, 20:49

Mike,

when the pc is first switched on ( hp Pavilion 750 ). The HDD LED which normally flashes when accessing, comes on permanently, the CD and DVD drive green LED`s flash as normal. The green LED on the monitor goes back to amber and there is no display. It then just sits there with the HDD LED on but nothing happens. No response from Keyboard or mouse. Also it doesn`t appear to access the floppy disk.

The guy that looked at the pc is suggesting an AMD semperon which he says will faster than what I currently have.

Oh in that case it does look like a motherboard fault or possibly graphics card.

I actually recommend a Celeron D over the AMD Sempron. The Celeron D is better value and absolutely wipes the floor with the Sempron. Please don`t confuse the Celeron D with the Celeron, the Celeron D is vastly improved (for the technically minded, the Celeron D is based on the Prescott core and has increased bus speed). One disadvantage of the Celeron D is that the clock multiplier is locked which means you cannot overclock it.

hp Pavilion 750 - Thats going to be a non standard motherboard format methinks (&\or expensive if you can source one), you may be best salvaging HDD (& memory???) & transplanting into a case, motherboard, graphics.

Help from HP here & here

We have had in the past to reflash the BIOS on Kayak 400`s due to a memory hole that stopped the PC from booting normally & giving front panel warnings about "No Video".

Not much more I can add at this point.



I quite like the Helpdesk people in a benevolent (as opposed to malevolent) way as they do some valuable work in preventing us being inundated by every halfwit who can work a phone.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 15th November 2005, 21:45

Thanks for all the feedback. Much appreciated! :)

I know why the repair person has said you`d need to re-install Windows, and while it`s probably the best-not to mention most straight forward thing to do- but it`s simply not true- a repair installation would be all you would need to do (You`d probably need to get your XP re-authorised by MS too). Basically this just drops a new copy of XP over the top of your existing one (Note this isn`t the same thing as using the repair console).

That said, another way around the issue of saving your data would be to pluh it in as a slave drive on another PC, and you`ll be able to access all of your data and save to disc that way, then do a completely clean installation.

It`s very difficult to pin down `exactly` what is wrong if it is a motherboard problem, but if you are goign to change it and the processor, look around for a `bundle` - where retailers do special deals on motherboard, processor and heatsink -might be worth going the whole hog and getting a nice new case too (In case the HP one is non-standard?).

One thing I`ve been doing quite a bit of for people who want new PC`s building `on a budget` is using a motherboard made by Mercury that comes with `everything` onboard- audio, LAN , video, USB plus an AMD processor that has been preinstalled. I think they cost under 70 quid retail. OK, the processor is only a jazzed up duron (I think it`s a 1.6 or 1.8) but for building on a budget, you can`t beat it, and it works very well (The board is a standard socket A type so you can replace the provessor if you wanted to at some stage).