Alas My Poor Old Motherboard Has Died

[canuckamuck]

On a restart last night, my monitor showed no signs of life, as my tower started up. The hard drive light showed activity, but then three loud beeps from the tower signified to me a critical issue has occurred. I can't get to a computer store too easily, I live up in the sticks and Chiang Rai would be my nearest big center (1.5 hours away).

Is there any thing I can do to confirm my diagnosis before I take a trip. The motherboard was a fairly nice ASUS With a dual core intel chip (can't remember the specs off hand but it is now 4 years old.

If it is truly dead, I guess I need to decide what I want next. Laptop or another tower. And I have lost all knowledge of the current processors and internals and what is considered good these days..

[lomatopo]

You can check the codes as they can be used to identify the potential problem. There should be a table in the MB user guide, or available on line.

For my ASUS MB, one continuous beep followed by three short beeps indicates a VGA (graphics card) issue. And one continuous beep followed by two short beeps indicates a memory issue.

Maybe remove the graphics card and reinsert it? Do the same with any memory modules. Some use a pencil eraser to clean the contacts on these modules.

[bobl]

Without knowing the "beep code" error messages for that particular motherboard, not easy. If you're at all handy with diy I'd be inclined to try a few things first, namely removing and replacing the memory stick(s) and any other removeable components (especially peripheral cards like video card etc if they're not on the motherboard).

Re-seating these components may fix your problem.

[canuckamuck]

Thanks guys I will try that. I also think I have the motherboard documents so I will look up that error code.

Very helpful and quick advice.

[harrry]

I do not know where you live but any of the small towns will have a computer person whether just a M4 student or a shop and most of these will be quite capable of diagnosing this problem.

If you co not know someone check the local internet cafe or where the kids play games.

Edited March 30, 2012 by harrry

[JSixpack]

Without knowing the "beep code" error messages for that particular motherboard, not easy. If you're at all handy with diy I'd be inclined to try a few things first, namely removing and replacing the memory stick(s) and any other removeable components (especially peripheral cards like video card etc if they're not on the motherboard).

Re-seating these components may fix your problem.

I'd clean the contacts on those components before reseating them. You can use a pencil eraser for doing that.

[canuckamuck]

OK, I am sending this from my fixed computer, I reseated the vid card and gave it a good cleaning over all. It works again and I am grateful for the advice.

Although I was secretly hoping for a new computer. But now there is no need once again.

Cheers

[lomatopo]

Now may be a good time to start planning for a replacement desktop, rather than waiting for a truly catastrophic failure, especially given your distance from a major metropolitan area. IME, these little failures are nearly always the precursor to a major failure.

[4evermaat]

Now may be a good time to start planning for a replacement desktop, rather than waiting for a truly catastrophic failure, especially given your distance from a major metropolitan area. IME, these little failures are nearly always the precursor to a major failure.

+1 desktop or laptop backup.

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from TV android app.

[JSixpack]

Now may be a good time to start planning for a replacement desktop, rather than waiting for a truly catastrophic failure, especially given your distance from a major metropolitan area. IME, these little failures are nearly always the precursor to a major failure.

Not necessarily. Here in the tropical climate of Thailand, stuff just seems more susceptible to dirt and corrosion. If it can be cleaned then you're fine. Electronics-wise, old computers can churn on for 10 years or so, w/ a little maintenance, if the original components were good quality. I clean mine at least once a year and spray contact cleaner in the ports and it will never fail even when I WANT it to so I'll a good excuse to upgrade (rather like the OP).

Yes, backups are always a good idea even w/ a new computer.

If the problem doesn't recur for, say, a week, then at that point I'd only be concerned about the hard drive--at 4 years, that's gettin' long in the tooth. Better start checking it regularly w/ a utility like Crystal Disk Info that tracks the S.M.A.R.T indicators.

Edited March 30, 2012 by JSixpack

[rakman]

Without knowing the "beep code" error messages for that particular motherboard, not easy. If you're at all handy with diy I'd be inclined to try a few things first, namely removing and replacing the memory stick(s) and any other removeable components (especially peripheral cards like video card etc if they're not on the motherboard).

Re-seating these components may fix your problem.

I'd clean the contacts on those components before reseating them. You can use a pencil eraser for doing that.

I don't recommend using a pencil eraser. To save on that high price gold, manufacturers went to gold flash, which is very. veru thin. An eraser is too abrasive and will remove most of the gold. A gum eraser is better, but I would use a paper towel and some alcohol (isopropal, not wiskey or beer; vodka.. don't recommend it either, but better than nothing) to clean the contacts.. And while the card is out of the socket, blow the socket clean as well.

Watch out for evil dust bunnies.

[JSixpack]

Without knowing the "beep code" error messages for that particular motherboard, not easy. If you're at all handy with diy I'd be inclined to try a few things first, namely removing and replacing the memory stick(s) and any other removeable components (especially peripheral cards like video card etc if they're not on the motherboard).

Re-seating these components may fix your problem.

I'd clean the contacts on those components before reseating them. You can use a pencil eraser for doing that.

I don't recommend using a pencil eraser. To save on that high price gold, manufacturers went to gold flash, which is very. veru thin. An eraser is too abrasive and will remove most of the gold. A gum eraser is better, but I would use a paper towel and some alcohol (isopropal, not wiskey or beer; vodka.. don't recommend it either, but better than nothing) to clean the contacts.. And while the card is out of the socket, blow the socket clean as well.

Watch out for evil dust bunnies.

I do. Not a big worry, so you don't see reports on the 'net about verified problems w/ pencil erasers. Obviously softer is better, however. You wouldn't choose an old hard eraser. And you wouldn't use too much force anyway. If the plating were THAT fragile, it wouldn't survive repeated reseatings.

I assumed common sense on the part of the OP. And the fix worked.

I'd use regular electric contact cleaner over alcohol, and I have. It's always useful to have around. In fact I've seen a PC revived by spraying--yeah, carefully--contact cleaner into the DIMM slots after just cleaning the sticks didn't help.

[h90]

Now may be a good time to start planning for a replacement desktop, rather than waiting for a truly catastrophic failure, especially given your distance from a major metropolitan area. IME, these little failures are nearly always the precursor to a major failure.

I think in 1-3 month would be good:

Ivy bridge cpus coming end of April

new chipsets for mainboards are coming now

new GPUs coming now

So buying now will give the old things to a high price.

In 2 month you can buy these much cheaper or buy brand new technology.

[klikster]

Now may be a good time to start planning for a replacement desktop, rather than waiting for a truly catastrophic failure, especially given your distance from a major metropolitan area. IME, these little failures are nearly always the precursor to a major failure.

I think in 1-3 month would be good:

Ivy bridge cpus coming end of April

new chipsets for mainboards are coming now

new GPUs coming now

So buying now will give the old things to a high price.

In 2 month you can buy these much cheaper or buy brand new technology.

When is the HD market going to get real again (prices and availability) ?

[Gary A]

I wouldn't get too excited about the latest and the greatest. My wife wanted my old dual core with 4 GB of RAM and Windows 7 32 bit. That gave me the excuse to buy a new desktop. I now have a quad core with 8 GB of RAM and Windows 7 64 bit. Most of my time is spent on the Internet so a more powerful computer made no difference. There is some difference in boot speed and big programs load a little faster but not a significant difference.

Edited April 1, 2012 by Gary A