Motherboard replacement

Drakar

I have a PC I leave at my parents house that myself and my brothers use occasionally for League of Legends and stuff. It stopped working recently, and theres a "00" code showing on the LED on the motherboard (internets says its a CPU\motherboard\generic error). It's oldish (5yrs?), but since we dont use it much I kinda dont want to pay €400 to just buy a new one, so am wondering if there's some cheapish compatible upgrade options (there's a recession on people!).

I think the spec is like:
Intel Core Duo E6850 (not sure if this or the motherboard itself is the problem, but guessing it's not too easy to save anyway if its stuck on there)
Motherboard is XFX Nforce 680i Sli
RAM 4GB PC8000 ddr2
Graphics is Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT.

Im guessing I should be able to save the graphics card and ram (if they work with current motherboards of course :P). Does that look correct, ie I should just be able to buy a new cpu&motherboard (it was set up for overclocking so they're probably not too easy to separate given I havent done that before).

If that looks correct, any thoughts on a purchase options? (would I need new RAM)? I'd like to buy in the next few days to get something set up for Christmas. Thanks in advance.

the_syco

Probably best just buying a 2nd hand motherboard. Look at the (physical) motherboard, and Google the model number, and it'll tell you what socket you are. What part of the country are you in?

J0hnick

Whats the make/model of the mobo ?, if its an old core 2 duo its probably socket 775, which is last gen. If thats the case, sellers on Ebay or Adverts with good ratings might be your only option.

Drakar

I guess if I was looking at new (low spec) motherboard, processor and ram it's around €150? Maybe something like:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/asus-intel-value-bundle--includes-h61m-a-usb3--pentium-g2030---4gb-corsair-xms3-ddr3-memory--926T.html?catid=15033&src=3

Any other suggestions? That one above would be way faster than what was there so should be fine, and wouldnt have to deal with compatibility issues.

Maybe one of these? http://www.scan.co.uk/value-hardware-bundles

(The motherboard was Nvidia nForce 680i SLI, which I think is socket 775, but I think given I'd probably need the CPU and motherboard, it might be hard to source reliably 2nd hand on ebay etc. The above include the RAM as I guess I'd need that if I was switching from the old motherboard types.)

marco_polo

Something like a G3220 would be a good bit faster than whats there already, and decent upgrade potential. It a serviceable low budget gaming CPU would be just fine for the likes of LoL etc.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Pentium-3-00GHz-Extended-Technology/dp/B00EF1G9DW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386594395&sr=8-1&keywords=G3220

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-H81M-P33-LGA1150-M-ATX-Motherboard/dp/B00EPLE3J4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1386594410&sr=8-3&keywords=H81

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Integral-DDR3-1333-Desktop-Memory-Module/dp/B005CN3B2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386594470&sr=8-1&keywords=4GB+1333

You could get the lot for about €125 off amazon.

yammagamma

if the computer is not used much and so not plugged in the battery on the motherboard is prob gone dead so nothing to power up the bios., try another battery it prob is a cr2032 +3 volt , and reseat everything on motherboard as well ,ie ram all jumpers and connectors and cards do this a few times to clean up contact points as corrosion/dirt would build up and pc might have gotten a few bangs from hoover and loosened components as well

Drakar

marco_polo wrote: »

Something like a G3220 would be a good bit faster than whats there already, and decent upgrade potential. It a serviceable low budget gaming CPU would be just fine for the likes of LoL etc.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Pentium-3-00GHz-Extended-Technology/dp/B00EF1G9DW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386594395&sr=8-1&keywords=G3220

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-H81M-P33-LGA1150-M-ATX-Motherboard/dp/B00EPLE3J4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1386594410&sr=8-3&keywords=H81

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Integral-DDR3-1333-Desktop-Memory-Module/dp/B005CN3B2E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386594470&sr=8-1&keywords=4GB+1333

You could get the lot for about €125 off amazon.

I got this one, but for some reason it's not powering on. I popped in the memory and CPU, connected its fan and then the motherboard main power and the front panel leads (power, reset, hd led).

Looks like this now (I unplugged the SATA HDD, USB power, external graphics etc)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0oHXUKgZw7aYWhCZHVJcGYwYTI0R0Z3UjVkM3g3dGtaZkVB/edit?usp=sharing

Wonder am I missing something else, eg there's a 4 pin CPU power socket that doesnt seem to be covered in the install guide.

It might be the power supply? Is there a simple way to test?

Drakar

Oh when I did turn it on first time, the cpu (and power) fan did spin for like 1 second, then stopped, then it didn't spin on further restart attempts. When I plugged out the unneeded bits (hdd etc), it did spin again for 1 sec on startup, but again isn't doing anything anymore (I think thats good as its a sign it didn't short or something given it managed to spin again later?)

marco_polo

Looks like the 4 pin cpu is not plugged in on the top left. There should be one on the PSU, it might be semi disguised on the psu as an 8 pin (that splits in two)

Drakar

I had that in originally but plugged it out when it didn't seem to be starting as it wasn't mentioned in the install guide.

I've plugged the 4pin CPU lead back in, and again fan made a half spin then all stopped again.

marco_polo

Id pull out the case front panel cables as well and just short the two powerswitch pins to start it.

Worth changing the ram slot as well. If it is still the same take out the ram altogether and see if there is any change at all in how it behaves when you try to power on.

Drakar

Thats the black to green wire right?

marco_polo

Drakar wrote: »

Thats the black to green wire right?

Usually it is, what each cable is should be written on it anyway.

Drakar

So doing that seemed to have a working PSU fan. I read somewhere else that this powering off problem might be because of something shorting in the case (eg with dust, or if there was metal from the case connecting with the board underneath). I disassembled it all, moved the memory as you suggested, tried some other things (like using the 2nd 4pin CPU cable instead of the first one etc), and now the cpu fan comes on for a second, then turns off, then comes on, then off etc. this seems to keep cycling (and holding the power button seems to stop it).

Not sure what that means though, maybe there's dust in the PSU connectors? I cant imagine its drawing too much power or anything as I've no devices connected (no usb, no hdd, dvd, external video card).

I'm using the stock CPU fan, when I took that out I noticed there were some stains on the CPU top, but I guess thats the fan auto bonding with the CPU (there wasn't any thermal paste in the CPU package, and where the stock fan connects there did seem to be some sticky stuff).

I'm not sure what to try, I can take it all apart again and check for more dust. Maybe I can buy a new PSU, but given the low power requirement and the fact that the PSU runs if not connected to anything... hmm...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0oHXUKgZw7aRk10ZUpORTVlMnY0WUNJVWh5Q3M2VFhFVEhZ/edit?usp=sharing

the_syco

Drakar wrote: »

I disassembled it all, moved the memory as you suggested, tried some other things (like using the 2nd 4pin CPU cable instead of the first one etc), and now the cpu fan comes on for a second, then turns off, then comes on, then off etc. this seems to keep cycling (and holding the power button seems to stop it).

Take out the CMOS battery, take out the RAM, then turn it on, and tell us what happens. It should beep.

marco_polo

Unfortunately at this point its still hard to say, it could still concievably be any of the four major components ram, mobo, cpu or psu. As it is relatively rare for a CPU to be doa and the psu was working in the other PC, the ram or mobo is more likely the problem to my mind.

Last time I encountered a boot loop it was a faulty ram slot on the mobo so I'd interested to know if the boot loop happens in both slots and when the ram is out or just in some cases.

With these sort of problems regrettably it might be difficult to say for certain which part is the problem without other known working parts to test against.

No harm to take the lot out of the case as well if you havent already and rebuild on the table.

Drakar

I tried booting with no RAM in, or with RAM in either of the slots, same result. I was building it on the table already. I'll try taking it apart again and wearing my lucky pants.

the_syco

Drakar wrote: »

I tried booting with no RAM in, or with RAM in either of the slots, same result. I was building it on the table already. I'll try taking it apart again and wearing my lucky pants.

Do you get error beeps? Also, where are you based?

Drakar

No beeps, but it only has power for less than a second before shutting off again so not sure if thats long enough. Also should the beeping come from the motherboard? I dont think I have a system speaker connected. When I plugged a graphics card in without powering the card's fan , it did beep (the card I think).

I'm north of Cork (lah). I don't mind buying stuff if I could tell what to buy :P

the_syco

Some motherboards don't beep.

Hrm. With nothing else but the CPU, CPU fan, and the PSU plugged into the motherboard, what happens, and what displays in the LED error box?

It's not looking good. Boot loops are the worst. See if you can get a loan of a PSU from somewhere, to see if this solves your problem? Also, ensure that the PSU is plugged into all the correct ports (ATX0, CPU, etc).

Drakar

Looks like it's the PSU, I got my brother to take it back to college and someone had an old 220w PSU that they pugged in and it seemed to work ok (without graphics cards etc which was the same test I did).

Any suggestions for a decent PSU from amazon or somewhere (quiet would be nice, and doesnt have to be super cheap).

Thanks

marco_polo

Drakar wrote: »

Looks like it's the PSU, I got my brother to take it back to college and someone had an old 220w PSU that they pugged in and it seemed to work ok (without graphics cards etc which was the same test I did).

Any suggestions for a decent PSU from amazon or somewhere (quiet would be nice, and doesnt have to be super cheap).

Thanks

This would do the job just fine and only about €45 with super saver delivery

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Edition-Bronze-Wired-Supply/dp/B005FPT38U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389371463&sr=8-1&keywords=XFX+450