Is it possible for a motherboard to break?

Dolby

Dolby

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Overnight - in one shot - with no lightning or anything?

Just last night my PC started beeping and stuff, and they said it's the motherboard, which is R500 to replace
 
Is Gigabyte a good brand?

I refused to pay R500 for a board, so I asked them for a brand new casing (cables, power supply etc etc) and a Pentium 4 3.0ghz with HT technology. They're also throwing 512MB DDR400 RAM in there, and take all my old components (CD writer, graphics card etc) from my old, and placing in the new.

This is costing R2751. Good? Is Gigabyte a good brand?

Last thing, is HT Technology dual core or similar? Should I have 2x 256 RAM chips or 1x 512?
 
Last edited:
gigabyte is good

well the price, depends on what are the specs of all the stuff, there are boards that cost R2000 by themselves, there are ones that are R300

by the way are they putting DDR400 in your new computer? This is old stuff, now we use DDR2 533 minimum! Make sure you get PCIe x16 slot (not AGP) and socket 775 not 478
 
I'm guessing it's one the cheap boards from Gigabyte. I have a feeling it's got an AGP connection as well and uses DDR400, but I want to connect my old Gforce 128MB to it without buyin anything additional.

I wasn't planning on buying anything, and this has already set me back ;) Besides, I don't really play games ... it's more for internet, office, pictures etc
 
its possible that your motheboard had bad capacitors!

there are stacks of motherboards around with bad caps on them that just blow after a while
 
Maybe get the power supply tested.

I've seen boards go bad when the power supply throws a tantrum for unknown reasons.

Gigabyte is a good brand (certain sis based boards have a problem. don't know if the problem still persists. Everything else seems fine though)
 
repitah said:
Maybe get the power supply tested.

I've seen boards go bad when the power supply throws a tantrum for unknown reasons.

Gigabyte is a good brand (certain sis based boards have a problem. don't know if the problem still persists. Everything else seems fine though)
Click to expand...
I won't get a SIS or VIA based board though ... get some cheap Intel chipset, much better
 
So your getting the Case, PSU, RAM, CHIP and Board all for R2751

My bet Is that boards going to be one of the Really Crap ones. Something around 300-500. If your getting a board with AGP for your old Graphics card this also means your getting an old 478Pin Intel Chip. Also Make sure the CPU is Intel Pentuim 4 and not Celeron.

Dual Core is not the same as HT.
And i would go for 1 X 512MB Chip.
 
Could very well just have been your PSU - you already took the PC in or not ?

Most PSU's are cheap and nasty and have a limited lifespan. When they start going flakey, it obviously effects the power supply to your board. Same thing happens when you overload them by drawing too much power.

Everytime I've had a motherboard which appears for no reason to start acting crazy, it's always been the PSU that is causing it. Usually, if you get lights on the board and it tries to boot, it's a good sign - if you can get into BIOS, then that usually means the board is ok.

Problem is, if you don't have knowledge of this stuff, it's easy to get ripped off by people who will "fix" it for you.
 
If it was a single beep (repeated) it generally means the RAM - Normally you can re-seat it, or try cleaning it up if you know how - Otherwise replace it
 
I have been told, but have never had the opportunity to try:
If the board suddenly stops working, unplug all the leads, and leave it alone for a day. Then plug it back in and it might work. Something to do with allowing the capacitors to de-charge (MythBusters anyone?)
 
well if you wanna go myth busting, then chuck the whole board in an anti static packet for a few days too!
 
What sorts of beeps does it give?

A doot-dit-dit-dit type of beep indicates a problem with the video card.
 
The_Unbeliever said:
What sorts of beeps does it give?

A doot-dit-dit-dit type of beep indicates a problem with the video card.
Click to expand...
depends on the mainbaord you have.
 
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