Need computer help

[tazhunter0]

Laptop quit Monday and would not start up. Dropped it off at computer place to check it out. Just got called that the mother board is dead.

Has anybody ever replaced or had there's replaced on a laptop?

Laptop is a HP that is about 4 yrs old. Is it worth replacing or just get a new laptop?

Need some ideas and suggestions.

Thanks
Chris

[47]

Laptops are "cheap"(relatively speaking) these days.

If it was a popular seller, shouldn't be too hard finding a replacement MB.


Just remember: It goes back together the same way it came apart. And if you end up with parts left over and it still works...you dd a better job than the guy who built it in the first place.


Most importantly...Youtube is your friend.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2LFzDIBZR4"]How to replace a motherboard on a HP Pavilion DV6000 - YouTube[/ame]

[Cajun Blake]

Personally I would seek a 2nd opinion from somebody you trust ... perhaps a TBH'er

simple answer : once you get the second opinion, compare new motherboard parts & labor cost vs. new laptop cost


FYI - local cmptr shop quoted my bosses daughter $600 for a new MB , come to find out the cmptr was not broken at all

[RingSteel]

IMHO, just get a new computer.

Keep the hard drive from your old computer, so you can access all your data.

[TXBlueEyes]

Where did you take it? I see you are in Wills Point.

[CBHunter]

If you were around here, I'd look at it for you. But, you are not.

[JHT]

Get a new one. My work laptop did the same a few weeks back.

I had to get files off the old one so I paid HP to fix it.

I bought another laptop in the mean time to keep working.

It cost a little more than getting the old one fixed. Now the old "fixed" one is acting up again.

[tazhunter0]

If you were around here, I'd look at it for you. But, you are not.

I might be in your area the middle of June. Family reunion in Nixon. Might take you up on it.

Taking a external drive to shop Wednesday afternoon to put all my info on.

[tazhunter0]

Where did you take it? I see you are in Wills Point.

Place in Terrell. We used them before for the step daughters laptop a few years back.

It's the only place I knew off close by. Might take it back to Micro Center in Dallas and see what they say for second opinion.

I just need my files and pic's off of it right now.

[dhillis]

I thought about opening a computer shop but with the price of computers ever decreasing it is getting to where people can buy a new laptop for a little more than paying me to fix it.

If they are willing to put info on an external harddrive do that. It they want an arm and a leg to do that, find out if your hdd is a SATA or IDE and then buy an enclosure for it. Then you can use it as an external hdd.

[tx07]

Laptop quit Monday and would not start up. Dropped it off at computer place to check it out. Just got called that the mother board is dead.

Has anybody ever replaced or had there's replaced on a laptop?

Laptop is a HP that is about 4 yrs old. Is it worth replacing or just get a new laptop?

Need some ideas and suggestions.

Thanks
Chris

It's not worth putting the money into it to replace the board. You can get a new model and it will be faster then the 4 year old machine.
Today's prices of working machines are cheap enough it isn't cheaper to build one any longer. I used to build all of my machines.

[mills650]

Computers slow down with age. The CPU's clock frequency doesn't change but the hard drives get bad sectors that have to be worked around, batteries don't hold their charge as well so the clock is slowed down to save power, cooling doesn't work as well so power-saving kicks in earlier, and the worst is you collect junk on your drive. Chunk it and get another one, with an add-on GPU. <shameless plug>

[TXBlueEyes]

I would say get a new one too. They sell an adapter that you can plug into your hard drive that allows you to connect it via USB. You can get your files off that way.

[cavdaughter]

What kind of laptop .. sometimes you can find someone that has spare parts...

[kikn]

First when you say it wouldn't startup. Did it have any power at all.



When I say that. can you see any of the lights or the screen come on at all ?

The lights on the keyboard light up but nothing is on the screen, can you plug it into an external monitor?

Does the screen come on and it just doesn't load the Operating System?

If it starts to load the Operating System and then fails what does it say?

If you can't get anything to come on at all here is what you need to do first to determine to determine if its a component causing the system not to power on or if it is a power failure on the motherboard itself.

Remove the battery, Remove the RAM, Remove the hard drive, remove the CD/DVD-ROMs, remove any other USB device and or external devices keyboards printers etc..
plug it into the AC adapter and then try to power it on.

You should then looks for lights or listen for beeps. If you get lights and or beeps it usually means that your motherboard is fine. if not then you need to either test or your AC adapter or replace your motherboard. If it does work you will then want to put in your RAM, your system should P.O.S.T (Power On Self Test) you can verify that by seeing the manufactures logo on power on. This will not boot your system but you can get to the BIOS. You may want to go into your BIOS and reset to the factory defaults. If you get lights on or beeps keep track of the sequence. it will be a diagnostic code to tell you what has failed. 3-1-1 beep or lights flashing is a RAM failure and that is the part that needs to be replaced. If it does P.O.S.T. put in your hard drive.

If you make it that far you may be OK, but typically if you put things back together one at a time you can single out the failure.