[SOLVED] How would I know if my motherboard is dead?

[SquishyChs]

The lights on the board are lit so I am thinking it is getting power (could still be an issue with power but all the cables are seated well and its lit), and power seems to be coming through my USB ports. However when I boot my PC up, it whirrs and lights up but my display remains black. The displays are fine, I tested that, my keyboard and mouse dont seem to do anything though. I tried replacing the CMOS battery but will try again with a couple more just to be sure as I heard that is a possible cause. A lot of my hardware is getting pretty old so I know I need to replace a lot of things anyway and will do so when I can but for right now I cant afford to buy too many things so if there is a fix I can do for right now that would be ideal. So how can I figure out whether this is fixable, and if not, that a replacement motherboard will work?

 

[drea.drechsler]

The lights on the board are lit so I am thinking it is getting power (could still be an issue with power but all the cables are seated well and its lit), and power seems to be coming through my USB ports. However when I boot my PC up, it whirrs and lights up but my display remains black. The displays are fine, I tested that, my keyboard and mouse dont seem to do anything though. I tried replacing the CMOS battery but will try again with a couple more just to be sure as I heard that is a possible cause. A lot of my hardware is getting pretty old so I know I need to replace a lot of things anyway and will do so when I can but for right now I cant afford to buy too many things so if there is a fix I can do for right now that would be ideal. So how can I figure out whether this is fixable, and if not, that a replacement motherboard will work?

What are your system specs? motherboard, cpu, memory, drives, GPU (if you have one), and PSU.

Troubleshooting it begins with figuring out where it's failing in POST. That usually means checking trouble LED's or a system speaker attached that makes beeps.

If it's old enough a replacement motherboard might be unfeasible, or simply bad investment.

 

[Fatalzo]

The lights on the board are lit so I am thinking it is getting power (could still be an issue with power but all the cables are seated well and its lit), and power seems to be coming through my USB ports. However when I boot my PC up, it whirrs and lights up but my display remains black. The displays are fine, I tested that, my keyboard and mouse dont seem to do anything though. I tried replacing the CMOS battery but will try again with a couple more just to be sure as I heard that is a possible cause. A lot of my hardware is getting pretty old so I know I need to replace a lot of things anyway and will do so when I can but for right now I cant afford to buy too many things so if there is a fix I can do for right now that would be ideal. So how can I figure out whether this is fixable, and if not, that a replacement motherboard will work?

Is your graphics card seated properly?
It's the only possible answer, although the CPU's integrated graphics could be screwed if there is no GPU.

Without any other component than a GPU you wouldn't get this exact result. It sounds like your graphics card is shot.