My Motherboard Fried Or Something...

[KrakenGuy]

Well, I think I fried my motherboard, lol. My computer only wants to boot to a certain extent then it just freezes. Most of the time it doesn't even finish loading the boot screen before freezing up, what it does is that it only shows part of what I am supposed to see (Like, you know how it says 3.2ghz and the amount of ram you have? Yeah). Since a boot disk for XP won't work I am thinking I need a new motherboard.

I currently used a P4P800 Deluxe from lovely ASUS. I use a 3.2ghz chip from intel, a Sapphire 9800 Pro with 256mb's of video ram, and 2 512 sticks of DDR Ram. Tell me, can I upgrade to a PCI Express capable motherboard? Or would I have to upgrade a lot of other stuff as well? I really need your help on this because I am not quite sure as to what I can do from my current standpoint. Thank you.

 

[Mr5oh]

What were you doing when this happened, trying any overclocking? Have you tried clearing your CMOS yet?

Yes you can buy just a PCI Expres capable motherboard.

My Desktop: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html</A>
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[KrakenGuy]

I wasn't doing anything, I don't overclock anything on my computer because I know what it can do. Everything was set to its regular settings, nothing was edited. I am not sure I understand how to clear the CMOS, i've never done it before so I wouldn't know to do it or how to do it.

All I did was shut off my computer so a thunder storm could pass, when it passed I went to turn on my computer and it wouldn't boot to the XP Desktop.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by KRakenguy on 08/06/04 05:46 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Mr5oh]

CMOS will basically reset the BIOS, on every motherboard it is different. Some pulling out the battery will do the trick, however on most there is a jumper that you short together briefly and it will reset it. Check your manual to your motherboard, and see what it says, I just use a real long flat head screw driver, as it's can be tricky to get an actual jumper in there sometimes.

I guess there is a possibility that it could be your motherboard, but you would be best to do some basic troubleshooting before you spend money for a new one.

My Desktop: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html</A>
Overclocking Results: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc2.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc2.html</A>

 

[KrakenGuy]

Oh my god... You guys might not believe this but my heatsink was melted off my graphics card, when i opened my case to take out the battery to reset the CMOS the heatsink was lying on the mother board. The plastic things that hold the heatsink in place were melted, no BS here. I haven't dared to touch my graphics chip for sure, so I don't know how this happened. I need a new heatsink before I can do anything to my computer now because I don't want my graphics card to overheat because I have insufficient cooling in my system. Any suggestions on a better heatsink?

 

[Mr5oh]

Check out these:

<A HREF="http://www.coolerguys.com/840556041870.html" target="_new">http://www.coolerguys.com/840556041870.html</A>

<A HREF="http://www.coolerguys.com/840556035268.html" target="_new">http://www.coolerguys.com/840556035268.html</A>

That is strange, never heard of the heat sink clips melting.

Oh and if you really want to go nuts:

<A HREF="http://www.coolerguys.com/840556018568.html" target="_new">http://www.coolerguys.com/840556018568.html</A>



My Desktop: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html</A>
Overclocking Results: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc2.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc2.html</A>

 

[Cybercraig]

Are you sure it melted, or did the thermal adhesive let go?

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