New MoBo compatibility

[Guest]

My Dell 540 (64-bit,Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 8MB L2, 2.4 GHz 1066FSB.) failed to awaken from sleep-mode Thanksgiving morning following a fluctuating power outage overnight. Only the green LED on the back illuminated, but there are no other lights or sounds. I ran the paperclip test and the fan in the PSU starts with a pronounced whirr and settles down to a quiet continuous run, and the hard drive sounds like it's engaged. Voltages at the 24-pin clip are as expected, yellow wires at 12.4 volts, red 5 volts, orange 3.3 volts, blue wire -12.4 volts, purple wire 5 volts, and the gray wire climbs to 5 volts. Following this test, I unplugged all peripherals and memory, then replugged the 24-pin connector and there is no response from anywhere, so I feel this is a MoBo failure.

I'm not a techie, just a resolute do-it-yourselfer, so please forgive my ignorance. And I don't have a spare PSU lying around to try for confirmation.

The ID on the current board is CN-0M017G-74431-8AE-0311 C/O CN. Searching for a new MoBo, I find that they sometimes show the 0M017G and the M017G listed separately and sometimes as the same board. Is there a difference between the 0M017G and an M017G. Are any of those other numbers of significance that would make a board incompatible with my system?

 

[o1die]

Match the ports to your backplate on the case and you should be ok with either board. The board I found had an hdmi port for blueray playback, but the link doesn't work. Your board is micro atx, so you can use a non dell board, but your windows installation won't load unless you've already upgraded windows using a non dell coa number. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=dell+studio+540

 

[Guest]

Match the ports to your backplate on the case and you should be ok with either board. The board I found had an hdmi port for blueray playback, but the link doesn't work. Your board is micro atx, so you can use a non dell board, but your windows installation won't load unless you've already upgraded windows using a non dell coa number. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=dell+studio+540

Thanks o1die. Are you saying that any of those board on eBay you referenced will work, but I won't be able to just connect to the old HD and run Windows w/o a non-Dell COA number? I sorry, but I don't grasp this. Assuming the board fits (and from what I can see the holes appear to match on the pictures) what else will I need to do to reload Windows Vista, or if I choose to upgrade to Windows 7?

 

[o1die]

Yes. Get another brand if it's cheaper than your original board. Make sure it's micro atx; many only have two ram slots. Go to the board's webpage and check the "cpu support" file and be sure the board supports your q6600. Your dell board has a small bios file identifying your board as geniune dell. A non dell board won't have this file, so your dell windows installation won't even load if it's anything like my compaq pc. I worked at dell austin several times. Get a regular oem or retail windows 7 coa with dvd and you'll be fine. Unopened widows 7 pro are sometimes sold for $75 on craigslist; don't get any that are open.

 

[Guest]

Best answer selected by dbuelke.