Question Repair or replace?

[Craigind]

I have a decent desktop computer (see specs below) but it has develop a problem booting up, and happens with a different HD, so I believe it is a corrupt BIOS. Also it will not support Windows 11. So I have two questions. Should I replace the computer with a new one or just replace the Mother board in the computer I have? If replacing the MD any suggestions as to a MD and processor that hopefully could use the memory and video card I already have? If I can update my current HD to 11 and keep all my programs that would help as I have a few programs I can not find the disks for.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Spoiler: System specs

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Windows 10 Home (x64) Version 22H2 (build 19045.5965)

Install Language: English (United States)

System Locale: English (United States)

Installed: 12/23/2018 8:23:11 PM

Servicing Channel: General Availability

Boot Mode: UEFI (Secure Boot likely not supported by this UEFI)


[/COLOR]

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System Model​

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Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-78LMT-USB3 R2

Enclosure Type: Desktop

Processor a​

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4.05 gigahertz AMD FX -8350 Eight-Core

256 kilobyte primary memory cache

2 megabyte tertiary memory cache

64-bit ready

Multi-core (4 total)

Hyper-threaded (8 total)

Main Circuit Board b​

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Board: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-78LMT-USB3 R2

Bus Clock: 200 megahertz

UEFI: Award Software International, Inc. F1 11/08/2017

Local Storage​

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999.56 Gigabytes Usable Local Storage Capacity

567.53 Gigabytes Local Storage Free Space





[th]
Internal Drives†

[/th]

[th]
Size

[/th]​

[th]
Type

[/th][th]
Serial Number

[/th][th]
Drive#

[/th][th]
Status*

[/th]
[td]


[/td][td]
WDC WD10EZEX-22MFCA0

[/td]

[td]
1.00 TB

[/td]​

[td]
HDD

[/td][td]
WD-WCC6Y7KVH0AA

[/td]

[td]
0

[/td]​

[td]
Healthy

[/td]

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† Mouse over a drive model name for details

* Status reported only for SMART enabled drives

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Memory c,d​

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15.98 Gigabytes Usable Installed Memory



Slot 'A0' is Empty

Slot 'A1' has 8 GB

Slot 'A2' has 4 GB

Slot 'A3' has 8 GB



16 Gigabytes Maximum System Memory Capacity

Local Storage Volumes​

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[td]
c: (NTFS on drive 0) *

[/td]

[td]
566.71 GB

[/td][td]
422.78 GB free

[/td]​

[td]


[/td]
[td]


[/td]
[td]
d: (NTFS on drive 0)

[/td]

[td]
432.85 GB

[/td][td]
144.75 GB free

[/td]​

[td]


[/td]
[td]


[/td]

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* Operating System is installed on c:

Network Storage Volumes​

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None detected

Users (mouse over user name for details)​

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[th]
local user accounts

[/th][th]
last logon

[/th]
[td width="1em"]


[/td]
[td]
craig

[/td][td]
7/7/2025 4:01:15 PM

[/td][td]
(admin)

[/td]
[th]
local system accounts

[/th]
[td width="1em"]
X

[/td][td]
Administrator

[/td][td]
11/10/2018 6:11:25 AM

[/td][td]
(admin)

[/td]
[td width="1em"]
X

[/td][td]
DefaultAccount

[/td][td]
never

[/td][td]


[/td]
[td width="1em"]
X

[/td][td]
Guest

[/td][td]
never

[/td][td]


[/td]
[td width="1em"]
X

[/td][td]
WDAGUtilityAccount

[/td][td]
never

[/td][td]


[/td]

X Marks a disabled account; L Marks a locked account​

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Printers​

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[td]
Amyuni Document Converter 400

[/td][td]
on LPT1:

[/td]
[td]
Fax - HP Photosmart 7520 series

[/td][td]
on CN29D291TZ05VV_FAX

[/td]
[td]
HP Photosmart 7520 series

[/td][td]
on CN29D291TZ05VV

[/td]
[td]
HP Universal Fax Driver

[/td][td]
on HPUFD_Fax_Port

[/td]
[td]
Microsoft IPP Class Driver

[/td][td]
on WSD port

[/td]
[td]
Microsoft Print To PDF

[/td][td]
on PORTPROMPT:

[/td]
[td]
Microsoft Shared Fax Driver

[/td][td]
on SHRFAX:

[/td]
[td]
Microsoft XPS Document Writer v4

[/td][td]
on PORTPROMPT:

[/td]
[td]
Send to Microsoft OneNote 16 Driver

[/td][td]
on nul:

[/td]

Controllers​

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ATA Channel 0 [Controller]

ATA Channel 1 [Controller]

Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

Standard SATA AHCI Controller

Display​

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Radeon RX 560 Series [Display adapter]

Dell SE2717H/HX [Monitor] (27.2"vis, s/n XX-093JWK-XXXXX-96P-15HL, June 2019)

Bus Adapters​

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Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller

Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller (2x)

Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller (5x)

VIA USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.0 (Microsoft)

Multimedia​

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AMD High Definition Audio Device

AMD Streaming Audio Device

Logitech USB Headset

Realtek High Definition Audio

USB Microphone

Virus Protection​

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[td]
COMODO Antivirus

[/td]
[td]
Virus Definitions Version Up To Date

[/td]

[td]
Realtime File Scanning Off

[/td]

[td]
Avast Antivirus

[/td]
[td]
Virus Definitions Version Up To Date

[/td]
[td]
Realtime File Scanning On

[/td]

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Group Policies​

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None detected

Communications​

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[td]
↑ Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller

[/td]

[td]
primary

[/td]​

[td]
Auto IPv4 Address:

[/td][td]
10.0.0.48 / 24

[/td]

[td]
primary

[/td]​

[td]
Auto IPv6 Address:

[/td][td]
2601:280:517e:c90::ea00 / 64

[/td]

[td]


[/td]​

[td]
SLAAC IPv6 Address:

[/td][td]
2601:280:517e:c90:f288:bb34:4ee3:3b2d / 64

[/td]

[td]


[/td]​

[td]
Temporary IPv6 Address:

[/td][td]
2601:280:517e:c90:dfb:e176:7f00:7653 / 128

[/td]

[td]


[/td]​

[td]
Link-local IPv6 Address:

[/td][td]
fe80::96af:1c45:400c:64b8%9 / 64

[/td]
[td]


[/td]
[td]
Gateways:

[/td][td]
10.0.0.1
fe80::d60a:a9ff:fee4:344

[/td]
[td]


[/td]
[td]
Dhcp Server:

[/td][td]
10.0.0.1

[/td]
[td]


[/td]
[td]
Physical Address:

[/td][td]
E05:5E:7F:95:ED

[/td]
[td]


[/td]
[td]
Connection Speed:

[/td][td]
1 Gbps

[/td]
[td]


[/td]
[td]
Networking Dns Servers:

[/td][td]
75.75.75.75
75.75.76.76
2001:558:feed::1
2001:558:feed::2

[/td]

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Other Devices​

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Headset Earphone (Logitech USB Headset)

Headset Microphone (Logitech USB Headset)

Microphone (2- USB Microphone)

Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)

Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)

Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definition Audio)

USB Webcam

HP Photosmart 7520 series (NET)

HID Keyboard Device

HID-compliant mouse

USB Storage Use in past 30 Days​

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[th]
Device (mouse over for details)

[/th][th]
Last Used

[/th]
[td]
WD My Passport 07A8, s/n WX81A13F4487, rev 1042

[/td][td]
7/7/2025 10:34:43 AM

[/td]
[td]
Generic Mass-Storage, rev 1.11

[/td][td]
6/17/2025 4:22:13 PM

[/td]

Hosted Virtual Machines​

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None detected

 

[USAFRet]

AMD FX -8350 Eight-Core

https://www.techpowerup.com/cpu-specs/fx-8350.c1099
Time for a new system.

 

[Hellfire13]

Thats a very old platform without any practical upgrade option. You should think about a new machine.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

You could've just listed your current specs like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

but yes, as my colleague above has stated, that FX-8350 platform needs to be retired.

 

[Misgar]

A former colleague has two FX-8350 systems running Windows 7 and despite being able to afford a new rig with an RTX 5090, he refuses to budge. The only component I changed was a dead PSU and he bought the cheapest one available. I've given up advising about security and viruses. Head, brick wall, bang.

Also it will not support Windows 11.

You can run Windows 11 on old hardware if you use Rufus to "fix" the Microsoft ISO. I've just been experimenting with an old AMD FM2 A8-5600K and Windows 11 does work on "unsupported" hardware. It even runs (slowly) in only 4GB RAM when I removed 3 out of 4 DIMMs. At least 8GB is better.
https://windowsforum.com/threads/ho...restrictions-and-create-local-account.348702/

There are several disadvantages avoiding Microsoft's plan to make you consider a new computer. Microsoft don't promise to support 11 on old hardware and you may need a fresh OS install, each time a new build of 11 is released.

I'd would advise buying a new machine though, but keep your old computer as a backup. Fit a new SATA SSD and try Rufus with Windows 11 on the FX-8350. If 11 doesn't work, you've still got your old Windows 10 boot disk (but it's best not to connect 10 Home/Pro to the internet after October 2025).

it has develop a problem booting up, and happens with a different HD, so I believe it is a corrupt BIOS.

I wouldn't necessarily blame the BIOS, especially if you're trying to boot from hard disk. The only systems I have that still boot from hard disks are circa 2006 with Windows XP.

Hard disks don't last forever and I have a large heap of dead or dying drives with Bad Blocks and Pending Sectors. If your boot drive is developing faults, it could be the reason why your system is failing.

As a test, try a "cheap and cheerful" 120GB or 240GB SATA SSD (without RAM cache) for $10 to $20 and reinstall Windows 10. Faster than booting from hard disk if that's what you're using.

I'd also recommend testing the PC using a USB memory stick loaded with MemTest86, to see if your system RAM is 100% good. If you're overclocking your RAM with XMP settings, it can cause instability. 4 DIMMs instead of 2 DIMMs can sometimes cause problems.
https://www.memtest86.com/

I still fail to get all my BIOS settings correct first time. Today, I had to reach for an old PS/2 keyboard because my USB keyboard and mouse stopped working.

I was trying out Hasleo's Win-To-USB and booting Windows 10 Home from a 128GB Samsung Bar USB memory stick. The UEFI partition on the Windows 10 USB stick wasn't recognised with my normal USB BIOS settings.

The keyboard and mouse vanished when I changed the BIOS to boot from USB. Moving the keyboard and mouse from USB3 to USB2 ports fixed it.

The moral of the story is, keep playing around with the BIOS until things work.

 

[geofelt]

If the performance before failure was what you need,
a replacement used motherboard goes for about $50 on ebay.

I would also buy a ssd to replace the C drive ssd.
It makes all the difference in the world for desktop quickness.

What feature of Windows 11 interests you?
It might be nice to avoid the nagging to upgrade.
Past that, security from hackers is mostly up to YOU.
Don't click on unknown emails... etc.

That said, the FX systems are obsolete, and have been for some time.

You can buy a refurb desktop with win10 for <$100 that has about the same desktop compute power as your FX-8350 and it includes a SSD
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16883370244?Item=9SIAZ8YHT68798

 

[logainofhades]

I say time for a new PC. Graphics card should be reusable, assuming it has driver support.