Motherboard just blew up - some questions.

[Astor]

Well, the motherboard on my computer just 'blew up', as it were. This is the first time i've ever had any kind of catastrophic problem with a computer, so i'm a bit flustered.

 

Firstly, i've inspected all of the other components, and they all appear to be fine - will they be safe to use with a new motherboard? I know this sounds silly, but I really can't afford to buy new components at the moment - I can only feasibly stretch to a new motherboard.

 

Secondly, does anyone have any recommendations for a new motherboard?

 

If it helps, my now deceased Motherboard was an ASRock ALive NF7G, which worked well for the past two years before it decided to blow up.

 

EDIT: Also, will I have any problems due to my OS being an OEM copy? I've heard that they can be a bit finicky if they detect a hardware change.

 

Cheers, Astor.

[Q]

Sorry for not responding to this earlier. I meant to, then got distracted and forgot.

 

Anywho, what exactly do you mean by "blew up"? Are there burned parts and stuff?

 

About your copy of Windows: you should call Microsoft, tell them what happened, give them your old product key, ask them for a new product key and they should give you one. If they do, then you should be able to get any motherboard that you want to replace your old one, which means that if you pair it with a new CPU, you'd be essentially getting a new computer, which may be the way to go since your other components are only a couple of years old.

[Astor]

Sorry for not responding to this earlier. I meant to, then got distracted and forgot.

 

No worries, i've had other things to be doing as well.

 

Anywho, what exactly do you mean by "blew up"? Are there burned parts and stuff?

 

Yes, there's a few parts of of it near the PCI slots that are burnt out. When I opened the case, and tried to turning it on to see what the problem was, A few parts of it glow red hot, create a bit of smoke then the power cuts out.

 

And, on further inspection, the CPU looks to have been scorched too - so i'm now potentially looking at a replacement for that too.

 

I've found out that i've actually got a bit more money available than I first thought, so i've been considering upgrading a few of the components while i've got the opportunity.

 

About your copy of Windows: you should call Microsoft, tell them what happened, give them your old product key, ask them for a new product key and they should give you one. If they do, then you should be able to get any motherboard that you want to replace your old one, which means that if you pair it with a new CPU, you'd be essentially getting a new computer, which may be the way to go since your other components are only a couple of years old.

 

Once I manage to dig the old product key up, I'll get onto Microsoft as soon as I can, but i've been thinking about upgrading to Vista with a view to later upgrading to 7 for a while now - or would it simply be worth waiting till 7 is released?

[Q]

That would depend on how cheaply you could get Vista with a Windows 7 upgrade coupon. Those run about $10 more than regular Vista here in the states.

 

Because it was a hardware failure (and a very bad one from the sound of it), you should be able to get a new XP product key for free. You could then set up a dual-boot if you decide to get Windows 7 later on. I would also scour the t*****ts for a generic XP w/SP3 setup disk image instead of trying to use that OEM one, unless you mean "generic" when you say "OEM" and it isn't a Dell, Gateway or HP disk or something like that. Then you would just need the new product key. I would t*****t the image that already has SP3 anyways, though, as installation would take far less time that way.

 

You wouldn't mind listing your other hardware (like your video card HDD, RAM, etc), would you? I'd like to get an idea of what to look for in a motherboard and CPU. I'll tell you right now, though, that the best bang for the buck ATM is with AMD. You can end up with a fat, quad-core system on the cheap that would keep you up to date for quite a while.

[Astor]

That would depend on how cheaply you could get Vista with a Windows 7 upgrade coupon. Those run about $10 more than regular Vista here in the states.

 

I've seen a few places in my area that are offering 'free' upgrade coupons with copies of Vista, although I haven't really paid much attention to those until recently, so I don't know if there's a difference between the price of those and copies without the coupon.

 

Because it was a hardware failure (and a very bad one from the sound of it), you should be able to get a new XP product key for free. You could then set up a dual-boot if you decide to get Windows 7 later on. I would also scour the t*****ts for a generic XP w/SP3 setup disk image instead of trying to use that OEM one, unless you mean "generic" when you say "OEM" and it isn't a Dell, Gateway or HP disk. Then you would just need the new product key. I would t*****t the image that already has SP3 anyways, though, as installation would take far less time that way.

 

I bought the copy of XP from ebay and it was listed as 'OEM', I don't know too much about OEM software, so i'm not really sure about the specifics.

 

So at the moment, it's definite that the motherboard is pretty much scrap, and possible that the processor is damaged too (although i'll know more about that when I can get it to a repair shop) - will the other components still work?

 

Thanks for your help so far!

[Q]

Yeah, the only way to find out if that CPU still works would be to try it on another machine. If it's just an Athlon64 X2, then it's not much of a loss if it's ruined. If your other components are fairly standard (such as a PCIe x16 video card, DDR2 and SATA HDD and optical drive) and undamaged, then they should work with another motherboard just fine and you could then replace them with more modern stuff at your leisure.

 

If your install disk is generic (not from a computer builder), then all you'll need is a new product key. You can integrate Service Pack 3 into a new installation disk image quite simply and legally (it's called slipstreaming). See how to do it here. That page recommends ImgBurn and so do I. It's an awesome freeware program.

[Astor]

Yeah, the only way to find out if that CPU still works would be to try it on another machine. If it's just an Athlon64 X2, then it's not much of a loss if it's ruined. If your other components are fairly standard (such as a PCIe x16 video card, DDR2 and SATA HDD and optical drive) and undamaged, then they should work with another motherboard just fine and you could then replace them with more modern stuff at your leisure.

 

To be honest, i've been tempted to upgrade to a newer, maybe Quad-core processor ready for potential upgrading to Vista or 7 in future. Even if they're not damaged, I may consider upgrading the other components sometime after getting a new motherboard just to be safe.

 

If your install disk is generic (not from a computer builder), then all you'll need is a new product key. You can integrate Service Pack 3 into a new installation disk image quite simply and legally (it's called slipstreaming). See how to do it here. That page recommends ImgBurn and so do I. It's an awesome freeware program.

 

Cool, so at least I don't need to worry about switching to a newer OS just yet, and get the benefits of SP3.

 

Thanks again!

[Astrotoy7]

@Astor.. an OS upgrade should generally accompany a hardware upgrade. Sticking vista/W7 on old kit may not be entirely successful. It also really depends on whether you want to fully utlise it as a gaming pc with DX10/11 kit.

 

SP3 is a bunch of stability and security fixes on the whole. It wont make XP DX10 compliant, or make it able to use the advanced pixel shader models these later directX iterations can.

 

mtfbwya

[Q]

We're just trying to get him up and running at a minimum cost. Of course, I'd recommend a good, modern MOBO/CPU combo since he has to replace those anyway. Sticking with XP for now won't cost him anything and he can upgrade to Windows 7 once he gets everything working again.