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Trash Talk - Replacing A Motherboard?

Reznok - Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:37 pm
Post subject: Replacing A Motherboard?

Alright, you guys have Always been pretty helpful. I know most of my questions have nothing to do with Subspace, but the general computer knowledge on this site is very great indeed. So here I am, once again, with another question for you all.

I purchased a Sony PC about 3 years ago. It was a VGC-RB60g model, not bad for those days. Unfortunately, in an act of pure stupidity, I ended up spilling a soda right onto my motherboard (right onto the built in Graphics Card). After some analysis I concluded that my motherboard, and only my motherboard, was fried. Yaaaay -_-

Now here's the problem,
I called Sony and they told me that they can't replace my Motherboard, and I have no idea where to begin looking for a new one or what specs to look for. The backwards part of it is that I want it to be compatible with the RAM, Hard Drives, and Power Supply that I already have, instead of buying those After the motherboard.

The fried motherboard, from what I could find, has this written on it:
Intel Desktop Board
D945PPR, D945GPR

The RAM (from what it says on the card, and there's two of em) is:
512MB 1Rx8 DDR2 PC2-4200U-444-11-A1

So yeah... any guidance in where to start looking for a combatible motherboard would be great.

Thanks in advance!
^_^
-Reznok

Cheese - Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:02 pm
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how the hell was a soda even remotely close to your motherboard...?

did you think your hard drive was thirsty? O_o

Dr Brain - Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:08 pm
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Assuming it's not some weird shape and has a removable CPU, any motherboard that supports your CPU (site says Intel Pentium D 920) and RAM (DDR2 in your case) should be fine. They'll all support your hard drives and power supply. And three years ago, you probably will only see DDR2 motherboards anyway. So look for a motherboard that supports your CPU, and has a built in graphics card (assuming you want that).

Go to newegg, look at their Intel motherboards, and use power search to see motherboards that support Pentium Ds. There were three check boxes that contained Pentium D at the time of my search. I found 50 results. You can narrow it down by choosing other features you want, like built in graphics, etc.

Reznok - Sun Mar 08, 2009 12:59 am
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Cheese:

I keep my computer on its side on my desk, so naturally, it's a great place to put drinks. Unfortunately, when a soda got knocked over, it went straight into a venting hole right onto the motherboard.

Dr. Brain:

Not entirely sure where to even find my CPU, or how to remove it. I'm somewhat tech savvy, but this is pretty deep into a computer. Mind sharing how to locate/remove/put it in the new Motherboard?

Thanks!

-Reznok

Samapico - Sun Mar 08, 2009 1:46 am
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the CPU would be the big chip thing that has a big fan thing right on it

Cheese - Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:42 am
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stop using your computer tower as a coaster -__-"

Reznok - Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:02 pm
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I think I found the CPU, a small square shaped chip... right under the big fan.

And Dr. Brain:
There are 5 boxes for DDR2 memory standard, does it matter what type it is as long as it's DDR2?

I'm currently looking at This Motherboard
But I want to make sure it'll work

Samapico - Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:39 pm
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Not sure if it was mentioned, but the format of the motherboard has to fit as well... Like that one is a Micro ATX, so just make sure it's the same as yours.

Also, notice that this motherboard only has 2 RAM slots, if your current setup has more than that or if you plan to use more, should check before. (Just read you have 2 ram bars, so you should be fine)

I don't know much about the issue other than that

Reznok - Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:47 pm
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How can I check the format on my current board? Is it written anywhere on it? And two slots should be fine, I might upgrade to 4GB with 2GB sticks eventually, but for now I'm content with 1GB.

Samapico - Sun Mar 08, 2009 7:20 pm
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Reznok wrote:

How can I check the format on my current board? Is it written anywhere on it?

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboard/index.htm

They're listed there... though I can't find yours for some reason

JoWie - Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:31 am
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Measure the dimensions of the motherboard and look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherboard_form_factor

It is probably an ATX, the other form factors are a lot rarer

Reznok - Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:25 am
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Samapico wrote:

[..]

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboard/index.htm

They're listed there... though I can't find yours for some reason

That might be because Sony has motherboards custom made for them. That's what the customer service lady said anyways.

Also, my current motherboard is 9.6" x 9.6" which, from what wikipedia says, is a microATX. Looks like my initial choice is a good one, but some final feedback before throwing $80 ($20 for shipping to Hawaii -_-) into it would be great.

And I don't know if my DDR2 RAM question was answered, on newegg there are 5 choices that read:

DDR2 667
DDR2 800
DDR2 1066
DDR2 1200
DDR2 1333

Does it matter which type I get? As I posted before, my RAM card reads:
512MB 1Rx8 DDR2 PC2-4200U-444-11-A1

And this is directly from the site where I bought my computer (here):

Memory

* Type : DDR2

* Installed : 1GB (PC2-4200)

* Maximum : 2GB

* Speed : 533MHz

JoWie - Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:59 am
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The RAM you can use depends on both the CPU and the motherboard. Optimally, you would buy memory with the highest speed supported by both.

Basically, that number in "DDR2 1333" is the speed of the memory. When you look at the specifications of the motherboard on some hardware website, you will usually see a list of supported DDR standards.
When looking at the specs of your CPU it is usually listed as "Bus-speed"

Your "512MB 1Rx8 DDR2 PC2-4200U-444-11-A1" is DDR2-533 (wikipedia)

Reznok - Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:51 am
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Well this has certainly become a project. Based off of what JoWie said, I need a motherboard that will support my processor's bus speed, which is 800 MHz. The only motherboard that newegg has is Intel BOXD945GCPE LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

It says, from what I can tell, that that motherboard supports CPU FSB speeds of 1066 and 800 MHz. Only problem is, my RAM is 533 MHz. Newegg doesn't sell any motherboards that support Pentium D CPUs and 533MHz/800MHz FSB. Am I out of luck, or will the 533 MHz RAM still work?

Dr Brain - Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:33 am
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The slow ram should slow the FSB down, but the CPU should still run at its rated speed.

Mine GO BOOM - Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:09 pm
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You can get any FSB that is equal to or greater than your processor and ram. The system will just run as slow as the slowest part.

Cheese - Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:33 pm
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a chain is only as strong as its weakest link...

Samapico - Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:34 pm
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Unless you have some Mighty Putty

Reznok - Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:43 pm
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Mine GO BOOM wrote:

You can get any FSB that is equal to or greater than your processor and ram. The system will just run as slow as the slowest part.

Thanks MGB, I should be ordering my part tonight.

I just have to make sure that I know how to plug a new motherboard back into my comp... Most of the wires I can do, like the Power Supply and Hard Drives, but there are a few more wires that I think I'll have to read up on.

Reznok - Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:53 am
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Alright guys, I'm back. Unfortunately, I have bad news.

I ordered my motherboard and it finally came in. All excited, I brought it to my tower, popped out the old motherboard, and put this one in. I attached all the necessary cables, power supple, hard drives, etc. as well as put my RAM in. With a big drum roll, I pressed the power button. The fans started spinning, the drives were making noise, it sounded like it was booting up. About two minutes later, my monitor was still black and the fans were still going heavy.

So, I'm unable to get display. I did some googling and found that this might be because my memory is not being detected. However, according to you guys, it should have been detected just fine.

Oh, and I tried using a different power supply too just in case (was getting desperate). The same thing still happens.

After a bit more research, I found that Newegg says my new motherboard can support Pentium D processors, but it doesn't say that anywhere on the box or on the Intel site.

=/

Dr Brain - Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:28 am
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If you have two sticks of ram, try taking one out. Motherboards can be very particular about which slots you use. If using just one works, read the motherboard manual on where to put ram.

If that doesn't work, try to return it to newegg and get a different one.

EDIT: oh, do you have a speaker installed (not the one attached to the sound card; the one that makes beeps in old dos games) so it can make post codes? It should be attached in a similar spot to the power button cable.

Chambahs - Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:33 pm
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Are you plugging your monitor into the onboard video or a video card?

Samapico - Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:54 pm
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It happens to my computer sometimes after a crash... Nothing shows up on screen when I try to boot it. Usually, shutting it down, unplugging and replugging the power cord from behind, and booting it again fixes the problem.

I doubt it's the problem in your case, though

But yeah, you should plug the monitor on the onboard video card first, if you have another one.

Chambahs - Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:33 am
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Most likely thats what the problem is, if you are plugging into a video card port, the mobo is initially set up so that it reads from the onboard gfx by default. So all you've gotta do is go into the BIOS and set that up simply.

Reznok - Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:06 am
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I'm using the onboard video card, I haven't even tried plugging my other video card in yet. I tried talking to a few other people and they think that my RAM might have been fried when the motherboard went out. As for the onboard speakers I'm not sure if I have them, but I Vaguely remember reading somewhere that I don't... I'm considering going down to my local Office Max and buying the cheapest stick of DDR2 with 800mhz RAM that I can find, just to try it out.

Chambahs - Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:09 pm
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Well, if your computer boots up, and there are no beeps, then its probably not your RAM. If it were, you would get a "code" of beeps to tell you whats wrong. Also, im probably wrong, but I think only when your power supply blows, that it takes other components with the mobo.

Initrd.gz - Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:36 pm
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Chambahs wrote:

Also, im probably wrong, but I think only when your power supply blows, that it takes other components with the mobo.

Depends on how it blows. Mine ended up full of cat hair and stopped working (probably due to overheating)

Replaced it with a new one and it works fine.

Cheese - Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:52 pm
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thats how mine died
90% of power supplies get full of dust, then the fan stops turning, then the computer overheats

Chambahs - Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:27 am
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when i got a new gfx card on my old comp, the gfx card was too powerful for the psu, psu blew and fried the mobo and everything with it lol