Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with motherboard

Can I upgrade my ram to 2GB?

twelve — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:33:08 -0800

Can I upgrade my ram to 2GB? I have a Fujitsu Siemens D1675 motherboard. It currently has two 512mb sticks of ram and the third slot is free. Can I add a 1GB stick to the third slot or do the sticks all have to be the same size? I came across this page but I am still a little confused.

Can you get my (once decent) PC working again....

RufusW — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:49:13 -0800

Can you help me get my PC back in working order? Hello Hivemind!

My 3 year old XP PC died about a year ago - I believe from a power surge that broke the motherboard. Getting the board repaired will cost £60 minimum. I think it's probably worth upgrading instead and buying a new motherboard (and processor and memory).

[Question 1]
Any suggestions for what to upgrade to? I'm looking at spending around £150 for the three (mobo, CPU, memory) and obviously want quality and decent performance. (A dual core 2.8Gig AMD set up has been suggested to me)

[Question 2]
I've lost my XP disk! I have no idea about how to get all the data from my 2 harddrives onto the new set up - 'cos my original XP's doomed, right? Is it possible with a different copy of XP? Would an Ubuntu install recognise XP harddrives the my data? Any ideas?

Any help much appreciated.....

Thanks! ;)

These are the important parts of my PC.

Asus P5ND2 SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi PCI-Express Motherboard (broken)
Intel Pentium 4 630 "LGA775 Prescott" 3.0GHz (800FSB)
Corsair 1GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x512MB)
Corsair 2GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x1GB)
XFX Geforce 6600GT PCI-E 128mb DDR3 TV
2 * Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache – OEM

Beep beeeeep bang!

Solomon — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 08:59:21 -0800

Please help me put a friends PC together. Right now I'm getting error codes. I have the following hardware:
a] ASUS P5N-E motherboard.
b] ASUS EAH 4870 graphics card.
c] Arctic Power 700w PSU.

The problem I have right now is that I'm getting a "1 long 3 short" beep code, which after Googling turns out to be a problem with the video. I figure that I need to connect the 6 pin jack from the PSU to one of the adapters on the graphics card itself. But, I'm not 100% sure that this is correct (only 99%), and I'm not sure which one it has to be. The PSU only comes with one 6 pin jack, whereas the graphics card itself has two adapters. The manual that came with the card was useless - it only showed how to insert the card into the relevant slot.

I'm a bit nervous about potentially frying something, as it's not my kit, and it's going to be very expensive to replace. Can you confirm that a] I'm doing the right thing in connecting a 6-pin jack from the PSU to the graphics card, and b] which adapter it should go into (and whether or not it matters)?

Help me break into my own computer's BIOS

flabdablet — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:47:43 -0800

How do I reset the BIOS administrator password on an ex-IBM NetVista motherboard? My toy server, a Linux box whose only bought-new parts are the hard disk drives, died from motherboard capacitor plague. I've been given a used IBM 06p2525 mobo that seems to be in good nick, and I'd like to make it work.

I've found the reference manual and a BIOS update. When I start the Flash/BIOS recovery procedure described on page 50, I'm being blocked by this:

 177 System Security - Asset control has been violated
 163 Date and Time Incorrect
System-security - Administrator password required.
Type your password, then press Enter.

Page 47 says that if Enhanced Security is on (which I'm guessing it is, because resetting the BIOS apparently hasn't removed the admin password) and the administrator password is lost, the system board has to be replaced. I obviously don't want to do that.

It's common wisdom that physical access grants full control. I have physical access and soldering-fu but no EPROM burner/reader. Can anybody help me get around this thing? Email is in profile if non-disclosure agreements are involved.

What's this here motherboard slot?

DandyRandy — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:02:04 -0800

It's been a while since I've needed to know anything about the innards of a PC, but I just got a new one (new to me, anyway) at work and my dual-head AGP video card won't work with this machine. Good news is that I get to buy a new video card, the bad news is that I have no idea what to shop for in terms of interface. So, without further ado, can you tell me anything about the long black slot with the blue retaining clip pictured here, as well as the small slot below it? Many thanks, MeFis!

Which of these computer components is faulty?

Who_Am_I — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:37:41 -0800

I bought a new motherboard and a new video card, and now my computer beeps and won't boot to Windows. Which one is to blame? I've just combined this motherboard and this video card to build myself a new computer. When I power on I get one long beep and then three short beeps, which is code for "No video card or bad video RAM" according to BiosCentral (no beep codes in the mobo manual, thanks Asus). Ok so bad video card right? Except that after about 30 seconds the monitor does come on and it attempts to boot: POST screens come up, I can get into the BIOS, etc. If I let it continue to boot I get the "Safe Mode, Boot Normally, ..." screen, and then it bluescreens no matter which I choose. Also I was able to fully boot into an Ultimate Boot CD which contained a Windows environment. If the video card were actually bad, I wouldn't be able to do any of this right?

All this makes me think faulty motherboard. I flashed the BIOS to the newest version, and changed the setting for "default video device" from PCI to PCIe, neither of which made any difference. I don't have any spare compatible components to test anything separately, and the board has no onboard video. I'm pretty handy with computers, but this is my first time working with stuff like PCIe. Is there something obvious I'm missing? I bought through Newegg so I assume I'll be able to RMA anything I need to.

Pimp my HTPC?

gergtreble — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:43:02 -0800

Mobo Filter: Help me find the perfect motherboard (and possibly PSU) for my HTPC. Now Uni is done for the year I have decided that my sumer project will be to build a low power and low noise HTPC. I've already bought this case, swish eh! But I'm stuck now. I need reccomendations for a motherboard as there are so many out there and I cant find the perfect one. Here are my requirements:

HDMI? - My HDTV will take a VGA connection or a HDMI connection. Do I really
need HDMI? Onboard graphics will be cool, and probably prefered as I wont
be using this for gaming. HD resolutions are a must though.

Digital audio output - This will go straight into my AV amp. So coax or
optical are fine.

IDE/ATA - I have an old DVD-RW drive and a 320GB hard drive I want to put
in it so IDE would be nice. Of course SATA would be nice to for any future
upgrades.

The case can fit ATX and micro-ATX but I would prefer to have ATX so I can
expand in the future.

Also what wattage PSU should I go for? I'll probably have 2 hard drives
and two optical drives in it (IF I get a blueray drive). Would 350W be too
little?

So! Reccomendations? Anything else you would suggest? Any ancecdotes about your own HTPC project? Any Ideas about coooling or noise elimination?

Thanks a lot Hive-Mind.

Com ports. Endangered Species?

barc0001 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:40:06 -0800

Looking for a *new* motherboard with more than one serial port onboard. A project I'm involved with is dealing with a number of computers that need to hook to measuring equipment via serial ports, and the newer machines they've bought to replace the old boxes only have one serial port, and there are two devices that need to be hooked up simultaneously. But wait, there's more! It needs a USB cell modem hooked up for communication as well, and it's running a custom O/S that's really old, but well geared for the diagnostic software (Custom Linux, not Windows) that needs to run. A USB-to-serial converter is being used to run the second bit of equipment, but if that is in place, then the USB cell modem doesn't work, so the equipment can't report back to base. If the USB-to-serial converter's removed, the USB modem works fine, but there's no diagnostic data to report.

Ultimately, this problem would go away if I can only find a motherboard that doesn't cost a fortune (and even if it did, if it wasn't too LARGE a fortune we'd probably entertain it) that has 2 onboard serial ports. Does anybody know of one, and if so, who still makes 'em?

HP Laptop died 2 months out of warranty

criticalbill — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:59:47 -0800

A few lights blink, but no-one's a home. No bios, no whirring, no help from the retailer (PC World UK, and no I didn't go there, this question is for a friend)... PC World say that the motherboard is finished and that it will cost more than the £700 original cost to fix it.

Now this thread offers some good sounding advice for someone in a very similar position but with two vital differences: it was still in warranty and they are in the US, so the tip for getting to a Level 2 rep probably won't work so well.

My main question is am I right in thinking that the warranty is not the be-all and end-all of the situation? 14 months is very much like 12 months, if you ask me, especially for a underused and never dropped, no spills, no damage etc. laptop. (This thread seems to say that EU regs say a warranty must be minimum of 2 years, does anyone know if this has any force in the UK?) Secondly, has anyone got any good tips for handling HP UK?

Need for speed

grrarrgh00 — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:02:23 -0800

I want my computer to work exactly the same, but faster. I can't add any more RAM. Motherboard/CPU upgrade? Four years ago, my coworker built me a wonderful PC that has brought me little but happiness and joy in the time since. (I can now never again imagine purchasing one of those factory-built monstrosities, with their pre-installed applications and mysterious innards.)

I've maxed out the RAM on the 4-y/o motherboard (1.5 GB), but it's grown too slow and jerky for my tastes. The prospect of reinstalling all my applications and recreating all my settings causes me palpable distress, which is why I don't want to replace the computer altogether.

Previous threads seem to indicate that a motherboard/CPU upgrade is not that complicated. And RAM is cheap enough that I don't care about having to purchase all-new RAM, if that's the case. But I'm uncertain whether I'll have to consider changing any other parts. (E.g. Power supply?) And I'm assuming a mobo/CPU upgrade will get me the performance jolt I'm seeking, but is that assumption correct? Are my visions of making this upgrade and then continuing life with my exact current setup intact Pollyannaish?

Need MB, CPU, RAM.

|n$eCur3 — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 19:27:33 -0800

Best bang for $300 total: Motherboard, CPU and Memory. I don't care if it is AMD, INTEL... whatever. C2D looks like a stretch... so what is the next best option that stays within my budget?

BIOS won't flash :(

ijoyner — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:47:35 -0800

I am not able to flash my BIOS on my gigabyte K8NF-9 motherboard using current @BIOS utility. Why do I keep getting write errors? I need to upgrade to at least version F7 in order for it to support my new dual core chip I installed today(see). It currently has F2 on it. I "saved current" and whenever a write fails (with Error message: ERROR! write failed) I'm able to restore the F2 backup without fail. Why won't any downloaded BIOS images (f7, f3, f11, f10) write to the BIOS?
Could it be bad RAM?
Could it be a bad Motherboard? (it would suck to have to get a new motherboard for an old style chip, right)
I haven't tried flashing with a floppy disk cause I don't have a drive.

My stuff works in my CMOS, but not in Windows. WTF?

Verdandi — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:55:50 -0800

I just installed a new motherboard (and various other things). Yay! The problem is, my keyboard worked fine when I was mucking around in my CMOS, but nothing plugged into any of my USB or ps/2 ports works in Windows. Argh! It's an ASUS socket AM2 motherboard, and replaces my 4-year-old one. Like I said, it worked fine to play around with my CMOS settings, but once I get to Windows, nothing I plug into my USB or ps/2 ports works. I tried a corded mouse (both USB and PS/2--my keyboard and mouse are wireless), I even tried my graphics tablet, so I could use it like a mouse to see if reinstalling my keyboard/mouse drivers worked. No dice.

I haven't touched my BIOS or changed any drivers.

I haven't tried formatting/reinstalling Windows, 'cause I'm afraid that once everything's all said and done with a new Windows install, it won't work then, either. Besides, there's got to be a solution that doesn't involve a format. Right? ...Right?

I seem to remember this happening a long time ago to another computer I had, and I seem to remember a simple fix for it, but I can't remember what it was for the life of me.

Everything I've Googled is about motherboards whose ports don't work at all, even in the CMOS, which doesn't help me.

Please help me, hive mind. I've been trying to get this thing working for days. TIA.

Laptop motherboards that can boot from USB

DrSkrud — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:22:20 -0800

Can you name any laptop motherboards (brands, models, etc.) capable of booting from a USB flash drive? We're working on a robotics project at my university, and we're thinking that using a small linux kernel on a flash drive and a laptop motherboard would be much more sustainable (and easier) than dealing with microcontrollers.

What we need to find is a motherboard that can boot off of a USB flash drive. I know these exist, but I have no idea how to find them!

BIOS update failure

cog_nate — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:44:05 -0800

I tried updating my computer's BIOS the other night. The update didn't work, and now neither does my computer. I have a Gigabyte motherboard (model GA-K8NS Ultra-939). I tried updating the motherboard using Gigabyte's @BIOS utility. It would save a backup of the BIOS, but would not write the new version of the BIOS. I swear I soft rebooted (Restarted Windows) without a problem after trying to update it. Yesterday I turned the computer on (cold start) and after POSTing it would not boot; all I got was a black screen. That was bad. I tried booting Windows in Safe Mode -- it would get as far as "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\Mup.sys" and then freeze. (See these for some
POST info and the last bit of the last line I just mentioned.) That seemed worse.

So, it seems to POST correctly but will simply not boot up regardless what I try. I popped in a linux liveCD to see it it would boot; it would start loading but then freeze. I've sent Gigabyte a support request via e-mail, but don't expect to hear enlightening things from them in reply.

It definitely is the BIOS, right? Anyone know whether there's another way to update or reprogram the BIOS without performing radical surgery on the motherboard? (This motherboard is dual-BIOS, but when I enter the Q-Flash utility it freezes. Could I have a technician replace the borked BIOS with the good one?) Could it be a different problem?

Thanks in advance.

Dell Inspiron motherboard is dead. Is it worth replacing?

zeph — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:03:01 -0800

My Dell Inspiron 9300 seems to have a dead motherboard; would it be worth getting it replaced or do I have a shiny new doorstop? So a while back my Dell Inspiron 9300 started acting wacky, flickering between AC and battery power when it was plugged in, and occasionally flashing up a message claiming not to recognize its (factory original) power supply as an official Dell one. Due to the sporadic nature of the problem I oh-so brilliantly ignored it, until it got so bad that it would hardly ever recognize or draw power from the power adapter. I tried replacing the power cord and - when that didn't work - getting a repair store to replace the power jack on the motherboard, but I just got the dreaded call from the repair store saying that their power jack replacement has made no difference and that the only other option would be to replace the motherboard. Since it's nearly 2 years old it's no longer under warranty ("extended warranty? Why on EARTH would I need that?" =P )

As a very broke grad student I'm leery of throwing (even MORE) good money after bad, so I'd love some advice as to whether or not a motherboard replacement would even be worth it at this point. I've been googling for Dell Inspiron 9300 motherboards and coming up with surprisingly few hits; those ones I have found mostly seem to be from eBay and all cost in the $280-300 USD range - and that's for the part alone, I'd still need to pay someone to actually make the replacement. On the other hand, even at that it still sounds like it -could- be cheaper than getting a new laptop that's more than just an "uber-basic" one ... while on the OTHER other hand if all I'd be doing is putting off an inevitable junking or setting myself up for more problems along the lines of what you'd get if you started making bit-by-bit replacements in a car that's past its prime, I suppose I'd be better off just biting the bullet, planning for a few more months of the popcorn or ramen noodle diet, and finding a new laptop that might be likely to last a bit longer ...

Does anybody have any suggestions here? If it were you, would you try for a motherboard replacement or just give up and get a new laptop?

Should I buy a new motherboard?

Biblio — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:01:45 -0800

Should I buy a new motherboard for my HP Pavillion Desktop? I have an HP Pavillion a320n, about 4 years old. I had been having intermittent problems with it, including 3 power supplies dying, weird shutdowns and blue screens of death. I attempted to flash to a new bios, which ended badly. For a while, it tried to post and got stuck, with the power light blinking. I tried a few things (flashing from a floppy, resetting cmos, resetting jumpers, reseating ram, processor, heatsink...)but was never able to get it to post. Currently if I turn it on, the power light comes on (solid), the hard drive spins, the mouse lights up but the monitor and keyboard (which work fine with our other pc) don't work. I can work the CD-ROM drive to open it and close it, and if I insert a disc, it spins and the lights go on, but nothing else happens. There are no beeps from the cmos during this process.

Today I found the exact Asus motherboard on ebay. It's 89 dollars which I think is a good price. Is this a no-brainer and I should just buy it, or am I missing something else I could try at home? Are there risks to swapping out the mobo and keeping the same hardware?

Which CPU to extend the life of a AMD 939 Socket Motherboard?

zaphod — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:52:30 -0800

Upgrading AMD Processor for 939 motherboard. Athlon 64 X2 4200+ or Opteron 170? I have a GIGABYTE GA-K8NXP-SLI 939 socket motherboard with a AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor. This is a half decent rig that I assembled myself a few years ago. AMD stopped making processors for the 939 socket so the choice available to upgrade to is limited.

Based on what the motherboard supports, and what is available in the stores my options appear to be either:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ for $87
AMD Opteron 170 Denmark 2.0GHz for $117.
Both of which are dual-core processor. My existing processor is a AMD64 3200+ single core Venice 2.0Ghz.

The Opteron has 1MB L2 cache versus 512KB for the 4200+ which I think gives the Opteron the edge. And the Opteron comes in a retail kit with fan+heatsink, while the 4200+ is an OEM without a fan. However, the 4200+ is margially faster at 2.2GHz versus 2.0Ghz.

Will I notice a difference over my old 3200+ running at 2.0GHz if I get the Opteron? Or should I get the 4200+ and reuse my existing fan+heatsink, or purchase a new fan+heatsink (which will increase the price)?

What do you think and why?

Help me keep my motherboard running (Debian) for another year. :)

Motherboard Replacement

blue_beetle — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:46:53 -0800

Can a Dell L400 laptop motherboard be swapped out for a C400 motherboard?

Scanner Kills Computer

chrisbucks — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 06:26:39 -0800

My scanner fried my motherboard, was this to be expected? Can it be prevented? Do I assume the scanner is dead too? I have a Canon ColorPage scanner, which is USB1, and has it's own power supply. On the weekend I started up my computer to scan some photos and realised that the scanner wasn't plugged in, so after windows had booted I went to plug the scanner in, upon the USB plug contacts touching the socket (or may have even been the case) the whole computer turned off.

Now it wont turn on. I tested PSU and MB separately and have concluded that the motherboard has been fried (and probably the RAM and CPU as well). They were all out of warranty, so I've resigned to ordering new parts (I'm currently praying that the HDDs are fine!)

Now, will my new computer be at the same potential fate? And what might have caused this? The scanner was plugged into a different wall socket than the computer PSU was, and had been plugged in for several days, previously upon plugging in the scanner the whole computer would suddenly reboot,. This occured once or twice before but I had always assumed it was a driver conflict, or a 'feature' that came free with Windows.

I'm using a Thermaltake Armor case, if that's of any relevance, and it was the front side USB socket.

If the scanner is to blame in this case, then would putting a USB hub between the computer and scanner mitigate the damage? Or should I write the scanner off as a deathtrap?

I was berated by my IT consultant father for not plugging it in before turning the computer on, and that, apparently that's the cause. But I have doubts about this... doesn't sound like normal behaviour...

Motherboard Substitute?

swiffa — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 23:49:57 -0800

What's a comparable replacement for this motherboard? I'm faced with replacing the motherboard on a Fry built PC (FM-7540). The board is a 865G-M Motherboard Socket 478 and these seem to be very hard to find, alas only 2 on ebay and nothing found anywhere else. Is there another board both suitable and in better supply that I can substitute?

Help me give no boot the boot.

prentiz — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:04:19 -0800

Is my new PC dead already? Just got the components for my new PC this morniong - all brand new. Have spent most of the afternoon assembling. When I turned it on it booted as expected and I went into setup and had a look at the various options - without changing anything. After a few minutes the machine suddenly turned itself off and I have not been able to get it back on. The LED on the motherboard is lit, indicating power, and I've disconnected everything except the case controls, the RAM and the CPU. Ram is installed, per the manual in the first two yellow slots. Nothing happens at all - not even the fans spinning. I'm panicking like mad now and would really appreciate any help! The spec is:

Asustek M2V AM2
Casecom LG-5570 Black/Silver Mid Tower Case - With 500W PSU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Socket AM2 (2.2GHz)
Kingston 2GB KIT (2X1GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300

Have posted this on the Asus forums too - but no reply there as yet

grrr

porpoise — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 07:45:28 -0800

Windows XP wierdness (NT has not found enough memory - extended memory required) after motherboard upgrade. Arg. So I fried my motherboard and replaced it with an ASRock ConRoe 1333 D667 with a Core2Duo 2.13GHz CPU and a couple gigs of DDRII 667 RAM and a SATAII 320GB hard drive. It's got one onboard EIDE channel and it's got two DVD drives plugged into that.

Machine POSTS and I've managed to get XP w/ SP2 (November 2004 Systems Student Media) installed. It's fantastic. Boots to desktop in, like, 3 seconds.

Problem: I have a PCI IDE controller with two channels. When I hook it up to my 4 EIDE hard drives (one has an old install of XP from the fried motherboard) and reboot, I get the "NT has not found enough memory - extended memory required."

?!

I've made sure that the BIOS has instructions to boot from HD1 and CD and deliberately made sure "RAID" (the PCI EIDE card is supposed to be a RAID controller but worksed great as a generic EIDE controller) is not on the boot list. I've tried only plugging in each of the 4 HDs individually and in combination but I get the same error message.

I've also disconnected the DVD drives and plugged the HDs into the onboard EIDE controller and same lack-of-love.

It boots into XP fine when the EIDE cables are disconnected but the hard drives are powered so I doubt it's a powersupply issue (a reasonable quality 380W Enermax).

I also get the same error if I boot from CD/DVD with the WinXP install disc in the drive (it even asks me to insert CD to boot from it).

I know ask.metafilter isn't a tech support forum, per se, but the only posts I've been able to google from that error message suggest BIOS update or "more RAM" and isn't particularly useful and I haven't found any posts mentioning the "old HD" issue.

Anyone ever see this before or have suggestions as to what i should try next? I'm at my wits end (especially after the headache I got from not being able to get the machine to POST consistently - turns out it auto-detected the RAM settings wrong).

Bad power supply or motherboard?

SteveInMaine — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 10:57:28 -0800

PC troubleshooting help: Is it the motherboard or the power supply? A few days ago I connected a working SATA hard disk to a new gizmo purchased from Newegg that would allow me to connect the drive to USB to pull some files off. When I hooked the gizmo up it started smoking, so as quickly as possible I disconnected it. I took the SATA drive over to a working PC and plugged it in as an auxiliary drive. The now-fried disk appears to have damaged the second PC I tried to test it in.

The symptoms of the second PC are: When you switch the power on using the pushbutton on the front of the case, the keyboard and case lights, case and cpu fan come on momentarily and then just die. No POST. Is this symptomatic of a bad motherboard or power supply? I "triggered" the power supply while disconnected from the motherboard as suggested here and the power supply fan stayed on.

This is a homebrew PC with a Microstar K8MGM2 mobo, if it matters.

It's a tight fit!

ChazB — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:56:26 -0800

[PCHardwareFilter] Socket AM2 or 775 motherboard in an Antec Aria case? I have an Antec Aria case that I'm not too keen on parting with as it fits nicely where I need it to be. My problem is that I had to buy a low profile heatsink and fan for the CPU so that it could fit under the PSU. Now I want to upgrade but I can't find a low profile heatsink and fan for either AM2 or 775 mobos. Is there a solution out there that will fit into the small case or am I out of luck?