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New motherboard, basically new PC....
Bandit

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09 August 2011 10:09 Reply (Quote this message)
Morning all,

So, I think my motherboard is dead. It's about 5/6 years old now, and it no longer goes 'beep' when you turn it on. Basically, I turn it on, the fans spin up, the HDD light stays on for a bit, then goes out, no beep, nothing on the monitor. My tech friends tell me that it's the 'mobo', but again my tech-noobiness gets in the way.

So my question is this: Can you PC-guys help me rebuild my PC?

Stuff I have that works and I can transfer to my new unit:

DVD/CD Drive
Ram
Dual-Core processor
HDD
Fan unit for processor
Sound Card
Fancy, powerful GFX card

Stuff I need for a new PC (Suggestions please )

A case (do they have fans built in, and the power unit? Or do I need a new one?)
Windows 7 upgrade disk (or will I need the full package?)
A new mobo which can handle the GFX card, USB ports, etc
New speakers
A new monitor (already got suggestions for this)

Thoughts?



"You want to make enemies? Try to change something."
Maz

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09 August 2011 10:32  Edited by Maz on 09-Aug-11 at 10:36 Reply (Quote this message)
Give us some more info Bandit , also an idea of budget. (as for aprox £300 you could get an I5quadcore 2500k (unlocked) with fan, mobo and 4gb of ddr3 dual chan (i.e. a solid core which would clock to 4ghz + with Sata 6 usb3.0 and full windows 7 support) - but I need more info.


DVD/CD Drive
Ram - DDR2 or DDR3 (2/3chan)
DualCore processor - which socket?
HDD
Fan unit for processor does it have brackets for newer socket layouts?
Sound Card - PCI or PCI-e
Fancy, powerful GFX card - PCI-e or AGP?

Stuff I need for a new PC (Suggestions please )

A case (do they have fans built in, and the power unit? Or do I need a new one?)
@ new case - probably not ATX / micro AtX - please inform

@ Power supply [depends if your psu is compatable with the replacement mobo - need more info]


Windows 7 upgrade disk (or will I need the full package?) what version of windows are you currently using + is it legit?

A new mobo which can handle the GFX card, USB ports, etc this will depend on answers to the above

New speakers & A new monitor outside my area



Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.
Issue the orders Sir, and I will storm Hell.
Bandit

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09 August 2011 10:53 Reply (Quote this message)
I have no idea. Even if I were to look at it I wouldn't have a clue. I've got a techie friend coming on Thursday and I can get the info from him. Thanks though apologies for the noobiness.



"You want to make enemies? Try to change something."
Maz

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09 August 2011 11:09 Reply (Quote this message)
I can guess a few bits so ill post you something after work.


SGS



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Issue the orders Sir, and I will storm Hell.
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09 August 2011 12:42 Reply (Quote this message)
Quote: Maz
I can guess a few bits so ill post you something after work.


SGS


Well due to the age of your existing mobo it's unlikley to be compatable with current DDR3 memory or the latest generation cpu's, so you're going to be shopping on ebay to find a replacement (DDR 2 prices skyrocketed recently due to low production numbers)

A replacement 5/6year old mobo might be a quick fix if you can find one, but you still need to know exactly which socket and memory you have so the correct mobo can be selected. (you could just read the model number off the top of the board (usually near the gfx card slot/memory slots.)

The problem is the error you described could also be the CPU so you might get a new mobo and still have to replace the processor,(The HDD light came on, which wouldent work if the Mobo wasnt powering up).

##########

My suggestion would be find out what type of gfx card, and power supply you have, and if your DVD/HDD are IDE or Sata.

A new core system = Retail I5 2500k (includes fan), Z68 mobo and 4GB of DDR3 PCI16000+ memory with plenty of room for overclocking. (Ebuyer do a bundle for the CPU + Mobo for £254 and the memory is about £45 for 4gb of G.skill Redline or Corsair Vengence.)

Most of the below are just luxuries as your old stuff will most likley be compatiable (except possibly the power supply unit)

PSU 80%+gold (efficient) = ~£50 | budget = ~£25 HDD - 6Gb/s 1tb HDD = £45 | 60gb Sandforce 3 SSD = £90 Sata DVDrw+/- = £22 Case = The cool master elite 335/340/345/350 all have have plenty of room + tooless construction and all retail for about = £30-40.

Sound = the mobo will typically have 7.1/5.1 onboard dolby/intel sound, but it'll have a spare pci-e and pci slot if you want to use your standalone sound card.

Windows 7 - depends if you're on vista or xp -upgrade from vista = ~£30-40 New = £78-99 (home vs premium - oem editions). If you have a student freind, they can probably get it cheaper from somewhere like softwareforstudents webside (need ucas card).



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Issue the orders Sir, and I will storm Hell.
Maz

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09 August 2011 12:52 Reply (Quote this message)
This is one a freind of mine went for http://db.tt/jWpeEnU it would be less.if you remove the bits you dont need/want



Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.
Issue the orders Sir, and I will storm Hell.
Mani

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09 August 2011 16:07 Reply (Quote this message)
It might well be that the new GFX card I sent you is requires a bit too much power for your PSU.

Worth a try to simply pop the old one back in a see if it boots.



I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
Maz

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09 August 2011 17:51 Reply (Quote this message)
Quote: Mani
It might well be that the new GFX card I sent you is requires a bit too much power for your PSU.

Worth a try to simply pop the old one back in a see if it boots.


He didnt mention it was a new gfx card, i assumed working - no changes made - poof.



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Issue the orders Sir, and I will storm Hell.
Bandit

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09 August 2011 17:53 Reply (Quote this message)
It was working perfectly, playing everything I wanted it to, then suddenly - no beep.



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Abstract

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09 August 2011 18:59 Reply (Quote this message)
I thought my motherboard had gone the other week but then it turned out to be the BIOS resetting where the mobo' battery had died and therefore wouldn't boot because of the BIOS settings not being correct for one of my fussy PCI cards.

Try disconnecting everything from your mobo', all cards, optical drives, HDDs, etc. apart from your CPU and case speaker and see if you get any type of error beeps. If your mobo' is still alive it should detect the fact that you've disconnected everything. If it does start beeping, then try plugging things in one by one, one stick of RAM, graphics card, HDDs, etc. Then see if it boots.

Failing that, as Maz said, you can get a i5 2500K quad core processor, P67 ASUS mobo', 8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM, and Windows 7 OEM for around £400. Assuming that's all you need and you can salvage your optical drives, HDDs, power supply, etc.

Cheapest place for Windows 7 OEM is £72 from Amazon I believe.


Mani

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09 August 2011 22:49 Reply (Quote this message)
Quote: Bandit
It was working perfectly, playing everything I wanted it to, then suddenly - no beep.


That doesn't mean that the PSU wasn't eventually over stressed, try putting the old GFX card back in.

If it works, you just need a higher powered PSU for now.



I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
New motherboard, basically new PC....
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