Why motherboards die

A hard drive might give you signs of failure, such as blue screens or lost files, but a motherboard will just suddenly stop working. That being said, here are some things you can try first to ensure the problem is with your motherboard instead of another hardware component.

There are some easy troubleshooting steps you can take to determine if your motherboard is going bad. Below we break the troubleshooting procedure into two categories: 1 What to check if the computer still passes the POST and boots or attempts to boot , and 2 what to check if the computer no longer passes the POST or does not even turn on.

Hard drive s : Are files taking a long time to transfer? Are you seeing errors or blue screens? Has boot-time increased significantly? Do you hear any clicking or loud whining noises? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, your hard drive may be going bad. Video: Does the display seem garbled or do you see artifacts on the screen that you did not see before? Do graphics-intensive tasks cause blue screens or instability?

If so, your video card may be going bad and will warrant further testing. Also, see our guide on video card failure symptoms for further troubleshooting. If you have an Intel processor, downloading and running the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool may uncover issues with the processor itself. Power Supply PSU : A failing or insufficient power supply or one that is operating out of spec can quickly cause a system to become unstable and also potentially cause damage to the other computer system components.

If you are still unsure, please also read through our article on power supply troubleshooting. Finally, also a brief word on system cooling: In many instances, errors are experienced due to improper cooling or even cooling failure in a computer system. A visual inspection of the system is suggested to make sure that all components are seated properly and being cooled sufficiently i. Temps can also be monitored for anomalies inside the operating system using a wide variety of tools — we suggest a few free ones you can use in our article on PC temperature monitoring.

Miniature technicians working on a computer circuit board or motherboard. The most likely cause of a dead system is a blown fuse or breaker at the wall receptacle. If you're certain the system is getting power and you have just installed the motherboard, it's much more likely that you've neglected to connect a cable or made some other basic error than that the motherboard itself is bad, assuming of course that the problem motherboard is a highquality product.

Many online vendors have stopped accepting returns of "bad" motherboards for just this reason. As it turns out, about 19 of 20 motherboards returned as defective are perfectly good. The buyer simply didn't install the motherboard correctly.

Even so, many upgraders choose to buy their motherboards from a big-box store or other local source, because of their generally better return policies. In fact, some people troubleshoot their systems by buying a motherboard locally and then returning it if the motherboard turns out not to be the problem. We think that's unethical, but as any vendor will tell you, it's common practice.

Most name-brand motherboards, particularly those made by Intel and ASUS, are of very high quality; cheap motherboards, including those used in most consumer-grade mass-market systems, are of very poor quality. In a shipment of motherboards, it's unusual to find even 1 DOA. In a shipment of cheap motherboards, it's not uncommon to find half or more DOA, and many of the remainder failing soon after they're installed.

In a working system, it's very uncommon for a high-quality motherboard to fail other than from lightning damage see Computer Power Supplies and Protection or other severe abuse. In particular, it's nearly unheard of for a motherboard to fail while it is running, as opposed to when you start the system.

So, one tell-tale sign is if you hit the power button on your desktop or laptop and your PC doesn't turn on, or if your PC randomly shuts off. Now, this might not be an immediate indicator that your motherboard is dead; it's also just as likely that your PSU is dead, or your CPU overheated and your computer shut itself off as a fail-safe. Those are some things you'll want to check first before you unplug everything from your motherboard.

The simplest way to test your PSU is to plug it into a system that's functioning perfectly and power it on. If that doesn't work, then it was the PSU and not the motherboard. For laptops, maybe the battery is just completely dead: plug in your laptop with your AC adapter and try turning it on. If that works, then you know the motherboard is fine.

Every motherboard manufacturer will have different beep codes for various hardware errors, so you'll have to check your user manual to know what those code are, since a PC can fail to POST for a variety of reasons, like a failed CPU, memory, or even storage. Of course, you'll also want to perform a visual inspection to make sure there are no bent, bulging, or blown capacitors, as that is also a clear indicator that your motherboard has gone to the big repair shop in the sky.

If anything smells like burning, that's another sign. If your motherboard is under warranty, you can take it to a repair shop Micro Center was a Lenovo-authorized laptop repair shop in my case and let someone else diagnose and replace it for free. Even if it's not under warranty, the repair shop can still order and replace the parts for you, for a fee. You can do all that yourself at home.

Replacing the motherboard in a desktop PC is a lot easier than a laptop, but either is possible.