How do you diagnose dead motherboaRD?

[badass88gt]

My PC died. When I turn it on all it does it humm from the fan going a million miles an hour but the light on the tower stays yellow instead of green. Before it died it did shut off because of overheating, I'm thinking the MB is dead? Any way to test it?

[BoosTT]

If you don't get anything on the screen (ie" dell or hp logo at startup), its the mother board. If you do see the brand logo at start up, its the hard drive. No fan=bad power supply.

Sounds like you are correct and your motherboard is dead.

[Mustang Muscle]

I have a problem too. When I start one of my comps. up, the windows screen comes up with the loading bar and after its done loading a black screen comes up with a little blue line going across the top of the screen, also no red shows on the comp.

[GTSLOW]

My PC died. When I turn it on all it does it humm from the fan going a million miles an hour but the light on the tower stays yellow instead of green. Before it died it did shut off because of overheating, I'm thinking the MB is dead? Any way to test it?

Usually there's a threshold (sp) temp that will shut the system down if things get to hot to prevent damage. Now if those temps were changed by the user then damage may have occurred when it over heated. Does it make the normal start up beep or is there a series of beeps? These can usually be good indicators of what has failed or is not working in the system (video card, ram, cpu, etc...).

[subliminal1284]

Could be a fried cpu, only way to test would be to put in a new cpu and test it. Also inspect the motherboard and look for any burn marks or blown capacitors.

[pw_cc_runner]

I would open it up and check that the RAM didn't jump out of place and is seated properly. My Dad's computer randomly had one come free awhile back and did something similar. Maybe you'll be that lucky...

[Holeshot]

Over Clocking Again ?

[DurtyKurty]

Typically if it's the Ram, CPU or Video, you will get a Beep code. If you don't get a beep code, chances are it's the motherboard.

[flyin_blue_egg]

If you have the knowledge to fix it yourself but don't know what that prob. is, take it to geek squad and they can tell you. I know to diagnose and REPAIR a problem it's $100. So I would imagine that to just diagnose a problem couldn't be to much

[badass88gt]

I checked more into it tonight, no beeps when I start it up. I'm thinking MB. Have to look on ebay I guess. Maybe I can upgrade now...

[xxsn0blindxx]

Last ditch effort, remove all add-in cards (leave video card in if there is no onboard video) and disconnect all drives. Remove the RAM and clean the contacts with an ink eraser (the gray side on the white & gray erasers) then reinstall. Remove and reinstall the CPU. Disconnect and reconnect all power connections to the board. All you need to POST is the mobo, RAM, CPU and a video card, by disconnecting the drives and removing cards you eliminate any possible sources of failure that aren't needed to get video. As for reseating the components, it isn't likely to fix the issue, but you'd be surprised how often it works.