Broken Motherboard?

Hey guys, I was just wondering if it was possible for the computer to boot with a broken motherboard ...

I thought without the motherboard you wouldnt even be able to get to the BIOS ... is this right?

Thanks

It may still work with only whatever is broken not working, but it may also shortout and fry everything connected to it. It just really depends on what is broken on the motherboard. If it's just a broken SATA port or PCI connector, then it may be ok. If it any part of the actual motherboard itself, then I would not risk using it again.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hello Fmjc001,
What makes you think the motherboard is broken ?.

Would the computer have been able to get to the desktop with the least amount of damage to the motherboard?

stoneys-nutz said:

Hello Fmjc001,
What makes you think the motherboard is broken ?.

Click to expand...

A computer tech told my friend her motherboard was broken ... but I think he was just scamming her

Do you notice any obvious physical damage to the motherboard?

If it is even the slightest bit broken, then it could cause the computer to not boot from it anymore, depending on what is broken of course.

As Brink said in his post, it depends on what is "broken", so it's kinda hard to say with any certainty as to it booting or not. If it got to the desktop then either it's not serious or it's not broken. What issue was she having with it ?.

Brink said:

Do you notice any obvious physical damage to the motherboard?

If it is even the slightest bit broken, then it could cause the computer to not boot from it anymore, depending on what is broken of course.

Click to expand...

No, it looks completly fine. I think it may have been a virus and the tech just decided to scam her. She said she got some warnings about low disk space and the AV couldnt install new updates because of the lack of space then one day it just went to the desktop with most of the icons missing and no explorer and a grey wallpaper ...

It does sound like a software/OS issue rather than a hardware problem, i would try a repair first, or even a re-install. (cheaper anyway)

Fmjc001 said:

Brink said:

Do you notice any obvious physical damage to the motherboard?

If it is even the slightest bit broken, then it could cause the computer to not boot from it anymore, depending on what is broken of course.

Click to expand...

No, it looks completly fine. I think it may have been a virus and the tech just decided to scam her. She said she got some warnings about low disk space and the AV couldnt install new updates because of the lack of space then one day it just went to the desktop with most of the icons missing and no explorer and a grey wallpaper ...

Click to expand...

Well, in that case, I say go for it and see if it will boot from the installation DVD and go from there. To be safe though, I would recommend to only have the bare minimum hardware (ex: RAM, cards, etc...) connected to the motherboard to prevent it from possible damaging to much.

One thing that I would suggest in this

Ask the tech for a written quote for his proposed repair with a full fault report, Any professional would not see this as a problem, if they cannot provide the information as to what is actually wrong - then they should not be doing the work

barman58 said:

One thing that I would suggest in this

Ask the tech for a written quote for his proposed repair with a full fault report, Any professional would not see this as a problem, if they cannot provide the information as to what is actually wrong - then they should not be doing the work

Click to expand...

Good idea