Motherboard Replacement

GWC Community GWC Hive Mind
#1

While replacing the power supply on Jr’s home built computer today, we witnessed some very fascinating fireworks from the motherboard upon power up. It was loud and sparkly and very pretty but now the motherboard is toast. The first step in attempting to repair the system is to find a new motherboard and work our way from there. His old one was this:

MSi 785GM-P45

It’s a few years old so of course it is not available anymore. We’ve already gone the route of replacing this thing once off of ebay and I’d like to buy a new one this time. He’s running Windows 7 OS, has a Diamond 5670PE51G Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card and a 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM hard drive. I can’t get the make/model of the processor but I can if it’s absolutely relative.

The problem is that I’m in the market so infrequently for these things that I can buy one to spec but don’t have a clue as is it’s any good or not. Any suggestions on a new motherboard would be greatly appreciated.

~Shooter Out

#2

You’re going to need to know what the processor is so you get the correct bus speed and processor socket. The processors on the HP’s at work don’t have pins on them anymore!

#3

I think this is the processor:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.40 GHz

#4

According to the link it uses an AM3 socket. From what I see on that, it’s a socket specifically for AMD processors. And specifically for AM3 processors and not back-wards compatible with AM2 processors due to PIN numbers. Just double-check the new board is an AM3 compatible board and you should be ok. :slight_smile:

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#5

Thanks for the assist. I’ll keep looking for a motherboard but the stupid thing actually booted back up intermittently. We’re thinking it may be a case grounding/power switch issue. Since this is the second such issue we will be on the hunt for a new case now first. Unfortunately, this must be done “in person” according to Jr. So we will be waiting until next weekend to make a pilgrimage to Microcenter.

~Shooter Out

#6

Keep in mind shooter, Even though the other components, especially the proc and mem may not appear damaged it is probable that they may not function correctly. For best effect you should replace the memory and processor if the mobo goes all deathstar explosion on you.

#7

Thanks! I’m fully aware that any one thing might not solve the issue but since we are trying to keep this as inexpensive as possible we will be doing one component at a time. I really appreciate the word of caution though.

~Shooter

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#8

Not a problem bro, I do this for a living, hit me up throughout your project if you need help.

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#9

I know its been a couple of weeks but we just now today made from progress. Jr rebuilt his computer using a new Cooler Master 690 II case I had lying around. We even used the old power supply instead of a newer more powerful power supply due to the cable tentacle pornness of the new one (he wanted to reduce cable management, not contribute to it). It worked fine upon initial boot up. This leads me to believe it was an obvious short in the old case which we will be trashing.

If there are any further issues or updates I will post them here.

Thank you again for everyone’s responses. I really value your expertise and time you took to answer my questions.

#10

Weekend update number 2 -> Shortly after posting yesterday the that the computer was fixed it completely shut off and would not restart. Today Jr changed out the power supply with the newer one and it would still not power up so as I and many of you suspected it is a fried motherboard. I picked up a new motherboard from newegg.com which should be shipped to us by the end of the week.

Hopefully this one will last a bit longer. The previous two have lasted only around a year each but I squarely blame the short in the old case power button now.

Building your own computer is fun but I’m leaning back towards buying from Dell. The quality we’ve received in the past seems worth it.

~Shooter out