Friend fried his motherboard what one do I get?

[Doom]

A friend of mine just fried his motherboard. It's t p4 3gig cpu. He got it 2 years ago. I'm looking to replace it for him. can ahyone tell me what socket motherboard he will need?

Cheers

 

[Admiral Michael]

Would he want a totally different board or maybe just buy the same one (if available)? Using the same board means he won't have to reinstall windows.

 

[LeeJend]

What Admiral said is a good point. If you want to do this painlessly get an exact replacement. This may not be possible if the PC was a brand name (Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq/eMachines). They discontinue boards pretty often. Even the OTC vendors may not still have a board after 2 years.

We need lots more info on the MB and CPU-
-Socket type? LGA 775, socket 479, etc
-Is it a 533 or 800 mHz FSB on the CPU?
-Does he need built in video on the MB?
-Any special sound requirements?
-Is the power supply ATX1.0, ATX 2V12, ATX 2.2 etc. The power suplly to MB connector options are all different.
-Does he need/want SATA HD ports?
-Firewire or just USB 2.0?
-Is it DDR or RAMBUS memory?
-What is the size of the MB? ATX, microATX, special?

BTW - what do mean fried? A major failure could also have damaged the RAM, CPU, HD, Optical. You need to make sure the rest of his parts are good before proceeding with a MB swap. Testing in an old machine is the safest approach. I keep one around for this purpose.

And now the ugly news. If it was a brand name computer there may be restrictions on compatibility.
-His copy of Windows may not boot unless it sees a special Bios flag.
-The power supply may be limited capacity or have special connectors.
-The case may not fit standard ATX type MB's.

 

[Doom]

Hi folks I got a little more info of it. It's an Advent 3119 pc. There is some info on it here. http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/pc/3119.htm

Thanks for your help.

 

[Doom]

Does anyone know what socket motherboard this is?

 

[ElementalDragon]

well..... it's a 3.06Ghz Northwood..... and if i remember correctly.... Northwood processors are socket 478...... not 100% sure about that.... but i'm pretty sure. someone else will probably be in here in a bit to back up what i said.... or correct me.

edit: yep..... pretty sure it's 478, according to this..... unless they made a 775 one too.... which i don't think they did.

http://osnews.pricegrabber.com/search_techspecs_full.php/masterid=676489

 

[LeeJend]

The ECS SF2 MB is socket 478. It is not available from ECS anymore so an exact replacement is unlikely.

The good news - You need a MicroATX Socket 478 MB, AGP, DDR, Serial ATA, AC '97 sound motherboard. These are plentiful and cheap. I'm still trying to find out about the MB power connector. ECS has no info on your MB.
The closest one listed with a similar chipset is:
SiS® 661FX & 964 661FX-M (1.0B)
http://www.ecs.uk.com/ECSWeb/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?DetailID=392&MenuID=22&LanID=9
This MB uses a 20 Pin power Conenctor Plus a seperate 4 PIN ATX 12v Connector.

The bad news - A Windows XP CD is NOT supplied with the Advent Computer. There is only a recovery disk. There may be issues trying to installl your liscenced copy of windows onto a system with a new MB. Contact Advent about a replacement MB and for details of the Windows liscencing on your recovery disk.

If the recovery CD will work on a "non Advent" MB/Bios there is a very wide range of MBs to choose from.

 

[Doom]

Thanks for your help folks. I'll let him know that he'll more than likely have to get himself a oim version of win xp. His waranty run out a year ago. thanks for your help folks. Any chance you could point me in the right direction to get this board in the uk.

Doom

 

[LeeJend]

There was a thread in the last 2 weeks taht named 2 reliable Uk mailorder houses. I'll see if I can find it again.

Here's the thread with the UK sellers.
http://forum.osnn.net/showthread.php?t=82006&highlight=retailer

PS Your friends CD might work. It's a toss up though. The annoying part is you won't know until you try to install on a new MB. And if you buy a copy of Windows without "approved hardware" (HD, MB, ?) you can't get the OEM version price. A shame you don't have another computer you can try and use the restore CD on.

The other thing you can try is see if your friends Windows Key (should be on the case somewhere) will work with an OEM copy of Windows. You can change Keys with a keychanger utility available on the web.

 

[Doom]

What do you think of this one?
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?asu-p4s80x&P=1

 

[awesome-o]

I say you get an Asus MoBo that supports SLI, preferably a 939-pin so you can get an X2 (dual core) in the future if you need to upgrade. Plus, The SLI-Deluxe's are specifically made for SLI (again future upgrade if low on bank) and they have 4 slots for more memory. That's like 4 gigs for expansions.. always leave yourself open to upgrade..

*edit* P4... nvm... get AMD..