Help with PC Repair

Yesterday morning there was a short power outage. When the power came back on, my PC did not. I took out the power supply and it checked out ok. The manual says it is probably the mother board. I don't want to attempt this myself. Any suggestions for someone that does repair? I saw there was a few in the Broadlands Newletter.

 

Did you have the PC plugged into a power strip and then to the wall? If not, you should have (for future).

How do you know the power supply worked? Did you go take it to another plug in the house and turn it on? If that is the case, I would put it back and check the whole PC again, but at another plug. Check inside the PC when you plug it in too and see if there are any lights on the motherboard that work...

Is this a new PC? What kind is this and what are the other parts? I ask this because it may be hard to replace a motherboard that is more than 3-4 years old. The other pieces will not work in new motherboard because of compatibility.

 

Dave, I disconnected the power supply from the unit (per HP instructions) and it tested as positive (solid green light). The HP instructions then indicate that the processor, motherboard or other component is damaged.

Yes I had a power strip, however, apparently when we had a power surge the other day the power strip did not work as expected.

Do you know anyone who would be capable of doing the repair work? I could send it to HP -- but -- I prefer not too since I have data on the hard drive.

The desktop is two years old....Thanks for your reply

 

If you do not have a service contract with HP, then I would suggest you consider your options. I think, if I remember my HP hardware, that they use proprietary motherboards. You may have to buy the same one as a replacement... Does your documentation seem to confirm this, that you can only use HP parts?

And for something like this, I would say it is probably just the Motherboard that got fried. And there are a bunch of people in our community that could help do this kind of repair. Myself included. The only immediate concern I would have is if you had to use HP parts and if it is worth fixing in the first place.

I usually recommend to someone in a situation similar to this, that they consider upgrading now (since you are about 2 years) and set a budget. You could get the parts for a new PC (minus the stuff you have like monitor, hard drive, mouse, etc.) for $200 to $400 - and that is for a good basic PC with new parts.

I tend to stay away from HP so I may be off on their parts being mostly proprietary... just food for thought. But if you stick to the repair path.... get a new motherboard and the idea is that you just move the old parts over to the new Motherboard and you are good to go. The CPU should be ok and you can re-use the other stuff.

Now the one thing I do not have is extensive tools to test equipment (motherboard), someone else may have that stuff (Steve are you reading this?).

Lets see if someone else has other ideas....

 

By chance, did you buy your powerstrip from costco? If yes and if I remember correctly, then the manufacturer might cover this expenses.