Troubleshoot a motherboard by eliminating other devices. The motherboard is the one component that connects to every other component on the motherboard. For that reason, it is also one of the hardest to troubleshoot in the PC. As with most troubleshooting techniques, you must approach this process logically and rule out any devices you can right away. You should quickly be able to eliminate external power issues and external devices. It’s only once you rule those out that the process becomes harder. Typical symptoms of a bad or dying motherboard are constant reboots, USB ports not working or the system simply not powering up. Unfortunately, those same symptoms can be directly related to the power supply, as well.
Troubleshoot A Motherboard – Power Issues First
When trying to troubleshoot a motherboard that will not power up, you must first eliminate the power supply. If you do not have a multimeter, you can buy a stand-alone power supply tester for relatively cheap. If the power supply checks out okay, make sure you are plugging the computer directly into a working outlet and not a power strip. Lastly, you can bypass the case switch to eliminate that as a possible cause.
Remove Unnecessary PCI Cards
As part of the process of elimination, you must remove any non-essential PCI cards, such as a dial-up modem, network card, USB ports, sound cards. If the computer suddenly starts up with those cards out, you can put them back in one by one until you find the defective card. If the computer still doesn’t power up, set the cards aside. You should also unplug the hard drive, floppy and CD drives and their respective IDE cables. Also, be sure to unplug any unnecessary USB devices, like the keyboard and mouse, a printer, scanner or external hard drive.
Troubleshoot A Motherboard – Physical Defects
A common problem with motherboards are leaking capacitors. Capacitors help regulate voltage and when they fail, they will often bulge and leak. Capacitors look like tiny soda cans and there are often several on a motherboard. If you do not see any bad capacitors, lift the computer and give it a gentle shake. Listen for any screws that may have come loose and work their way between the motherboard and case. This can cause a short that prevents the computer from booting.
Troubleshoot A Motherboard Summary:
- Eliminate the power supply and power strip first.
- Check the case switch.
- Unplug all unnecessary devices
- Look for physical damage to the motherboard.
Submit your troubleshoot a motherboard questions in our forums if you need additional help.
I have a mother board Abit KN8 Serial ATA Raid which was running Windows XP but
the front panel connections have been disconnected from mother board fp1 and I do not have a circuit diagram to put them back. Can anyone help?
“Typical symptoms of a bad or dying power supply are constant reboots, USB ports not working or the system simply not powering up. Unfortunately, those same symptoms can be directly related to the power supply, as well.”
I believe it should read: “Typical symptoms of a bad or dying motherboard are ~”
You may delete this comment if you’d like, that would be fine with me!
I fixed the error, thanks for pointing it out. My brain works faster than I can type
I took my com. apart to change some drives and when I put it back together and turn it on the fan starts but I hear nothing else and my monitor doesnt come on and the internet light doesnt flash when I connect the cable . What do you think its the board or what?
Not sure, I would undo everything you did and try it again. Is it possible a stray screw fell between the motherboard and the case–sometimes that can short the system out?
I have a X58 EVGA, it powers up and boots into windows, but no USB devices work. If I unplug and replug the USB to the keyboard, the LED’s come up for a self test, but flash off just as fast. Probably the MoBo, right?
Could be. Have you looked in the Device Manager to confirm the USB ports are not disabled (assuming you can navigate–maybe with a different mouse)? Also, you can check the BIOS to see if the USB ports have been disabled. And finally, you can buy a cheap USB card and install it in the computer. Do a search in our store from the navbar and price them out–they’re pretty cheap and should get you going again.
I have two questions:
1.- At starting time, appears on screen the error: ” Error 0×80070002 ”
2.- My laptock is a Compaq Presario CQ60, with Windows XP Pro. S.P. 3. Trying installing the program NAVISWORKS, on screen appears : ” unable to install with your software. try with Service Pack 2.
Please, how to solve these problems ?. How to change form S.P. 3 to S.P. 2 ?.
Thanks a lot.
That error can be caused by a bad update. There is an automatic fix here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910336
Regarding SP3, if you upgraded to SP3 during an update, you can revert to SP2 via the Add/Remove programs section of the control panel.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249