Rejuvinating Dead boards

[aristotle]

How would I go about fixing a dead board?  I know I would have to test the traces for faulty connections, but how would I determine if a chip/chipset was bad or in need of replacing?  Just some basic troubleshooting tips would be a great help  No need for a huge textbook of information.  

[Ken Layton]

First thing to do is check the edge connector foil traces to make sure power is even getting onto the board. If you have game boards where two or more boards makeup a complete game board check for bad ribbon cables or interconnector pins that may be tarnished preventing communication. If still dead try changing the CPU chip(s). Usually Z-80-CPU, 6502, 6800, etc. are typical numbers of the chips. If the CPU chip is bad ain't nothin' gonna happen on the board and it will appear dead.