Are PC motherboards repairable?

[RayB]

Weird thing happened to my 2nd computer... First, the monitor stopped power on. I replaced it with another monitor I had lying around, and then a day later, the computer wouldn't power on.

I swapped power supplies and it made no difference. The LED light on the motherboard lights up, but it won't power up. I brought it in to a shop and they confirmed that the motherboardis fried or damaged.

I'm wondering... since the LED is lit, perhaps the problem is just a capacitor. There are a number of half-inch to 3/4 inch tall capacitors on this. (It's an ASUS mobo). Is it even feasible to try and repair this thing? It's only 2 years old.

~Ray B.

[DYNAGOD]

disconnnect the power and pull the bios batery for 15 minutes..
then try and start it..
i take it you arent getting any bios beep codes.
the mobo manufacturer, model ,would help as well.

[paigeoliver]

Try the caps, if that doesn't work then chuck it. A lot of recent motherboards have bad caps due to a big batch of bad caps a several years back.

[LordDamo]

I've had this happen before. Check over the board and see if any are showing any signs of being burned out (buldging, burn marks, ect). If so (which it was on my mobo) - you can unsolder and resolder in the new capasitors. You need to be able to identify them as best you can, as you will need to replace them with the EXACTLY the same ones.
If you can identify these, an electronics repair person might be able to help.

Hope this helps you . . .

[MnMCaputo]

if its an asus motherboard, and its a model from within the last 3 years, asus will repair it for free.  i have sent 2 motherboards, one with a fried mosfet and the other with an unknown to me chip fried, they rma'ed the both of them and sent them back to me, free of charge.  most other mobo companies have similar repair cababilities.  

[menace]

talk to civic83 (he's in brantford) he has done quite a few and has all the caps on hand--I'm sure you guys could work out a trade...

[RayB]

Thanks all. I'll try pulling the BIOS battery first, then if it doesnt help, I'll try an RMA.

[_Iz-]

I've successfully revived a motherboard and a stand-alone DVD player by replacing bad caps.