Brewmaniac

Ok the skeptics among you where right! My Emachines(T2865) pc completely crashed, the guy at Bestbuy opened the case and immediately said the Motherboard’s fried then told me it would cost $300-$400 to replace it. They then tried to sell me a new computer. It's only 18 months old.

I googled my model and found a replacement @ Emachines for $159.

My question is, are there a better quality motherboard out there, I didn’t see any but did I just miss them?

Secondly, are they difficult to replace? I will have to explain to someone how to do it as I’m disabled.

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MikeSty

IMO, replacing a motherboard in an OEM prebuilt (emachine, dell, gateway etc) would be pretty difficult. I'm not disabled, but I am pretty uncoordinated and I must say it's a difficult thing to do. $300-400 doesn't seem right, and it's also odd that he said it was toasted right after he opened it uP

Lasereth

Motherboards in general are not hard to replace, but it might be scary for a first-timer. If you don't get the exact same motherboard, there is a chance that the computer will have to be formatted (hard drive erased) for the new motherboard to work. Motherboards come in three formats: ATX, Micro-ATX, and Nano-ATX. Chances are your e-machines motherboard has an ATX motherboard, or a Micro-ATX motherboard if the machine is smaller than most computers (physically). Other motherboards will most likely work with it, but you'll need to buy one that is compatible with your processor and RAM.

I'd just buy the e-machines motherboard if you feel like you and another person can get it installed properly. Most motherboards are $70-$150, so it's not that bad of a deal. Can't Best Buy install it for you? I'd try to get that arranged if you've never installed a motherboard before.

*EDIT* I assume the $300-$400 is based around labor also. That's not a bad deal, because store-bought computers can be rough concerning motherboard installation unless you've did it multiple times.

-Lasereth

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Martian

Swapping a motherboard is the most difficult thing you'll do in a computer case. That doesn't make it hard, though.

Before you (or your proxy, as the case may be) start, you need to deal with any electrostatic charge you're carrying. There are bracelets available for the purpose, but I usually just touch a faucet or something else grounded to discharge any static I'm carrying. Once you've done that, you can get started. The only tools you should need is a phillips and a flathead screwdriver, unless your case is something weird. You'll also need a small tube of thermal paste, which you should be able to buy at any computer store.

Disconnect all of the cables and anything else from the back of the computer, then move the tower into an open area and place it on it's side. Remove the side panel, so that you're looking into the case. Most side panels come off with a pair of screws at the back, then it will either slide off or pivot out. You should now be seeing the inside of your computer. You'll see, looking at it from the front while it's resting on it's side, 1 or more cards in the back left-hand side of the case, a heatsink on the right side towards the back, the power supply at the very back at the right side and all your drives along the front. Depending on case layout, this might all have to come out. Start with the cards. There will be one screw on the bracket of each card, holding it to the case. Remove the screw and pull the card firmly but gently upwards until it pulls completely free of the socket. Find a safe surface to place the card on, like a table top. Repeat as necessary until all the cards are out. Next, disconnect any internal cables, such as the IDE cables to your drives, the PSU connector or any front panel connectors.

Then for the processor, check the sides of the socket. The heatsink has to come out first, which means you'll have to unplug the fan and then remove it, which varies depending on the retention method. AMD and older Intel CPU's (Pentium, Pentium II) have retaining clips on the sides of the heatsink. One of them should have a small bracket that will fit a flathead screwdriver. Insert the screwdriver into the bracket and carefully apply pressure down and away from the socket until the clip comes free. After that the heatsink should just lift off. Pentium III and Celeron processors are either the same, or they're slot 1, which will look almost like a video game cartridge. If that's the case, you don't have to (and shouldn't) remove the ehatsink, the whole thing will just pop out like a card. Pentium 4 processors, the heatsink will be held in place by a retention bracket. You'll find two lever arms on the sides of the heatsink, lift them and the heatsink should come free. Once the heatsink is free, remove the processor. Lift the lever arm on the side of the socket and carefully lift the processor out.

Now we should have everything disconnected from the motherboard, so check the back of your case. Some cases have a motherboard tray to simplify installation and removal. They're pretty obvious, as there will be a long thing strip of metal on the back of your case that's held in place by several screws. If your motherboard is on a tray, simply remove the screws and slide it out. That means you get to skip the next part.

If your motherboard is not on a tray you'll need to create clearance for the board to come out. Do this by removing anything that's in the way. The PSU will have to come out (4-6 screws on the back of the case, then lift it out) and potentially some of the drives as well (2 screws per side, then the drive will slide out of the bay). If you prefer, you can take it all out so that you're starting with an empty case, but that's not really necessary.

And then the motherboard itself. Look along the edges of the board and you'll find 8-12 mounting screws holding the motherboard down. Remove these screws and the board will lift right out. Underneath it you'll find several brass spacers. If the new motherboard going in is the same make and model as the old one these should already be positioned correctly. However, if it's a different make and model you're going to need to take those out and put in new ones to line up with the mounting screws on the new motherboard. Put in exactly as many as you need.

After that, you're simply reversing the process. Place the new motherboard on top of the spacers and install the mounting screws. Then reinstall any drives or the PSU if you had to remove it, or slide the tray back in and reinstall the mounting screws for that. Then gently place the processor back in the socket and push down the lever arm as necessary, making sure the cut corner on the processor lines up with the cut corner on the socket. The one thing you'll need to do for the heatsink that you didn't for removal is spread some thermal paste. Just coat the processor die (the metal rectangle in the middle) thinly and then place the heatsink gently on top. Reattach the retaining hardware carefully. Then reinstall your cards and reattach all of the internal wiring, referring to your motherboard's manual to make sure you get everything in the right place. Finally, you can put the sidepanel back on and breathe a sigh of relief, because you've done the job and learned how to swap out any other component of your computer in the process.

I don't think I've missed any steps, but if anyone notices anything I missed feel free to chime in. Also Brewmaniac, if you have any questions, fire away or PM me if you prefer.

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Robaggio

I call shenanegans.

It is either extremely easy or extremely hard to discern whether or not a motherboard is fried. In the former result, there would probably be a horribly obvious scorch mark on the board itself- so obvious that the techie at BestBuy should be inclined to point it out to you. For him to know "immediately" that the motherboard is fried is extremely fishy. If he can't point out a point where the motherboard fried out, then there is no way for him to know without testing.

In my experience, the motherboard is one of the last things to have its problems discovered. Particularly because of the difficulty (impossibility) in diagnosing them. I'd spend hours on a system before finally going, "Well, I guess the motherboard's fried. I've tried everything else. Damn."

I don't know much about e-machines. But $300-400 seems very steep. I spent $300 on a *new* motherboard and processor. This doesn't include labor though. Perhaps if you were to get a price quote to breakdown the individual costs?

catback

I sense skepticism in best buys computer tech ability here. I myself have worked with alot of electronics, computers included, and I have to say it is quite possible to instantly tell if a motherboard is fried. Uncommon as it may seem it really isn't all that uncommon. $300-$400 is pretty steep but with labor included in that estimate you have figure that the motherboard is a costly little oem devil, just think how much a computer without monitor costs and think about how much of the price is spent on the motherboard.

xepherys

Quick points:

a) With modern computers and Windows 2000 or XP, you should not likely have to wipe and/or reinstall windows.

b) MANY eMachines use non-ATX compliant boards. Often they are micro-ATX (mid- to small-tower cases) but do not have their screw holes in standard spots, and often the cases do not either. If you are replacing the board, be prepared to get a new case. Realistically, it's a good step in the right direction to do so anyways, and slowly move away from anything even remotely proprietary.


Oh, and $300 for a motherboard? No fscking way!!! Maybe for an advanced multi-processor board. Not for an eMachine!