H-Alvorix-RS880-uATX hpe-410f problems

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Had this computer for almost 3 years; was always solid. Lately have been getting random hard shutdowns, BSOD with rebooting, and twice locked up during POST. Doing some research online, I see that there was a problem with the motherboard, for which HP issued an extended warranty repair (see http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c03199423). Obviously I'm out of luck with the extended repair deal, but I'd like to know what the problem is on the motherboard exactly, because perhaps it's a doable repair (replace a bad cap or something like that). I also see that someone else in this forum is having problems with the same mobo, although on his system the northbridge seems to get hot. On mine, both Northbridge and Southbridge chips get only slightly warm to the touch. I also undid the clips and gave the heatsinks each a real soft wiggle and neither budged, so I assume the thermal paste is still ok. I've run some stress tests like memtest86, primes95 & OCCT ; monitoring temps are fine. I managed a hard shutdown once during OCCT testing, but it was not repeatable later in the day. At all times, monitoring temps look fine. Reboots and BSODs seem to be completely random...one day during a game after an hour, another day in a browser after 10 minutes, another day I can play a game for a couple of hours with no problem. Any ideas??? Any help much appreciated, since at the moment I really don't have the cash for a new system.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Welcome to the forums...

Obviously I'm out of luck with the extended repair deal, but I'd like to know what the problem is on the motherboard exactly, because perhaps it's a doable repair (replace a bad cap or something like that).

First of all, I wouldn't recommend trying to replace anything on a modern mainboard. There is almost no way you can match machine-soldering by hand. Unless you happen to be extremely skilled.

Mainboards do die with no rational explanation. It's not always possible to tell what happened. You could try and replace the thermal paste on the CPU, north- and southbridge. Some OEMs do skimp on the quality of the thermal paste, it literally turns to dust after a few years. Other then that, make sure your case isn't clogged with dust in the intakes.

If that doesn't help, your best bet is properly to contact HP if they have a spare board available. You could also pick up a cheap AM3+ board, which should be compatible with your CPU (we'll need some system details though). You will also need a new windows licence if you do that, as the OEM HP licence is non-transferable to another non-HP mainboard.

 

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After abandoning the machine for a while, I decided to tinker with it again 2 months ago. Swapping RAM & power supply didn't help. But after removing the CPU and re-seating it in it's socket, the machine has been working fine again. Perhaps a flaky connection in the CPU socket? Or....I also recently read a post that someone had saying that they solved the problem on their pc after finding and fixing a bad connection at the J18 connector. So perhaps while removing & reseating the CPU I also jiggled that connector just right as well. Either way, problem fixed it seems.