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replace gateway pc mobo

C

cuti7399

Platinum Member
Hello all,
Friend of mine gave me her pc to fix. It has a fried mobo. It is a gforce6100 mobo. I want to replace it but there 2 problems:
1. the case is btx
2. the new mobo cost $180

which mobo can i use to replace without having to reinstall windows? this mobo can be matx or atx because i told here it would be cheaper to do that. Thanks for any advice
 
First, check the backplate at the back of the case and see if it's removable or attatched to the gateway board. Then, if your board has an Intel cpu, try finding the same chipset as your old gateway board. You may still have to call microsoft to reactivate windows. If you want to possibly upgrade the cpu later on, the 965 or p35 chipsets will give you this option. I found a 965 board for around $63 by performing a search on yahoo, and going through about 5 pages of vender listings. Otherwise, expect to pay about $135 for a decent board. I couldn't find any Amd btx boards.
 
no, i want to replace the mobo and case because i think it's cheaper and upgradale. Now can you guys suggest a geforce6100 board? Thanks
 
Depends on your version of windows and whether it's gateway bios dependant. I remember some old dell systems searched the bios at every bootup for the dell logo. If your windows version is xp or vista, you'll probably have to call microsoft. Some folks will delete all the motherboard devices under "hardware" in the device manager before changing boards, but you can't do that if your board is already doa. If you can find the same brand of board (my compaq has an msi board) with the same chipset, you might want to remove the gateway bios chip and install it in your new board. This will negate any voltage and other overclocking options, but if it works, might save you from doing a fresh windows install. The bios chip removal tool costs about $5 at computer stores, and looks like a large staple remover. I've never tried this, but if the boards are identical, it might work. Good luck.
 
You may run into the OEM OS issue. Basically, when under warranty at least, if a motherboard has to be replaced, your OEM must also give you a new license for XP/Vista/etc., because the OEM license is only good for that particular motherboard. Since the motherboard is shot, you may run into this as a problem. Now MS may re-activate it for you, but they may not. They don't have to do it, as their license agreement with the OEM's states that the license is good only for the original motherboard it was tied to.

If your friend's motherboard drivers were up to date, you should be ok switching to another Nvidia based motherboard as they took a clue from their video card drivers and also used a unified driver set for their motherboards as well. So you should potentially be able to switch to another Nvidia board and not run into any serious boot problems (or at least you should be able to get into safe mode and can uninstall/driver cleaner/re-install drivers to get everything working right.
 
update:
found a place on ebay that sells the exact same mobo. Installation went perfectly, i did not have to reactive windows nor reinstall windows at all. 🙂). It's expensive though $129, but I think it saved me time and headaches.
 
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