Should I replace the motherboard on a prebuilt or other option?

[Xenon]

My sister recently dropped a friends apparently dead pc into my lap. She seems to think I can fix just about any pc problem since I've done some minor upgrades to her pc.

Anyway, powering on the PC I get a series of 7 beeps. According to this I'm looking at either mobo or CPU. The CPU worked fine in another socket 478 motherboard so everything is pointing towards a faulty motherboard. Did other things at this time just in case. Removing everything but mobo and ram, swapping ram, PS etc. still nothing.

What would be the most efficient way to get this pc up and running? I'm not even sure if they still have their recovery CD's. Should I replace the motherboard with a retail motherboard equivalent or will I have problems with Windows XP? Thoughts and ideas will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Xenon]

I love lamp.

 

[betasub]

Well, if you could find an identical motherboard model for cheap, that would make things easy...

 

[o1die]

I would run cpu-z (a free download) and see if it will id the board model number and memory. Check the board for a propriotary connection to the front of the case, for things like the power switch and led lights. You might have to do some splicing to connect the power switch lead, or change cases to use a standard atx board. But first I would search ebay for an identical replacement board, and determine what you want to spend.

 

[Xenon]

Originally posted by: o1die
I would run cpu-z (a free download) and see if it will id the board model number and memory. Check the board for a propriotary connection to the front of the case, for things like the power switch and led lights. You might have to do some splicing to connect the power switch lead, or change cases to use a standard atx board. But first I would search ebay for an identical replacement board, and determine what you want to spend.

Can't really run much of anything since all the pc does is beep when powered on. The board is a asus p4sd-le. It was made specifically for the Sony Vaio rs630g. I've looked on ebay and haven't found any kind of replacement.

It sucks that they stick so much proprietary crap on these prebuilt pc's.

 

[Xenon]

Here's what I see as my options right now.

1. Take it to a Sony repair center. I read on another forum that Sony charges $249 for a replacement motherboard. Anyone have any experience with these places? What do you think the cost will look like?

2. Replace the motherboard, case, psu and get another copy of windows xp and hope I can connect everything properly ie. tuner card etc.

3. Ebay the spare parts and buy or build another one.

4. Keep looking online till one pops up on ebay.

Thoughts?