What's more likely to be dead - CPU or motherboard?

Robert Morse said:
IMO, this is a waste of money and time. As I said, all the parts after 10 years will start to fail. Save your data off your hard drive, use a service like Dropbox in the future for all personal files and buy a new PC that fits your needs for the next 5 to 10 years. I built my last 9 computers over the last 18 years. I would not try and save parts that old.
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I'm going with you on this one. I know computers have a limited lifespan, and in fact I already got a replacement machine for exactly that reason. Repairing this was more for a hobby / interest. But eventually you end up trying this part and that part, replacing all the parts, and spending money, all on older compatible parts -- to where you would have been better off buying a new machine in the first place.

I tried the thermal paste, but it did not help. I was tempted by a refurbished replacement mobo and CPU on ebay at only $40 -- but they will break soon anyways. Saturday afternoon is enough, and it was fun, but time to move on.

EDIT -- 2 Saturdays, not one. Sorry, forgot to count last week.

Thanks everyone for suggestions and help.
 
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zedDoubleNaught said:
I'm going with you on this one. I know computers have a limited lifespan, and in fact I already got a replacement machine for exactly that reason. Repairing this was more for a hobby / interest. But eventually you end up trying this part and that part, replacing all the parts, and spending money, all on older compatible parts -- to where you would have been better off buying a new machine in the first place.

I tried the thermal paste, but it did not help. I was tempted by a refurbished replacement mobo and CPU on ebay at only $40 -- but they will break soon anyways. One Saturday afternoon is enough, and it was fun, but time to move on.

Thanks everyone for suggestions and help.
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You never mentioned if you found if it was chip creep syndrome. I would not be surprised if that problem still exists.
 
Overnight said:
You never mentioned if you found if it was chip creep syndrome. I would not be surprised if that problem still exists.
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Last week I tried:
- remove memory, and try them one at a time, in a different slot from where they were at the beginning
- removed video card and plug monitor directly into mobo VGA out
- new SSD drive
- replaced power supply with new one

This week:
- pulled out CPU and fan, resat CPU, applied thermal paste by the 'pea' method, reattached fan

Chip creep I suppose could still be possible. There is a wireless network card plugged into PC1 slot, and landline modem card in PCIEX 1 slot, that I did not try removing.

Also to mention -- I cleaned out all the dust really well. I have dust allergies, so I wanted to clear it out before working on the machine for a long time.
 
volpri said:
It is the motherboard. Most likely. Bad thermal paste wouldn’t keep a cold computer from booting.
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My bet would also be on the motherboard having a bad component. Likely candidates are capacitors on the board.
Chips, including the CPU, don't suddenly have a failure when they are not powered. Chips which consume a substantial amount of power, like a CPU, have a temperature protection built in to prevent it from getting damaged due to overheating.
 
zedDoubleNaught said:
I have a 10-year old HP workstation, worked great until it would not start up. The power came on the shell's button for 2 seconds, turned off, then shell button lit up again, and fans turned on. But computer did not boot up, no BIOS or anything. I got a new power supply and hard drive, but same thing happened.

The last 2 components to try are the motherboard and CPU. If you were to guess, which one is more likely to need replacing?

I'll plan to replace all the components (PSU, HDD, CPU, mobo) eventually, so it is not a critical question. I am just interested in guessing which part actually is necessary to replace, and only spend money on that for now.

If you're concerned -- I got a new computer, and hooked up drive recovery kit to the old HDD. I was able to retrieve old files off it, so old data is not lost.
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Agree with Morse... 10 years old, not worth trying to get it running again if other than simple fix. Wouldn't put any money into it at all.

Recommend HP Z440 at Newegg. Any configuration you want. Currently starting @ $328.
 
Robert Morse said:
IMO, this is a waste of money and time. As I said, all the parts after 10 years will start to fail. Save your data off your hard drive, use a service like Dropbox in the future for all personal files and buy a new PC that fits your needs for the next 5 to 10 years. I built my last 9 computers over the last 18 years. I would not try and save parts that old.
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See Bob? The other side of the coin: I had a computer built around 2003 with all the latest/greatest. Sped up the CPU and memory for $50 (delivered!) in 2011; bought 3 more years' service. Currently "driving" The Great White Horse (so named because of its enormous case) which is now about high/middle range of performance at 5 or 6 years old -- water-cooled 8 cores; multi-gig GPUs -- all that rot. Recently doubled its memory for $50 -- used to be ~$300. Still Windows 7 because, "Windows 7"..... (Might again return to the Linux fold because of that, although some reasonable people do seem to find Windows 10 'agreeable.')

My point is, 9 computers in 18 years?!?!?:wtf: You've made somebody a career!

((And, my vote is, the CPU.))
((( And whether out of sequence or not, there are a lot of good PC tips on this thread -- a great read.))) :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
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