Attack of the Killer Motherboard

[Susan]

Well I have no computer, it decided over the fourth of July weekend to have an explosion of it's own and after looking at it and replacing a fan I realized it was beyond my help so I had to take it to the shop. Chances are it's probably the motherboard or processor, something more expensive i'm sure. I'm praying the hard drive is ok so I can at least retain some of the information on there since I have pictures and all kinds of crap since 1992 (no it's not an old pc it's only two years old but i moved alot of information from my last computer to this one)

SO here I am, with absolutely no privacy, typing in a well lit room at the public library with people sitting, talking and standing right behind me with absolutely no courtesy to look away from everything I type. Also note that I have a session timer which is currently at 48 minutes and counting.  So in case some of you may wonder if i won the lottery, took a vacation to spain or perhaps got a life....no. I'm sitting at home with no cable, no computer and no hope for keeping what little sanity I had to begin with

On a good note I have two dvd's sitting by the keyboard i intend to check out - "Mommie Dearest" and "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes"

[Menard]

Be careful about mentioning the word: vacation. (:

[odinn7]

Menard wrote:

> Be careful about mentioning the word: vacation. (:
>


Muahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!

[Susan]

::note to self:::

11 minutes and counting.

[Flangepart]

Susan...i know the feeling!
50 minuits left!

[LH-C]

Susan, I am sooooo sorry. I hope you're able to recover your files.

[ulthar]

Susan wrote:

> so I had to take it to the shop.

Susan, if it is the motherboard, can I make a suggestion?  PLEASE ask them to get a good quality board.  The MoBo is the probably the single biggest 'value killer' component in the computer.  People buy computers with the latest, greatest cpu then run it on a junk main board.

It really makes a difference.

There are others you can consider, but I recommend Tyan and Asus.  The top end boards by Abit are really good (I've got one here that has been running, very nearly nonstop and doing calculations the whole time, for over four years) high performance boards, but they are admittedly a bit more finicky.  Whatever brand board you use, stay away from the lowest end of ANY brand - they are junk, they act like junk, and they will have higher (more frequent) failure rates.

Top o the line boards start around $100 ish and go WAY UP from there.  But, for $100 or so, you can get something that is very high value (reliability wise) for your money. (For comparison, the el-cheapo's can go for as little as $30, but this is a case of you get what you pay for).

I only mention this because many computer shops will put in the cheapest board they can find if you don't specify.  And to reiterate, the cheap boards (by any maker) are JUNK.

My $.02 worth of hoping to reduce future problems....

[dean]

I agree wholeheartedly with ulthar.

My friend keeps telling me that motherboards are the glue that keeps the whole thing together: get a cheap one and watch it get unstuck.

That being said, what are you typing that makes it so embarrassing to have people stare over your shoulder huh?? :-P

Come on, the more the merrier!!!

[Chopper]

sorry to hear that, using public computers does really suck. at the library i go to i used them once to print out a paper for school and i found myself in an odd sea of cyring babies and individuals who didn't look too sanitary.

[Neville]

Hehe, once I was in the college library and this guy entered this Xmas website, and inmediately the PC started playing White Christmas through the internal speaker, without anybody not knowing how to stop it. Eventually, the responsible of the service asked if there was anybody with computer knowledge among the presents, with the result of somebody standing up and unplugging the bloody thing.

Yes, using public computers suck. When Internet is running OK, chances are the PC is either too old to be usable (ancient screen that lickers, lousy keyboard) or it is filled with spyware. Thanks God I finally hired an ADSL service.

[ulthar]

Neville wrote:

> ancient screen that lickers

I don't EVEN want to know ...

;)

[Susan]

Well sorry to report I had to go for the cheap motherboard, after paying for the service i just can't afford anything more. The good news is - since i know a little about computers (having done alot of work myself on my other two), the hard drive is fine so i made it a slave drive on another pc and managed to copy over all the important stuff. The reason being i may keep this machine for awhile, but i don't like it. I've never had an emachines and maybe next time i'll go for dell, it seems like emachines has alot of crappy parts and bad customer service. Then i can keep this as a backup.

I had to do this because the motherboard was put in but the blue screen of death still appeared so I have to reinstall windows. My main concern was saving all my pictures from 10 years back and various misc. files like my resume and such (which will teach me to periodically back up) I love how cd's can hold so much info, i remember the days when i had to back up all my stuff on floppies - what a nightmare!

what still irks me is there is a lightbulb that has been burning in a fire station since the early 1900's. It's my opinion that companies create consumers by manufacturing disposable and unreliable products.

[ulthar]

Susan wrote:

> maybe next time i'll go for dell, it
> seems like emachines has alot of crappy parts and bad customer
> service.

Doesn't Dell, also?  Ooops, did I say that out loud?   (I am of the opinion that if you want true value in a computer, build it or have it built; don't buy one from a Big OEM...they target the lowest common denominator).


> what still irks me is there is a lightbulb that has been
> burning in a fire station since the early 1900's. It's my
> opinion that companies create consumers by manufacturing
> disposable and unreliable products.
>

Yesterday, my wife saw a sign for single-use video cameras, and that sparked a discussion on just this topic.  We do live in a disposable society.  EVERYTHING is disposable - stuff, people, etc.