What are the chances of bad MB vs CPU?

My daughters computer went "Kaput" i.e. the fans spin but no beeps no matter what I do. It has a gigabyte MB 7nf-rz amd xp 2700+ 333 cpu 2X kingston 256 kvr 400's ATI 9600xt VC cdrw and a dvd. I've taken everything out and still no speaker sound. The speaker seems to be connected ok. Oh and also no boot!
I can't find a new MB on the net that matches this one. Therfore I'm probably stuck with a reinstall if it's the MB, that is, as I suspision. I do have an old anthlon 1.2 sitting on the shelf that I think I could slip in and see. Does that sould like an idea? If it's the cpu, a new one for this MB shouldn't be very expensive, if it's still available. That way I wouldn't have to reinstall anything.


I suspicion the MB, for a couple of reasons. I) I've had gigabyte MB problems this year. Suddenly mine went out and looked like a Christmas tree. Then my wifes MB went bad with a bad memory slot! If it's the MB in my daughters computer it's the third bad gigabyte in the family this year! :redeyes:
2) I think I can just notice a slight bulge on a couple capacitors. their heads are bulged compared to others on the board. It's so slight that it could be my imagination, but I don't think so.
Is my thinking right on this? What do people suggest that I do?

Yeah, your thinking is correct on this. But, depending upon what caused the failure, it could have taken out the cpu as well.
Try the older Athlon...it should work (I'm theorizing w/o checking). If that works you know the m/b is ok. If it's a working cpu and the pc fails to boot, it's the m/b.
btw: have you tried to take "everything" out including the ram and/or vga to see if you get error beeps? Best of luck samich. ;)

I would definetly agree. Since amd xp cpu's are near indestructible except if the actuall heatsink falls right off . I would look directly at the motherboard

Make sure also in veiw of your other problems you have a surge protecter, also if you have 2 sticks of ram, try them on there own alternatly, or try and borrow a stick to try, if you only have the one.

Thanks everyone, Yes I've taken everthing out and disconnected all cdr's and HDD memory, videocard. There's nothing left but the cpu.

Unless you had something like a catastrophic power supply failure or the like, I wouldn't worry much about the processor. The capacitors that seem to be bulging really are. Defective electrolyte. I'm seeing a lot of this lately on boards I sold about a year and a half or two years ago. Dell just coughed up $300 million to replace Optiplex boards with this problem.

"Unless you had something like a catastrophic power supply failure or the like, I wouldn't worry much about the processor. The capacitors that seem to be bulging really are. Defective electrolyte. I'm seeing a lot of this lately on boards I sold about a year and a half or two years ago. Dell just coughed up $300 million to replace Optiplex boards with this problem."Slgrieb

So my problem with gigabyte boards may have occurred no matter what brand?or should I still blame gigabyte for bad quality MB's?_________________

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Originally Posted by Ferrit

I would definetly agree. Since amd xp cpu's are near indestructible except if the actuall heatsink falls right off . I would look directly at the motherboard

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If you've got another known working cpu I'd try that IMHO.

A change in cpu made no difference so it's the MB

you would need cpu, memory and videocard for it to post, if you done that, make sure you had the right fsb setting for the test cpu..

Yeah, but w/o any beeps I'm pretty sure its the board. I'm rma-ing it to gigabyte. It's already out of the case. Of course that would eliminate another variable. I may just try that i.e. build it out of the case. wouldn't take but a minute-- "just like NOO NOO suggests" :rolleyes:
In any case, this will be the third of four computers in the home, and all that have gigabyte MB's( the other is a Dell) to have their MB's rma'ed to gigabyte! :redeyes:

Gigabyte isn't my personal favorite among mainboard, but yeah, this cuts across all brands. Problem is with the capacitors which are bought from a fairly small pool of mfgs by mainboard producers.

Well this is an update to this thread.
I've put a new MB and chip in this computer. :) an amd64 3000+ with a gigabyte k8ns ultra939 board. :drink: Interestingly I could boot this thing right up from the old HDD. :thumbs2: I had to go to safe mode first, let it find new hardware. Then it would boot into regular windows and I could install the new MB drivers. ;)
My queston is re: Windows update. It will nolonger work. :sad: Says my windows isn't genuine, but it is. :thumbs: Must I call microsoft? Yes probably, but I thought I'd ask. Also Does this mean that nforce2 is not very dif than nforce3? Since I didn't have to reinstall everything? Anyone with experience in this? :eek2:

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Originally Posted by Sandwich

.. had to go to safe mode first, let it find new hardware. Then it would boot ..

My queston is re: Windows update. It will nolonger work. :sad: Says my windows isn't genuine, but it is. :thumbs: Must I call microsoft? ..

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You've changed 'enough' hardware that the activation 'pants' has kicked in & decided you need to revalidate.

& on the how come it just started up in safe mode & let me fix it ? question .. well generally it will anyway, unless any boot disks drivers won't let you, so you need either some similar ide or sata drivers present for the disk/controller you intend to use, add one kind of nvidia controllers drivers & you update for them all ;) - so windows 'knew' already, but if there are later chipset patches available - apply them ! :)

Ok so I did a repair install. Afterward I had to call MS in order to validate, but that went smoothly. However, still having problems with win update. I emailed MS about it. It's my daughter computer and I work on it when she's at school or at work. I'll be back when everything is working.