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Fixing my motherboard.

Tags: Hardware

So, my son and I updated an old Dell Vostro 460 computer with a marginally better video card and some extra RAM a couple years back so he could play Subnautica, and we were very excited that we got the game working, but then after a year a year or so, it just stopped. First I replaced the CPU, after doing a jumper test on it and it failed, but when I installed the new one, and turned it on, the fan would turn for a second, then stop, then turn again, then stop. I tried removing each component one by one to see if any of them were creating the problem, and nothing changed. I was obsessing. I scanned over the motherboard a few times with a magnifying glass, and I finally found something that looks like a damaged component, but I don’t know how to figure out what it is. I am not a computer guy, but I want to try to replace this component on my own with my very old soldering skills. Assuming this is the component that has caused the computer to stop working, how do I figure out what it is and where to get it? I know this is a very old and weak computer, but now it’s personal. I posted a close-up picture I found of the same motherboard online and and put an arrow pointing at it, and then a pic of my motherboard with an arrow to show where it is. It’s supposed to be a solid black square, but on my computer, it looks like the black plastic has partly disintegrated and there is exposed, coiled wire. With the magnifying glass, I think there is a 49 beside the component. If I could upload a pic, I would. I’d love some wisdom. Thanks!

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I hate to burst your bubble

In reply to Fixing my motherboard.

And it doesn’t matter how personal it has got what you are describing sounds like a Choke which is effectively a coil of wire with some iron through the middle of the loops of wire. If it is that the plastic encapsulating it has no effect on it’s function and it can all be gone without affecting the function of the component.

As for soldering any M’Board you need at the very least an Electronic Soldering Iron that is Temperature Controlled with a super fine tip and even then you are likely to fry the Circuit Board in the process as they are never soldered with any form of Soldering Iron the components are all Surface Mount are place onto the circuit board by a robot and then Ultravioletly soldered into position because these circuit boards are not double sided they are several Fibreglass Substrates samaged together and at the very least 4 layers of circuitry possible more depending on who made the board.

Instead of looking for faulty components on the Circuit Board you should look at the Power Supply which is the likely culprit here as they die all too easily and give some very funny readings when they do. Remember a Power Supply doesn’t need to have no voltage coming out of it it can have the correct voltages on all rails but no current at all so things like LED’s light up fans may even spin but there is no current going to the Logic Circuit so it doesn’t run. I’ve lost count of the number of times that all components have been replaced by the owner except the Power Supply because lights come on and fans spin when you turn it on and nothing really happens. People think that it proves that the PS is working but when you plug it into a PS Tester you find no voltage on one of the rails and it fails the test.

Test the unit with a Know Good Power Supply and see if it makes a difference.

If you touch the surface of the M’Board with an electric Soldering iron it is likely you will destroy the Circuit Board because the Tip Is Not EARTHED and it puts some kind of charge into the tracks of the circuit board destroying the delicate components in the Integrated Circuits which you’ll firstly never see and secondly only ever be able to prove by removing the IC and testing it in a dedicated tester for that Integrated Circuit because these IC’s are so small you’ll also most likely bridge several of the connectors with solder destroying any hope you had of the M’Board passing energy and signals to where they should be going.

Hope that is of some help

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