Desktops forum: Can't Start Dell GX270 after 2 Days of Shut-Downs

I am not especially bonded to the GX270, but lack of funds precludes buying another one for a while.

I found a motherboard on eBay this am, thank you for the suggestion. I called the site and it does replace all the caps, and they helped me figure out which motherboard was the right one for my computer. They even said they would include for free the liquid need for installation to go between the heat sink and processor. I have no idea what that means. I'm hoping I can google the installation and not botch it.

When I think back, a few years after I got this computer, Dell had to replace the motherboard for free (the tech did it, it was on a service contract). Apparently the motherboard was the achilles heel of the GX270, and Dell was replacing them for free until 2008.

If I am having difficulty with the motherboard installation, should I repost on this thread, or start a new one?

Heatsink compound is the item that was offered free for re-install of the cpu. This is fairly easy DIY. However, if you like, checkout:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm

This is the same application for practically all cpus. Don't over do it, a dab goes a long way. Also, Dell provides basic teardown or access of the PC for repair, get the docs. to review. This really isn't hard repair and once you do it after due care, you wonder why you didn't do this sooner.

Post a different thread when you start all this, so its new to other users, etc..

tada -----Willy

Now I'm worried.

I had posted my issue on another computer website (bleeping computer) and here is an answer I got.

"Yes, you could replace the motherboard.

There is one small problem with doing this though, and that's an issue with your hdd.


When you take a hdd with a Windows OS installed on it that you have been using on one computer and then install it as the primary hdd in another computer you are asking for major problems. The excerpt below is from a Intel article which describes in detail what happens. The article also mentions a reference to an article by Microsoft, it can be seen here .

"Moving a hard drive with Windows* 2000 or Windows XP* already installed to a new motherboard without reinstalling the operating system is not recommended.

If a hard drive is moved to a new computer, the registry entries and drivers for the mass storage controller hardware on the new motherboard are not installed in Windows for the new computer you may not be able to start Windows. This is documented in Microsoft's knowledge base article. This is true even if you move the hard drive to a motherboard with the same chipset, as different hardware revisions can cause this issue as well.

Additionally, moving a hard drive to a new motherboard may not exhibit any errors until you install new IDE drivers. This is because each chipset uses a different Plug-n-Play (PNP) ID to identify it. If you move your motherboard, your registry will have multiple PNP IDs (for the old hardware as well as the new hardware). If there are multiple entries in the registry, Windows cannot determine which hardware to initialize and therefore fails with a STOP error."

There is a slim chance that you could get away with this, but I would strongly suggest that you back up all of your important data to an external form of media, CD, DVD, flash drive, etc.

If you have the installation disc for the operating system I would suggest that you do a fresh install."

What do you think of this?

Of course, doofus that I am, my data and emails are not backed up anywhere.
I don't know how to get the information that is in my non-functioning computer out of to to back up into something.
I don't know how to do a re-install either.

Uh-Oh!