M4400 - dead mobo?

I've had my M4400 for 3 years now, and honestly, it's still more than I need in a laptop. I don't game or overclock my sytems, I just want them to work. Last night I was working remotely when suddenly the system just rebooted. No warning, just *poof* and off she went, although it did go through a Windows Shutdown cleanly.

I'm thinking my mobo might be fried, because I can't get past the line that reads:

Intel (R) Matrix Storage Manager option ROM v8.0.0.1039 ICH9M-E
Copyright (C) 2003-08 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

My hard drive (Seagate 500GB SATA) is fine - I pulled it and attached it to another system last night.

I have not tried booting from a CD yet, but will burn one shortly and try that.

I have the Core2Extreme 3.06 GHz CPUs, nVidia FX770M graphics, and "IDT 92HD71" audio chipset.

If I need a new mobo, well, so be it. I'd rather drop $150 (or less!) in to this machine than $500+ on anything else.

If I do need a new mobo, how do I identify the one I have so I get the correct replacement?

 

Can you still access the BIOS?

 

Yes, I can, but I've done some testing and it's just the hard drive. It's attached to another system right now and checking for bad sectors.

My office has unused M4400s in a drawer, so I grabbed one, swapped hard drives and found my issue that way.

Wish me luck that my 500GB drive is repairable!

 

Well, I had to reinstall the OS, but I am typing this from my beloved M4400. I'll be running consistency checks more frequently from now on.