Is my R2's motherboard failing?

Hi everyone,

I've had an R2 for about three years. The only issues I've had with it were two fans burning out and needing to be replaced - otherwise it's been a great machine!

But in the past few weeks, it has started to freeze at seemingly random times. They are total lock-ups in which the computer will not respond to any input via mouse, keyboard, or I/O board. I have let it sit for ten minutes to no effect, so I am always forced to do a hard power-off.

This is what I have done to diagnose it:

1) Dual-boot Ubuntu to see if it was Windows. Nope, Ubuntu exhibits the same behavior.
2) Run memtest86 for 9 passes. No memory errors.
3) Completely disassemble the computer, check all components for issues, reassemble carefully. Problem continued.

What other things might I do to diagnose the problem? Based on my experience, it sounds like the motherboard is failing. Is this an expensive replacement?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Well fans burning out leads me to think thermal issues. Have you cleaned your grilles, repasted recently?

 

i used to have this problem when i had an r1. back then it was a hard drive problem. i called dell, they sent a tech and replaced the drive. knowing what i know now, its not that complicated. i would say try a different hard drive. if it still freezes, it may be the motherboard.

 

About a year ago, maybe less, I changed out all the paste and pads inside the computer for new, better ones. I've also kept a close eye on temps since these problems cropped up and I've seen nothing over 80f, even during the most intense gaming sessions of 1 hour plus.

I'll do some hard drive tests and see if anything comes up!

 

OK update:

Ran hard drive tests for a few hours and came up with no errors. Temperatures are all still normal, memory tests fine. I guess it basically has to be the motherboard, right? I'd like a second opinion before I go spend $$$

 

Did you try a different hard drive?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4

 

Unfortunately I don't have another hard drive to test. Would software hard drive tests not be sufficient to diagnose a hard drive problem?

 

sometimes software diagnose does not find any errors, but there is an obvious hardware malfunction. im not saying that your hard drive is the problem. all im suggesting is, if i'm are going to spend a few hundred dollars on a new motherboard, i want to be sure that it is the motherboard having problems.

when i upgraded my r1 to an r2 motherboard, the new motherboard cost me around $150.

 

It should be enough, but I would suggest trying a different one, they are less expensive than the motherboard.

 

Updating:

I tried another hard drive for a day and the problem persisted. I know I can get motherboards on eBay, but how much would it cost for Dell to do it themselves? It's out of warranty.

 

I had a similar problem with Windows just locking up and occasionally going to a BSOD and the problem was my Hard Drive. The hard drive passed every test I could throw at it and it passed. I put a new HD in an the problem is fixed.