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    What are the symptoms of a motherboard failure?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by alijayadv, Dec 4, 2011.

  1. alijayadv

    alijayadv Newbie

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    I have a VAIO laptop that has streaks of color through the display as the BIOS screen and WINDOW Welcome screen display, then the screen goes black and freezes. In the BIOS setup all of the words are heiroglyphics. Booting into the Safe Mode displays lines of heiroglyphics and after several seconds of scrolling files, the screen freezes. Does this sound like a motherboard?
     
    alijayadv, Dec 4, 2011
    #1
  2. ramgen

    ramgen -- Morgan Stanley --

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    Looks like a GPU issue. Do you have nVidia 8xxx series?

    --
     
    ramgen, Dec 4, 2011
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  3. lelindaedwards

    lelindaedwards Newbie

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    All I can tell you is my own experience...when my motherboard failed, my computer would not turn on at all (desktop).
     
    lelindaedwards, Dec 6, 2011
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  4. leslieann

    leslieann Notebook Deity

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    That could be a bad video cable (they are pretty fragile) or the GPU is failing. Either way, something inside probably needs replacing, the only question is will it be a $30 part or a $200 part.

    If your laptop has an Nvidia 8400 or 8600 you are probably best looking for a new laptop.
     
    leslieann, Dec 6, 2011
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  5. Fenom96

    Fenom96 Notebook Evangelist

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    Yes indeed. It could have been a bad video cable connecting through the keyboard to the screen. It doesn't sound like a motherboard problem, because I've had one and it turned on perfectly fine, but didn't do anything after that...
     
    Fenom96, Dec 6, 2011
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  6. FahrenheitGTI

    FahrenheitGTI Notebook Consultant

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    If the GPU is integrated into the motherboard then the above speculations could be correct. But, without the specific model/specs then there is no real way to know. It does however sound like GPU failure.
     
    FahrenheitGTI, Dec 6, 2011
    #6