Can a motherboard "develop harmonics" and fail?

I sure would appreciate some guidance, as I suspect I am dealing with a repair technician that is over his head.

Quoting from his diagnosis:
" .... the hardware diagnostics went on and tells me that the motherboard has developed harmonics. Harmonics means that after you shut it off the motherboard keeps some electrical current and when you turn it on again the current will go in collision with the already present electricity inside the motherboard. Unfortunately there is no way to prevent that except for getting a new motherboard."

Thanks!
PS- At the moment I don't have my laptop's model number, as it is in the repair shop and I an out of town.

 

Sounds like BS to me (I majored in EE).

 

" .... the hardware diagnostics went on and tells me that the motherboard has developed harmonics. Harmonics means that after you shut it off the motherboard keeps some electrical current and when you turn it on again the current will go in collision with the already present electricity inside the motherboard. Unfortunately there is no way to prevent that except for getting a new motherboard."

Translation:
"I decided that it's too hard for me to fix so I will make up some BS and tell you to hand over $500 for a new motherboard"

What exactly happend to the notebook to make to take it to a repair shop?

 

To 1800rpm, "sounds like BS". You are the master of understatement.

To rodrigt, it IS total BS. I have never heard a more funny explanation in my life. This guy must be smoking some serious stuff.

Gary

 

Yes, the guy is either trying to con you, or has read about something he doesn't quite understand.

There is an electrical effect called harmonic distortion, but that's caused by the power supply, and has nothing whatsoever to do with a motherboard retaining current (it doesn't -- it can retain charge, which is a quite different thing) or currents colliding (not in this universe, they can't!). If harmonic distortion had been the problem, it would have been a simple thing to fix, without requiring a motherboard replacement.

If this was repair shop that Sony referred you to, contact Sony and let them know.

 

Second that. Hardware Development engineer speaking.

 

Guys, Thank you for such prompt response!

Moral Hazard asked:

Well, the plot thickens, mention of the motherboard is only the latest in this mystery series. Here is the sequence of events for my old (2002, $2K) Vaio PCGGR390 laptop.

1- Last June it failed to boot and a new HDD got it working OK.
2- Early Nov back to not booting and a second new HDD got it to work once. My first step was to install Acronis software to get a fresh HDD image, it installed fine but after that again failed to boot. i.e. The word SONY shows up for a few seconds, followed by an error message: "Disk reading error, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to reboot"... and doing this leads back to the same error massage, again and again.
3- Next I Received the above mentioned "motherboard harmonics" diagnosis.
4- Today's new prognosis from the repair tech: "Discussed the matter with our head tech. Assuming all the evidence even the connection that the motherboard has with the IDE drive are damaged. That's why the HDD drive gets damaged after some time."

The repair shop is at the local store of a small national chain that specializes in computers and has an outstanding reputation in my area (Boston, MA), and I have very pleased with them for 10 years. Now I feel like an idiot for going ahead with the second HDD and I'm escalating the matter, thus your further insights will be very useful and highly appreciated - thanks!

PS- I'm not sure about this forum's protocol regarding mentioning this company by name, but if anyone would like to know please send me a private message (via this forum.)

 

For consumer grade 2.5" HDs, one out of fifty either being DOA or dying within a short time is reasonable to expect. Statistically, that means that every 2500th buyer will experience two duds in a row.
That's well within the realm of possibility, and Sony has likely sold far more than 2500 units of your model, so chances are that there are several people who have experienced multiple drive failures, where the drives actually were at fault. You may just be one of them.

But it warrants that other things are checked too -- first of all, the voltage supplied to the drives, and then the auto-drop sensor (if it kicks in too often, that can actually harm the drive -- immediate head parking is not good for the drive, it's just way better than a head crash).
The "connection between the motherboard and IDE drive" should not normally cause drive failures, even if it's bad. Errors, sure. Failures, no, unless it fails to the point that it doesn't matter if you switch the drive. But having the cabling replaced won't hurt either. Contacts can deteriorate.

Good luck on getting this fixed!

 

Again thanks for such great insights, my conclusion from all this is that after 10+ years of fabulous service I have suddenly been screwed by Micro Center in Cambridge, MA ( www.microcenter.com).

As this example may be of interest to forum readers in 13 other States in the USA, here is copy paste of my latest communication with the repair technician:

-- I wrote: "Since I'm not a computer expert I went to the Sony Laptop Forums and posted my inquiry, including quotes of your diagnostic comments. Sorry to say, your diagnostic comments have been completely trashed. Since your head tech has reviewed and endorsed your conclusions, the two of you need to examine the forum discussion comments - see copy/paste below."

-- Response I received from the Tech:
"I like that. Even when the forums make some fun. Is always useful to hear what the others think about it. but this didn't change the fact that the IDE connection in your motherboard is faulty. Regards from ______, Microcenter."

FABULOUS! I take this as admission that their initial diagnosis of needing a (second) new HDD was in error, thus I will now go after reimbursement from return of the unnecessary new drive ($100), drive installation ($70) and OS installation ($70) - Total of $240.

Thanks guys for taking the time to share your insights!

 

If they have the equipment to diagnose something like that (harmonics and even electrical back flow), then they would also have the equipment to fix it.

Maybe you should ask them if harmonics is part of the MCSE or the A+ cert these days. Better yet, ask them if they understand what a diode is, and if they can install one to fix your flow problems. They cost pennies.

Since when does direct current and direct current collide? Do they have insurance? What about airbags? Maybe they should give them horns.



I think I would be contacting a main office of some sort over this incident. The system obviously has a problem, but they are grasping at straws on dealing with it.

If it was me diagnosing it, I would simply call the motherboard bad and tell you to replace it and the drive cable (just to be safe), then recommend replacing the drive as well, even if it shows good. At which point I would be presenting options such as replacement of the entire unit as it's just not worth fixing really. Old notebooks with bad motherboards are good for parts, not much else. Sorry, just how it is.

 

Thanks everyone for sharing your insights! After a very tough battle finally MicroCenter took back the Hard Drive they unnecessarily installed and refunded me for the the drive and installation charges. (At least my old clunker laptop still works with Puppy Linux running in RAM.)

While MicroCenter had previously given me excellent service, after this incident I will be looking for other computer repair alternatives and will be more diligent in price comparison before I shop there again. Beware of MicroCenter!