Troubleshooting Motherboards, CPUs, RAM, and Power
- Troubleshooting Motherboards
- Troubleshooting CPUs
- Troubleshooting RAM
- Troubleshooting Power Supply Issues
- Heating and Cooling
- Cram Quiz
- Cram Quiz Answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Troubleshooting Motherboards
Seeing a motherboard fail is uncommon, but if it does, the problem may be due to a few different issues. Let’s look at several of them now.
First and probably the most common of these rarities are UEFI/BIOS firmware issues. We’ll refer to this as BIOS for simplicity. Remember that you might need to flash the motherboard’s BIOS to the latest version. For example, a new CPU or RAM might not be recognized at the correct clock speeds. An adapter card might not be seen properly. Or perhaps the operating system isn’t working as it should be with the hardware in the system. Updating the BIOS can fix many of these issues. On a separate note, you might encounter a PC that, instead of booting normally, accesses the BIOS. A drained or faulty CMOS battery could be the culprit. Change out the battery, and the system should boot normally. Often, this is a CR2032 lithium battery. If you are not sure whether the battery is discharged, test it with a multimeter. CR2032 batteries normally have an output of 3 volts. Such a battery is only usable down to 2 V, so if it measures 2.5 V or less, it should be replaced. Also, if the battery is discharged, then the time and date of the system will revert to a default (such as January 1, 2012; note that different systems can have different default dates). Also, any other settings you configured will be lost. After a new battery is installed, the time/date and any other required settings will have to be reconfigured or imported from a backup.
If the system attempts to boot to an incorrect device, then the reason could be that the intended boot device is new; again, a BIOS flash could fix the problem. Of course, it could also be due to a configuration error. You should know how to change the BIOS boot order and many other settings in the BIOS. You should also know where to go in the BIOS to view log entries and error messages. The BIOS log can help describe various system problems (though it might require a bit of translation, with the aid of the motherboard manual). We discuss the BIOS further in Chapter 16, “Motherboards and Add-on Cards.”
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) and other electrical issues might present intermittently. If you find some intermittent issues (for example, the computer reboots out of nowhere) or you receive random proprietary crash screens, such as blue screens of death (BSODs) in Windows or the spinning pinwheel in macOS, ESD could be the culprit. Or a power surge could cause the problem. A particular wire, circuit, or capacitor on the motherboard could have been damaged. Document when failures occur. Swap out the motherboard with a known good one to see if the issue happens again when running through the same processes. If the issue doesn’t recur, chances are the original motherboard is headed for the bit bucket (meaning it is to be disposed of). There are lots of circuits on a motherboard; electrical damage to any one circuit could cause the system to behave “irrationally” at best and trigger intermittent device failure. Beyond this, electrical damage can go right through the power supply to the motherboard, disabling it permanently. Be sure to use a surge suppressor or an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to protect your equipment and, of course, implement antistatic measures whenever you work inside a system.
Another issue is component failures. It is possible for a single component of the motherboard (for example, the SATA controller) to fail and for the rest of the motherboard to work fine. This can be verified by doing a power-on self-test (POST) analysis. The POST process starts when the computer first boots. It can result in visible codes or audible beeps. The visible codes could be on the screen or could be part of a two-digit digital readout that is incorporated into the motherboard. Either way, the visible codes or the beep codes can be deciphered with the help of the motherboard manual or the motherboard manufacturer’s website.
To fix a problem such as a SATA controller failure, you can purchase a separate PCIe SATA controller card. Then you can connect the hard drives to the new controller and disable the original integrated SATA controller in the BIOS. A good bench or lab will have extra controller cards of all kinds so that you can test these types of problems. In some cases, a failed controller can be symptomatic of a bigger problem; the entire motherboard might need to be replaced. Some component failures can cause system lockups, where the OS freezes and the keyboard and mouse become nonfunctional. Such failures could be due to controller issues, chipset issues, or faulty hard drives. Check all connections and consider flashing the BIOS. Worst-case scenario: Replace the motherboard. We’ll discuss hard drive troubleshooting in Chapter 24, “Troubleshooting Storage Drives and RAID Arrays.”
Finally, manufacturing defects and failed motherboard components often occur. Printed circuit boards (PCBs), such as motherboards, are mass-produced at high speed. Problems might be found immediately when receiving a motherboard. In general, defects are uncommon but can occur due to mechanical problems in the machinery or due to engineering errors. If you suspect a manufacturing defect, you should return the motherboard.
Motherboard component failure can also manifest over time. For example, a distended capacitor is one that becomes swollen and possibly leaks electrolytic material; this bulging can cause the system to unexpectedly restart or shut down, cause BSOD, or cause other errors. If possible, the affected capacitor(s) should be replaced right away. If that does not work, the motherboard should be replaced. In the early 2000s, capacitor swelling, or “swollen caps,” was somewhat prevalent due to raw material issues; the problem was even dubbed the “capacitor plague.” However, the problem is much less common today. In fact, motherboards that are received in a dead-on-arrival (DOA) state are uncommon with reputable manufacturers.
