Motherboard HELP!

Henning

Henning

Taxi to Parking
Gone West
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Feb 26, 2005
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iHenning
Well, my previous glitch of always having to have a USB item plugged in has finally manifested itself to a traceable problem... Fried Motherboard, sigh... So ok, figure bite the bullet and buy a board for $400... wrong. $1200 AU down here!!! EVERYTHING is sooooo freakin expensive down here it's really annoying me. So ok, find a reworked or salvage board... nope. Is there any chance anyone can find me a motherboard for a Toshiba M35X-S349 for under $400? On the flip side, I bought a second hand Toshiba Portege 4010 just to get me by for now, I kinda like it so far...

Thanks all.
 
This is a notebook computer?

I did some quick looking but - notebook motherboards aren't usually sold separately. I also found quite a few google references to defective motherboards with that particular notebook - I didn't follow up on it, just noticed them.

You might save yourself some angst and just get a portable harddrive and moving your stuff over to the Protege...
 
Henning,

How about buying the cheapest notebook you can find via the internet, having it shipped to Oz (either via the website or have a friend buy it and ship it to you).

I'm not in the market but my sense is that a base level, new laptop can be had for about $800 USD.

Len
 
Len Lanetti said:
Henning,

How about buying the cheapest notebook you can find via the internet, having it shipped to Oz (either via the website or have a friend buy it and ship it to you).

I'm not in the market but my sense is that a base level, new laptop can be had for about $800 USD.

Len
Click to expand...

That's basically what I did with this Portege, however, I'd like to get more than 15 months of service out the $2500 Sattelite.
 
Greebo said:
This is a notebook computer?

I did some quick looking but - notebook motherboards aren't usually sold separately. I also found quite a few google references to defective motherboards with that particular notebook - I didn't follow up on it, just noticed them.

You might save yourself some angst and just get a portable harddrive and moving your stuff over to the Protege...
Click to expand...

Yeah it's a laptop, they do sell them, I can buy one for $1200. I keep everything backed up on an external hardrive, so data isn't the problem, it's just that the thing cost $2500 and is 15 months old, and is worth fixing if I can get a Motherboard for a reasonable price.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I have been tempted to try this service, they claim to replace only components of the MB.

www.laptoponcall.com

Here is a $0.99 coupon on ebay! (they do more than just Dell)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Inspiron-8000-8100-8200-Laptop-Motherboard-Repair_W0QQitemZ5677323824QQcategoryZ31411QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Click to expand...

I've spoken with them, and have another guy down here who does the same thing that is gonna try on mine, but both as well as one other place in the states that does it say that it may not be fixable if it's a chip set that's defective, so hedging that, I'm trying to round up a motherboard.
 
Henning said:
That's basically what I did with this Portege, however, I'd like to get more than 15 months of service out the $2500 Sattelite.
Click to expand...

Personally, I don't think the laptops are built to last as long as a desktop. The components are not as sturdy and the machines get beat up during travel.

Most of the folks I work with who are on the road with their laptops 3+ days a week tend to need a lot of service work (ours are on lease with onsite service included). Based on observation, part of that is how the equipment is treated. I don't travel that much and I try to baby mine (I treat it like I own it, just like I used to treat rental aircraft like they were mine). Even trying to be kind to the equipment I've had to have service two or three times over the last several years on the machines I've used.

Our laptop leases used to be for 2 years but in order to save some money the firm extended it to 3 years just recently. In the past, toward the end of a lease I was ready for a new machine. I'm coming up on 2 years and so far so good (knock on wood), hopefully the machine will give me another year of trouble free service (knock on wood again).

You might look into one of the ruggedized laptops next time around. Or, how about desktop PC with a high end PDA to do stuff when you are out and about.

You could also look at refurbished equipment on the manufactures website, sometimes they have some good deals.

Good luck getting your existing machine serviced at a good price.

Len
 
I'm in a similar plane as my TC1000 (used as my Electronic Flight Bag just died), and they say the system board needs to be replaced. Since a new system board is more than a third of the cost of a current generation system, I don't think I'm gonna repair it.

Laptop components are very expensive because they make relatively few of any particular set in a production run before going to the next generation, and you generally can't replace one version of the same board with a different one because it won't work right with all the other boards. It's not at all like the desktop world where a replacement motherboard that you can drop your old CPU and PCI cards into is relatively cheap.

Good luck with the repair route, but you may find that your best bet is to treat this as a forced refresh and get the latest unit.
 
Len Lanetti said:
Personally, I don't think the laptops are built to last as long as a desktop. The components are not as sturdy and the machines get beat up during travel.

Most of the folks I work with who are on the road with their laptops 3+ days a week tend to need a lot of service work (ours are on lease with onsite service included). Based on observation, part of that is how the equipment is treated. I don't travel that much and I try to baby mine (I treat it like I own it, just like I used to treat rental aircraft like they were mine). Even trying to be kind to the equipment I've had to have service two or three times over the last several years on the machines I've used.
Click to expand...

I'm on my fifth laptop in something like 20 years and IIRC the only failure I've had is one hard drive and one broken power input connector.
 
Greebo said:
I did some quick looking but - notebook motherboards aren't usually sold separately.
Click to expand...
Surprisingly they are, but a lot of times it's cheaper to just get a new system. Just depends. Sometimes you can find systems on eBay with broken monitors and such that you can strip what you want from the system ;)
 
wbarnhill said:
Surprisingly they are, but a lot of times it's cheaper to just get a new system. Just depends. Sometimes you can find systems on eBay with broken monitors and such that you can strip what you want from the system ;)
Click to expand...

Yep.. I replaced my keyboard for $20 with parts from an eBay seller. Now the "mouse" buttons on the case are bad. That's not as easy to get to, but I may look for another parts laptop when I get a round tutit. For now I use an external mouse.
 
Henning said:
Woo Hooo! I knew it could be done! Thanks!
Click to expand...

Not a problem, but as I said, make sure you take your CPU off before sending in the exchange ;)
 
lancefisher said:
I'm on my fifth laptop in something like 20 years and IIRC the only failure I've had is one hard drive and one broken power input connector.
Click to expand...

I have a Toshiba 320CT that I am using right now. This used to be my desktop, courtesy of a docking station, at work. It is now about 8 years old, and it is totally obsolete excepting that it works. I have always liked its small size for travelling. It is literally falling apart. The plastic case is cracked in many places, and pieces are falling off in the corners. The main hinge between the screen and the body is wobbling on its support and I expect it to break completely off every time I open it. The battery, remarkably, still has enough juice for about an hour and a half.

I do have an up-to-date laptop as of last Christmas. HP/Compaq 6880 although I may have the number wrong. I still use the old one at work as the employer is cracking down on unauthorized internet usage at work... and with the addition of a $15 (post-rebate) 802.11g card this old laptop does just fine.

This may be the oldest functioning laptop in frequent use, and it is barely functioning. JOOC anyone got an older one that they still use?

-Skip
 
Henning, if the great info William sent you doesn't pan out you may want to check www.tigerdirect.com
I've had good luck finding parts and pieces for my equipment.
Good luck!

CAVU,
Kevin
 
I have the good fortune to work for a company that keeps repair people in-house all the time. That said, we all have IBM laptops. My T42 is solid and an improvement over the T30 it replaced a while back. And that was an improvement over the 600E that it replaced. I'd still like more battery life. :D

My consultant friends who have to buy their own laptops have said (and have the experiences to back up) that this is the one piece of electronic equipment that you buy the extended warranty or service contract for. It WILL pay off. To back that up, my daughter just had to have the motherboard replaced in her laptop. They had the service contract and it is money in the bank.
 
Ghery said:
My consultant friends who have to buy their own laptops have said (and have the experiences to back up) that this is the one piece of electronic equipment that you buy the extended warranty or service contract for. It WILL pay off. To back that up, my daughter just had to have the motherboard replaced in her laptop. They had the service contract and it is money in the bank.
Click to expand...

Haaa!!! You'd think so huh? Well let me tell you, I bought the warrantee, requires me to ship it to the states with the origional receipt. I've made all the arguements. Just shipping and insuring from here will cost over $200. You just can't imagine how much of a rip off it is down here.
 
Henning said:
Haaa!!! You'd think so huh? Well let me tell you, I bought the warrantee, requires me to ship it to the states with the origional receipt. I've made all the arguements. Just shipping and insuring from here will cost over $200. You just can't imagine how much of a rip off it is down here.
Click to expand...

Well, if you weren't living in Oz these days it would have worked better for you. BTW, other than computers being expensive, how are things going down there? I'm looking forward to a visit to Sydney some time next year for standards committee meetings (don't have the dates).
 
Ghery said:
Well, if you weren't living in Oz these days it would have worked better for you. BTW, other than computers being expensive, how are things going down there? I'm looking forward to a visit to Sydney some time next year for standards committee meetings (don't have the dates).
Click to expand...
I was in Sydney and North Queensland last August/September and loved every minute of it!

-Skip
 

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