Paphos People

After trying various IT people - yep since the virus computer problem still not solved and spending loads of money, have been told that the motherboard has a fault on it, but unfortunately it is too old to get a replacement (now writing on drive instead of using memory). I should have listened to the IT person before who said I needed a new motherboard and processor, but was convinced otherwise by so called professionals. Really am feeling dumb now in one way but since you expect professionals to be honest and solve the problem but hey ho this is Cyprus.

So what I want to know is how easy is it to replace the motherboard and processor without wiping off the disks. Since our current system only has USB1 obviously need to change this to USB2 (if that makes sense) so I can upload music onto Steve's new CD player. Don't particulary want to get another PC since we have spent so much money out on this one with new hard drives etc etc so the only thing that needs replacing (I would think) is the motherboard and processor.

Any honest advice would be appreciated, as this computer is now driving me insane since we can only have one application open at a time now because it just freezes.

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"Your dog is your friend, your partner, your defender. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true until the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion"

Hi Trish,

If you replace the motherboard and processor, usually the memory as well - windows often just loads up and you install the new drivers. sometimes, windows does not load but crashes and you have to run a repair, or even a re installation from the windows CD. However, you would not lose any data if you keep the partition intact and do not format it. If you only have a product reinstall disk from your computer manufacturer using it may wipe the disk completely.

regards

Digby

Digby,

Thanks for that but now I feel completely lost.

Well not quite, but from what you are saying it would be better having it done by an IT person as there is no way I can afford to loose what is on both the discs. Have spent the last week typing things for our web site. I had new memory put in in August last year so was hoping that would be ok.

Computers - can't live with them or without them

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"Your dog is your friend, your partner, your defender. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true until the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion"

Candy, USB 1 will still transfer music, just not as fast as USB2, anyway, a new motherboard would spec USB2, do you have access to someone who can build you a basic system consisting of tower motherboard and CPU, then all you have to do is fit your old hard drives and operating system. It need not be expensive and it would cure the problems you are having.

Have you thought of Spyros from the CL site, he has a shop in the Paphos area.

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If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs..............you obviously don't have a clue as to how serious things are.

Axel,

Thanks for that.

Spyros partner Paul here in Paphos did some work on the computer and was trying to get another motherboard without changing the processor, but unfortunately has been unable to get one and although I have text him and phoned him he has not returned his call as promised which makes me think he really doesn't want to do it.

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"Your dog is your friend, your partner, your defender. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true until the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion"

Trish,

If you get yourself a external HDD & download all your data you want to keep onto it before you change your motherboard & Cpu, then you won't lose any data at all

They don't cost much theses days & its also good to do weekly backups onto after, so that you've always got a backup copy incase your HDD crashes

I have a slimline 100gb which I have a copy of all my data on & do weekly tuneups to keep it current, only cost me £45 on ebay

Candy,
Sorry to hear that, have spoken with Spyros a few times via E mail and PM and always found him very helpful, both for myself and for others, I'm sure if he knew he would sort it out for you.

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If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs..............you obviously don't have a clue as to how serious things are.

Yes Pete we want to get more than one external hard drive, mainly because one for the computer and one for Steve's new CD player then he could take all his music out on a little hard drive as it has got to be easier than two cases loaded with CDs and I agree £45 isn't a lot but then the postage puts it at double so I would have to buy them here and at present although needed not a priority.

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"Your dog is your friend, your partner, your defender. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true until the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion"

I think i posted on CyprusLiving when it happened and my advice (and i think generally on that board) was that you need professional advice to get rid of the malware & viruses that your PC had been infected with. I would never suggest replacing hardware to get rid of malware.

For me replacing hardware is a last resort after extensive messing about.

1) Remove all user data and docs's to external storage and/or HDD
2) slow format system partition and perform clean OS install
3) update OS with all Service Packs and post SP updates
4) update all integrated/key hardware devices to latest drivers
5) update all integrated/key hardware devces to latest firmware where applicable
6) If all is still fine at this point then start to add peripheral devices (printer/scanner/webcam) on by one and ensure working fully before moving to next item
7) If all running smooth then install required software at latest release version(s)
Assuming all still ok then move data back over and hand back to customer for verification that common tasks they perform work fine.

Normally faulty hardware makes itself known between (2) and (6) by the PC just not running smoothly or unstably. I would then be trying to replace potential faulty items (CPU/RAM/VGA/MB/HDD) but as you say the older the components the less likely replacements are going to be available. Which means buying new component(s) and starting from step (2) again.

Its time consuming to do things right and most customers aren't willing to spend time getting a real fix so end up with half-working gear.

BigDutch,

Did get so called professional help but have still been left with a PC that is not as it was and too slow for me to copy any more CDs on to - taking 15-20 minutes per CD. Apparently what is happening is that windows are detecting errors and then after six it changes and then writes the old fashioned way rather than using the proper bits if that makes sense. I am not a computer person when it comes to things like terminology.

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"Your dog is your friend, your partner, your defender. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true until the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion"