How to Test Motherboard for Faults?

How to Test Motherboard for Faults?

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How to Test Motherboard for Faults?

Hi guys, I am Juliet craft, IT specialist by profession. Today I want to address an important issue regarding PC usage and that is the heart of any computer called Motherboard. As heart supplies blood to all other organs of our bodies, similarly motherboard supplies signals and commands to all other components I PC like RAM, ROM, graphics card, etc. 

In this article, our editors have explained the best ways to check your laptop/computer motherboard, along with symptoms that appear for a faulty motherboard.

How to Test Motherboard for Faults?

Most of us think that motherboard is the only culprit if our computer system malfunctions but this is a misconception about it. Many times it happens that any other component of CPU creates a problem but due to lack of knowledge and awareness, we blame the only motherboard.

Symptoms of a faulty motherboard

The fault in the motherboard is surely a very challenging task for any user or computer technician because he has to consider different factors in this regard. One must have to eliminate various variables to get down to the root cause.

Usually, there are not many signs come out to help you diagnose the exact motherboard issue. It either works or not nothing in between.

Click here to read a detailed guide on Motherboard Size Chart.

Other components like a fan or hard drive will work even the motherboard is dead. However, your PC won’t work anyway. If you think that only motherboard is to be blamed think again after reading below-mentioned points that have to be considered.

Physically damaged components of the motherboard

Whenever we think about, Testing Motherboard for Faults? First thing you must have to do is the physical inspection of your PC motherboard. Often it happens that due to repeated power interruptions or higher voltage supply cause capacitors to burn.

Make sure if you can see any burnt/melting effect on any physical component. Leaking or bloated capacitors produce overheating. They can be easily diagnosed and must have to replace urgently.

The unusual burning odor from the motherboard, check for faults

If you are experiencing an unusual burning odor from your CPU or motherboard, it surely indicates that something is wrong with the motherboard. It happens when you install any incompatible component to your motherboard because an incompatible graphics card, RAM or video card can easily cause damage to your motherboard.

Before installing any component, make sure it is compatible with your current configuration of the motherboard.

Random freezing issues

Sometimes you may face random freezing or lock up issues with your PC working. At first, troubleshoot your system just to check if there is any fault regarding any software or not.

If you have checked your software components and software failure is ruled out of your case, then come to motherboard components on a later stage.

Blue screen of death

Sounds horrible, isn’t it? But if you are facing this issue, do not blame your motherboard. In most of these kind of cases, the main culprit is either a bad driver or any hardware failure.

If you have a look at the error message specially the error code which might be look like this (0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000).

Once you get this type of code, research it in google and try to find out the nature of its fault. Check whether it suggests something pertinent to motherboard failure or not.

Below are the additional warning signs that you should be careful of:

  • Some features may stop working for a few seconds
  • The computer will take unusually longer boot up time
  • The motherboard does not do Power On self-test

Testing and Finding Reasons for Motherboard failure

Overheating of any component in the Motherboard is a major cause

Fan failure is another reason because dust accumulates very fast in fans causing their failure. In order to avoid this condition, try to clean your motherboard or CPU at least once a year with blower fan or vacuum cleaner

Physical shock to the motherboard is a fatal mistake. Try to avoid physical drop or scratch with other objects

Humidity is not good at all for motherboard or relevant electronics. Try to place them in a dry place away from water and humid conditions

Repeated power failure is disastrous for electronics. If the electricity in your area is unstable causing frequent interruptions or voltage is not as it should be, do not use your computer until you get favorable conditions

Troubleshooting of motherboard failure

There are usually 2 troubleshooting categories that a user or technician can follow. Firstly, check whether the computer does POST and re-boot or not? Secondly, if it doesn’t POST and power on again. This part concludes, the answer for, How to Test Motherboard for Faults?

What to do if POST is successful and computer boots up again

If your system does a successful POST and operates again then try to find out other components or software failure then motherboard itself.

Check the hard drive

It is quite possible that you are having a faulty hard drive and you are blaming motherboard to be performed badly. If you are having blue death of screen issue, try to get the error code and find its causes and solutions in Google.

You should keep your hard drive clean, moreover, a bad hard drive usually takes a longer time to boot than normal and the system often restarts randomly without any reason. Generally, symptoms of a bad hard drive are as follows:

  • Unusual sound
  • Bad sectors
  • Longer boot time
  • Frequent crashes and restarts
  • Corrupt files

Check the power supply

Don’t take it casually you might be facing problematic power supply.

Check the RAM

If your system is not booting as normally it does or you are having colored screen having some codes on it, instantly check RAM. Remove it from motherboard and reboot again. If your system reboots normally, your culprit is RAM in this case.

Check whether the BIOS firmware is updated

Sometimes, updating the current BIOS version serves the cause and it removes all faults regarding motherboard

What to do if POST is unsuccessful and the computer does not power on again?

If your system doesn’t perform POST and power on again, try to find out whether there is any physical damage in CPU area or power cable. If you couldn’t find any known reason, then it is advisable to take your system to any good computer technician who diagnoses the fault for you. 

I often faced such kind of issue in the early face of my professional life. I have wasted a lot of time in finding the appropriate solutions from here and there. That’s why I wrote this article in order to avoid all my fellow readers for wasting their precious time.

Sometimes, the solution is very simple but due to our ignorance, we make it so hard to understand. I am sure I conveyed all the important causes and solutions in the body of my article, and I hope you find this article useful. Have a good day!!

Team – Whatlaptops.com

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