Do motherboards wear out?

[sync]

I recently gave a friend my old computer. When he got it home the mouse wouldn't work. He opened the case looking for problems and now the system won't boot. The power supply is working and the drive is getting power but there is no video or booting sounds. He thinks thinks that the system just died on it's own. I say that hard drives and power supplies wear out, but I've never heard of motherboards, cpu's, ram or cards wearing out. What do you think?

 

[farscape]

Since there are only a finite number of electrons in exsistance, it is quiet possible that the reserve capacity of the capacitors on the board have run out. To get it all back you have to....




Sorry, couldn't resist.


Depending on how 'old' the system is, yes it is possible that one or some components could have given up the ghost. If everything was running well before he got it tho, I'd look around for a loose card connection caused by it being jostled a bit too roughly during the move to his place.

 

[acid16]

Everything has a MTBF..... EVERYTHING. Nothing in the world lasts forever (i'm sure some would debate this, talking about the universe or some crap, but were talking about computer parts here!). MTBF = Mean time before failure. Even motherboards get old and need to go to motherboard heaven..... how old was the motherboard given to him? I'd say 5 years is a good life for a motherboard. However, my sister's comp is 5 years young and still running good. It's running a pentium 233

 

[Peter]

Capacitor aging is why mainboards do die of old age. User error, electrostatic discharge, and other kinds of damage usually kill them way before this happens though.

 

[sync]

I realize that nothing lasts forever. But I don't know of any motherboards that are close to being as old as forever.

I didn't know about capacitors wearing out though.

 

[Texun]

There are a number of things to consider: Expansion and contraction from temperature variations will cause electrical components to vary in tolerance resulting in stability problems and eventually failure over time. Capacitors, like car batteries, only have so much life. One of the most common failures with any board is the CMOS battery, and it costs very little to swap it out.

If you are getting no board activity at all (no beeps) then it may be the cpu or a chip feeding the cpu. To have any POST code the board must be able to able to start the processor and then BIOS, RAM, AGP, PCI if I remember correctly.

 

[Tom]

I would guess that the most likely thing to wear out, get corroded, or dirty are mechanical connections, like the mouse port. Also wires that flex like mouse cords. Plugs and sockets also get dusty and/or corrode.

Chances are the mouse to motherboard connection caused the original problem, and your friend's mucking about inside the case caused the secondary problem.

The motherboard components might wear out after a few decades or centuries.

 

[colonel]

oh yeah I hope I can play with this computer UT 2060

The motherboard components might wear out after a few decades or centuries

 

[lenjack]

Regular maintanence is the key...oil, filters, hoses, belts, and 40,000 bootup spark plug changes.

 

[pavy]

lol

i feel a little sarcasatity in the air

 

[newbiepcuser]

Cause of the software industry, gaming, developement tools, etc, most people upgrade their whole systems before their motherboard dies.