Help Please - I am v. confused!

[mendmepc]

Hello,
I am very new to this :angel:
My pc has died!! I have been told that it is the Motherboard.
The thing is I am not at all good with computers, although I must add I seem to be learning fast (last week I wouldnt have even known what a motherboard was!! ).
The motherboard is a MS 6340 ver:5 and the pc is an AMD Athlon xp 1800+ (??? does this sound about right???) .
Anyway - I have been looking for the part and I dont think they make it anymore :knock:
I found another one that would work with my pc ... but ... it has DDR slots instead of SDRAM ! All my pictures and documents are on the memory of my old pc (I havent backed them up EVER).
Can anybody offer some advice - or should I just buy a whole new system?
Many thanks
Louise

 

[GSL]

The way I see it is that you have 2 options:

The first option is to get a newer mother board, newer memory and the down side to this is that you need to reinstall windows.

The second option is more risky (I'll explain why) and by far more time consuming, however if done correctly then you won't need to reinstall windows. For this one you need to go to ebay and search for exactly what you told us your board is "MS 6340 V.5" and you should get a few different options. This is risky because it's hardware coming from other people and it could be defective. I don't trust ebay for hardware...never have. But if you go this route, then you need to research each of the options you have to make sure that they are the exact same as your current board. Here is a decent looking one that I found on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6785047360&category=42013&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1

Hope this helps.

 

[just_a_nobody]

Who told you your motherbaord (MOBO) is bad? Please explain the senario, that lead to the conclusion that the MOBO is bad.

 

[IronDuke]

mendmepc
As I read it you seem to be worried about losing you data if you have to buy new memory. If this the case you need not worry as all the data is on the hard disc. When all is back up running then you will get your chance for your first back up.

 

[mendmepc]

Thank you all for your quick response and help.
I will certainly look for the said motherboard on Ebay as suggested.
In answer to Justanobody - I will try to explain.
The pc was running as normal no one was on it. Then it just restarted on its own. The black screen came up with the writing as normal, then the whole thing cut out. I phoned the tech help at Time, where we got it from, after trying several things they said I would need a whole new tower as the motherboard was broken.
When I take the two SDRAM out it will start up but no beep, and no green light, just the orange one, nothing on the monitor. When I put them back in it wont even start.

IronDuke - thanks for that - yes I am worried about my data, we show and breed Dalmatians and all my pictures from over the years were on the pc.

So - I think I understand - I can buy a brand new motherboard with memory (DDR) and my data will be safe? As it is on the hard disk. So can anyone recommend a good one that will work well with my system, if I do not get the used one off ebay?

 

[vnf4ultra]

Hello,
If you're worried about the stuff on your hd, you could plug the hd in to another computer on the slave(middle) connector on the primary ide channel(set the jumper to slave first on the hd), and copy the disk(or whatever you want on the disk) to the computers main hd.

Don't format/reinstall xp if you want to save your stuff.

 

[GSL]

So - I think I understand - I can buy a brand new motherboard with memory (DDR) and my data will be safe? As it is on the hard disk. So can anyone recommend a good one that will work well with my system, if I do not get the used one off ebay?

Not exactly. I said that if you buy a new mother board that is a duplicate of your current one then you won't loose your data, but if you buy a new board that is different from what you have, then you will loose your data.

 

[mendmepc]

OK - I have managed to get my data on to a disk ( or should I say - I got my friend to do it) what now? A new motherboard i pressume? What should I be looking for for my system? I do have the windows xp disk still so I guess I can use this - but will have to buy the other things like 'word' - my ex brother- in - law installed this so I dont have the program
I have been quoted £600 fr a new system, but I think motherboards are around £50 am I correct?

 

[GSL]

OK - I have managed to get my data on to a disk ( or should I say - I got my friend to do it) what now? A new motherboard i pressume? What should I be looking for for my system? I do have the windows xp disk still so I guess I can use this - but will have to buy the other things like 'word' - my ex brother- in - law installed this so I dont have the program
I have been quoted £600 fr a new system, but I think motherboards are around £50 am I correct?

Arg....blasted currency rates! *shakes fist* Let's see if I can do this....50/2 and carry the 1...So £50 is about 88 USD...so that seems about right for a new mainboard, here in the states anyway. As far as what should you be looking for I present a question for you...how long do you want to go before your pc will be completely obsolete and how much money do you want to spend. You can build your own pc for about half of what you can get it in any store already put together. To do that though, you need a good friend who won't charge too much for labor as long as you buy the parts...or you can put it all together yourself if you really want to learn about what goes into pc systems. Hope this helps.

 

[albert3801]

OK - I have managed to get my data on to a disk ( or should I say - I got my friend to do it) what now? A new motherboard i pressume? What should I be looking for for my system? I do have the windows xp disk still so I guess I can use this - but will have to buy the other things like 'word' - my ex brother- in - law installed this so I dont have the program
I have been quoted £600 fr a new system, but I think motherboards are around £50 am I correct?

If you buy a whole new system it will come with Windows installed at least. If you replace the motherboard with a different one and re-install Windows completely then you can use your existing Windows CD for the task. Either way - you will need to purchase Microsoft Office if you want Word. It is illegal for your brother to have installed it on your computer and kept the CD.

 

[mendmepc]

Hiya thanks for all the advise - very much appreciated Just to add though Albert, my brother in law used to live with us with my sister (his wife) there was only the one pc in the house, but when he left he took alot of things with him - the split wasnt amicable, a little more legal - but annoying non the less