Tag: HDD

How to problem solve a motherboard post issue

Paul

Motherboard

Motherboards are all different

Anyone who has been working with motherboards for years, probably will say this also.   Motherboard manufacturers all create their own unique motherboards to try to be different from the other.  That is the first thing for those who have issues with your motherboard and having difficulty trying to figure out what is causing your motherboard not to post or even show any signs of booting.   It can be a multitude of things that might be the cause of the issue and we’ll talk about each and every one that might be the reason for the problem.   Each issue might be a little bit different and that can bring on some more issues or concerns.  Don’t get discouraged because you can’t figure it out or know where to start.

Loose wires

This is the first place I look when I have this issue of nothing showing up or even looking like it is even going to boot.   Even a loose wire might prevent the system from starting up or even getting into the bios.   I’ve seen this at least once or twice that there was a SATA cable that was partially not plugged in and the system was just stuck and not trying to boot.   It’s usually the first place I’d look if the user says they just moved their system and now the system won’t boot because some wire somewhere came loose.   It’s usually the easiest fix for some problems.  It however isn’t the only reasons that the system might not boot.

Memory Modules

The memory modules which can be anything from DDR1 to DDR4 depending on the motherboard.  Memory sticks can go bad over time and this is usually what causes a lot of issues.  I usually just pull out all modules and start booting with just one until you find the culprit.   If it boots replace that module with the next module and see if the system still boots.  If it doesn’t then you have the issue the module is bad but if all of them boot or the problem persists than the modules aren’t the problem.  Then you will need to check other areas.

Check GPU

If the system has a GPU than this might also be the issue.  You can try to remove it and see if you can get the system to post by using the systems graphics processors if it has one.  If not you might try a cheap gpu to see if the system will post after you swap the GPU.  It’s usually not the GPU but you never know and that is where I find the problem can be sometimes.   Also if the GPU is getting to hot the motherboard might not post to protect itself and that might be the issue.   You can always redo the GPU and put new thermal paste down to help it keep cool.  I’ve found the thermal paste sometimes goes bad.

Check Hard drives

This is where I usually go next.  It can be as simple as a hard drive issue that is causing the system not post or boot into bios.   Strange as this might seem the issue can actual cause this to happen and the system will just not boot.  unplug all SATA cables and pull any NVME drives and try booting.  If it was the issues the system will at least boot to bios after that.  If it is the problem just slowly start with operating system boot drive (NVME or SATA) and see what happens until you get back to a no post issue.  When you do this you might find it is time to replace the SATA or NVME if it is that.

Reset Bios

This is usually where I go next when the problem persists and nothing seems to work.  It can be a problem in the bios and you’ll need to reset it or clear the bios memory,  to see if the problem persists.  Sometimes the bios has issues of its own and you will need to clear the bios and see if you can get the system to post.   Also if it does post, it might be time to update the bios to see if that will also help resolve the issue later on.  Sometimes even updating the bios seems to resolve the issue even better than just resetting the bios.

CPU or Motherboard

If you have done all that and the system still doesn’t boot, you know it is either the CPU or motherboard that is bad and that is where it gets interesting.  If you have another CPU that you know works, and you can put it in there to see if the system boots.  Also check the thermal paste on the cpu, if it is getting too hot on the cpu that might cause the system not to boot.  That would be my first thing to try to see if this will resolve the issue.   If not it might be time to buy another CPU or Motherboard.   It can happen that the mother just goes bad for whatever reason.   I’ve not seen it but I’ve heard about it that the motherboard can go bad.   If you can’t get the system post that is the final thing you can do to get your system running again.  Replace the Motherboard and RMA the motherboard.

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Three ways to speed up your Laptop

Paul
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Laptops all around

You probably got a old laptop, which is probably slow and very sluggish. It is a single, double, or quad core low megahertz system and you really can’t do much with it because it is so unbearable slow. I grew up with 9600 baud rates, for the younger generation that is very slow internet. It can be very disheartening to have to just wait for the system to boot or a program to run. You could of even bought this laptop from a yard sale. So what can you do with this laptop besides make it a door stop? This article will tell you how I refurbish my laptops to make them faster and more responsive when I don’t want to buy a better laptop.

2x or 3x more RAM!

If your laptop can support another laptop memory module then you should install another RAM module. It however is dependent on what speed of ram you currently have installed. If your laptop only has one module slot you will need to go buy a bigger ram and install it instead the one you have. So you need to know how big you can install into the laptop. You can easily Google it and find out how much you can add to your laptop. I wouldn’t install anything to big, something like 8 GB to 16 GB will do to make it even faster. The faster the ram speed the faster the system will respond but it must be capable with the current module so I suggest installing the same speed if you aren’t going to replace the module.

Replace the HDD with SDD

If you’re considering doing this, I strongly recommend you backup your current system. Remember the rule of 3. You should always have at least 3 different ways to restore your current system. What’s is an SSD? It is short for Solid State Drives and don’t use mechanical plates to write data. Think of a HDD has having several layers of DVD plates that are much smaller and use magnetism to read and write data. SSD are almost like RAM and have no moving parts and thus are more responsive to reading and writing which makes booting the system way faster than you probably ever realize. You can find some SSD at Amazon if you need one. You can find some really cheap SSD because you probably don’t need a lot of space for your old laptop,\.

Install Linux

I’ve talked about this before but I will say this again. If you are using a really old laptop you probably can’t use Windows 10 and since Windows 7 is at it’s End of life. You really can’t go wrong, by going to opensource operating system. I personally love Linux Mint but I am sure there are other Linux system that might be better for your laptop because it might require a very simple Linux desktop. You want your system to boot up and be able to use your laptop with ease this is definitely the best recommendation I can give you. If you are planning to install windows 10, you should make sure your laptop can support it.

Got a favorite Linux system? Or maybe something else to make your Laptop speed up and more responsive why not leave a comment and let me know and others.