Lying Repair Man?

[GreenNightStar]

Hello,

I just had my computer diagnosed at a tech repair shop, and he said that the motherboard was out - which I already knew.

BUT, he said that I should buy a new copy, or replacement, of every single part (CPU, RAM, Hard Drive, etc) and a new board for it all to run correctly. He never said any of the legacy parts were out, but simply that the board was dysfunctional.

If I buy a new motherboard (compatible with my current parts), will it run alright?

 

[h3sham]

depends what are those parts

 

[Soda-88]

that's a ridiculous statement only someone who wants to rip you off could dare saying

and if only the board broke then yes, everything should work fine, after all you cant lose by buying just a new board, if something else needs replacing you will know once you replace the board

 

[deadlockedworld]

I don't think he has any way of knowing if ALL the other parts are bad until he has replaced the motherboard. Hard drive/ram he could test in another machine easily enough.

However -- it is possible for a power supply to go bad and fry both the motherboard and other parts of the computer.

Edit to agree with 1)board 2) see if it works and what needs fixing then.

 

[GreenNightStar]

I'm going to go pick up the machine tomorrow and buy another mobo. I have two PSUs so I can test both.

He stated that he tried *different* parts in the same mobo, and none worked. So I KNOW the mobo is definitely out.

The only thing that caught me was the statement that I should buy a new machine or I will have to replace every legacy part IF I BUY another motherboard instead.

 

[h3sham]

he could mean that your parts arnt compatible with the new sockets thats why i said depends on what they are , what kind of CPU,ram are they , if you are sure they are compatible he is trying to rip you off,get a new board if they are compatible install em and see if any of them is broken and needs replacements

 

[Pinhedd]

If your computer is rather old, it's entirely possible that the other components that you have are incompatible with current market hardware or are themselves on the verge of failure. Simply replacing the motherboard is just a bandaid solution

 

[hotroderx]

The other thing to look at is what happened to the computer? I seen computers hit by lighting/Power surge. My first reaction is to say the techs full of crap. The same token what little bit of information supplied its hard to say.

Lets say the computer is 4 or 5 years old then chances are most of the core components will need to be replaced. The off chance computer was hit with a power surge or lighting strike I would suggest a new power supply etc. There just no real way to say yes the tech was wrong or no the tech was not.

 

[runswindows95]

I agree with a lot of the above statements. It really depends on the age of system. The older the systems, the harder it will be to find a working motherboard. Also, a bad motherboard can take out other parts. Without installing a new motherboard, there is no way to check. The thing I would figure it out is what the system is worth today, and go from there.

 

[carnage0651]

This is a simple case of the safe tech statement. We all know your mobo is shot. Others have stated that when a mobo or powersupply dies it can take other parts out (Ive seen this happen alot... but Ive also repaired thousands of computers so the amount of times Ive seen it happen doesnt factor well into the decision just because of the sheer number of machines I fix) . So what the tech told you is he cant promise that there isnt something else buggered until after you get the motherboard replaced which protects him/her.
If you list the parts you have I would be happy to assist you in determining hardware compatibility.