The motherboard is, no doubt, one of the most important components of a computer. It is the main printed circuit board on your system, which is responsible for holding your laptop’s components together in one spot. Furthermore, without a functioning motherboard, your laptop’s components, including CPU, GPU, and hard drive, won’t be able to interact with each other. As important as the laptop motherboards is, it is worth knowing that they aren’t without their issues. One of the warning signs you will notice when your laptop’s motherboard is failing is your computer failing to turn on. Most people faced with this challenge often conclude that it is time they get another laptop.
Can a laptop’s motherboard be repaired? A laptop’s motherboard can be repaired but it does depend on how damaged the motherboard is. The fact that your laptop motherboard is failing doesn’t automatically mean you should get a new one.
What is a laptop motherboard and what does it include? Can a laptop motherboard be repaired? What are the common causes of laptop motherboard failure? What is the best way to repair a broken-down laptop motherboard? As you read through the rest of this article, you’ll find answers to the burning questions above and more.
Can a laptop motherboard be repaired?
As you already know, a laptop motherboard is the main printed circuit board on your computer, responsible for holding several different components together. But what happens if the board becomes faulty? Does it mean that’s the end of your PC or can the motherboard be repaired?
There’s no denying that, without a motherboard, a laptop computer is useless. Because of this reason, many people believe when the motherboard becomes faulty, it simply means they need to buy a new laptop. While that makes a lot of sense, it’s worth noting that sometimes, motherboards can be repaired.
The possibility of repairing a laptop motherboard depends, to a large extent, on the cause of the issue.
Here’s an example; let’s assume your laptop is not turning on because the capacitor on the motherboard is not working. In this case, the motherboard can always be repaired. All the repairer needs is to desolder the old faulty capacitor and solder on a new one on the motherboard.
However, in the case where several different components of the motherboard are faulty, it’ll be very difficult to diagnose the issue and fix the problem. In this case, you might need to get a new motherboard or buy a new laptop.
Something to also consider is whether the price of the fix outweighs buying a new laptop. Sometimes the price to fix a motherboard can cost so much that it may be time to just buy a new laptop over repairing the motherboard or buying a replacement motherboard.
What is a laptop motherboard and what exactly does it include?
A motherboard, as earlier stated, is unarguably the most important component of a laptop computer. Without it, there’s no way you can get your computer to work.
Here’s the thing; laptop motherboards are designed to primarily hold your computer’s microprocessor chip, allowing key components to connect and work together. With that, it’s safe to say that the motherboard is what makes the interaction between the CPU, GPU, hard disk, video card, sound card, and many more, possible.
Furthermore, motherboards are made of several different components. The microprocessor, which is responsible for fetching, decoding, and executing program instructions. The microprocessor, otherwise called processor, is also the one responsible for performing logical and mathematical calculations on your laptop.
The Random Access Memory (RAM) is another key component of the motherboard. It’s the component that temporarily stores active programs and data on your laptop.
The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) is an essential component of the laptop motherboard. In case you don’t know, BIOS, which is also called “drivers,” is a read-only memory, consisting of low-level software. The software is responsible for controlling the hardware in the system.
Other key components of the laptop motherboard include the cache memory, capacitors, CMOS battery, expansion buses, chip-sets, CPU Clock, Dual In-line Package (DIP) switches, and jumpers.
As you can see, the motherboard is the most important component of your laptop. It holds several key components together in a single place, allowing them to interact and deliver you the best experience. However, the motherboard isn’t without its issues.
Motherboards, just like other components on your laptop, can also become faulty. The only problem with them, however, is that they aren’t easy to diagnose, which is why many people believe they can’t be repaired.
What are the common causes of laptop motherboard failures?
Now that you know that laptop motherboards can sometimes be repaired, let’s talk about their common causes. Understanding what causes laptop motherboards failure is essential; this way, you’ll know what to do to prevent the issues from happening.
Portability & accident
I’m sure you’ll agree with me that one of the key factors that people look for when buying a laptop, especially for traveling, is portability. But do you know that there’s a drawback to it? Here’s the thing; the fact that laptops are portable makes them susceptible to accidents.
Unfortunately, an accident or physical damage is one of the factors that could affect your motherboards. Coffee spillage is another factor that could damage your laptop’s motherboard. If a single drop falls on your motherboard, it could short-circuit it as well.
Lifespan
The lifespan of motherboards is another common cause of them to fail. According to experts, the average lifespan of laptop motherboards is usually around fifty thousand hours, which is about 6 years of continuous usage.
In case you’ve already used the laptop for more than 50,000 hours, what that simply means is that it’s time to start considering a new laptop or replacing the old motherboard. In this case, repairing the laptop is most certainly a wrong move.
Weak capacitor
As earlier stated, capacitors are some of the components that you’ll certainly find on your laptop motherboard. Their primary purpose is to store energy, filter and delay power to make sure that stable power is supplied to the motherboard.
On the motherboard, capacitors are responsible for filtering out clutter current. After that, they send or output pure current to the CPU and other components that need a stable power supply to perform properly. Unfortunately, laptop motherboard’s capacitors can become weak and faulty. The good news, however, regarding this type of issue is that it can be fixed.
Overheating
Overheating is another common cause of laptop motherboard failure. Unlike desktop computers, it can be pretty hard to cool laptop components when they start to overheat.
There’s no denying that most laptops have air vents for removing excess air from the laptop. But what exactly will happen if something prevents the air vent from working from the inside. In this case, your laptop motherboard is one of the components that could suffer greatly.
What are the warning signs that your laptop motherboard is failing?
As mentioned above, several different factors can cause laptop motherboard failure. But how exactly do you know when your laptop is about to fail?
One of the warning signs that you will get to understand that your motherboard is failing is when your computer begins to boot up pretty slowly. Apart from that, if you noticed that your computer peripherals are becoming unreliable, this could also be a good sign.
Other warning signs to understand that your computer motherboard is failing include:
- Burning plastic smell coming from your laptop
- USB port failing to initialize
- Frequent display of the blue screen of death errors