Ah, the good ol’ motherboard. It’s the unsung hero of our computers, the backbone that keeps all those fancy components in line. Without it, our PCs would be nothing more than fancy paperweights. And if your motherboard decides to kick the bucket, well, you might as well start writing your eulogy for the rest of your computer.
But why does the motherboard have to be so finicky? Why does it insist on giving us heart attacks with sudden lag spikes and mysterious shutdowns? It’s like a moody teenager who just can’t seem to get its act together.
Fear not, my dear tech-savvy friends, for I am here to enlighten you on the art of motherboard diagnosis. Yes, you too can be a master of the LED lights and beep speakers that grace the gaming motherboards of 2022. You can use these indicators to decipher the enigma that is your faulty motherboard.
How To Check If Motherboard Is Faulty?
And if you’re really unlucky, your motherboard might not even turn on. It’s like a stubborn toddler who refuses to get out of bed. But fear not, for this is just a hardware problem. And if that doesn’t work, just try giving it a good ol’ fashioned smack. Hey, it works for the TV, right?
So, my fellow computer aficionados, never fear the finicky motherboard. With a little bit of know-how and a whole lot of patience, you too can diagnose and fix that pesky problem. And while you’re at it, why not read up on whether 8GB RAM is enough for gaming? Who knows, maybe your motherboard just needs a little more memory to get its act together.
(Detailed answer)
In this guide, explain each option that could help you resolve your issue without external help. It is a very easy and a common problem that almost everyone has faced, and in the year 2023 you can easily solve it on your own by following easy steps explained in this article.
Sometimes you may get worried that your motherboard is faulty, but there could be a problem with its configuration/settings, which could be easily configured. But first, you need to understand the difference between a motherboard that is not configured correctly, and a bad motherboard.
Difference between: Bad motherboard and Misconfigured motherboard:
Understanding their differences is very important to resolve your issue quickly.
A bad motherboard is the one which has a hardware issue, and it could be physically damaged, and several other components are failing as well. A damaged power supply, faulty capacitor, faulty CPU socket. You may need to replace your whole motherboard or fix all the components mentioned to get it working again. If this is the cause of your motherboard not working, it could hit your pocket hard with expenses.
Whereas on the other hand, a misconfigured motherboard is the one that has software issues. These software issues could be easily fixed simply by configuring your motherboard using various tools. You cannot call a misconfigured motherboard faulty because it can be fixed quite easily.
If you feel that out of nowhere, your computer is getting slower, or if there is an issue with installed hardware, you need to check if the motherboard is correctly configured or not. There are ways through which you can check if your motherboard is configured correctly, and they are:
Loosely connected device:
A loosely connected device is a problem for many computer components, including the motherboard. This seems very obvious, but sometimes we miss the smallest of things that are causing problems for us.
The RAMs that we use and the expansion cards PCIe are often not correctly fixed in their respective grips/slots. And because of this, these components are not detected in your computer. This issue could be easily solved by firmly placing these chips in their respective slots.
Though people confuse this simple thing as a bad slot on the motherboard, which is not the case, rather you should firmly place the chips in their respective slots to avoid any inconvenience.
Dust could also be on the slots where you place your RAM and PCIe expansions. You must clean them every month to avoid any problems which are caused by something as simple as this one.
Before going into the detailed inspection of your motherboard and declaring your PCIe slots dead or faulty, make sure that the slots are clean and plug the devices correctly and then verify it by using other expansion cards as well. These simplest of things can resolve issues with the motherboard rather than spending your bucks on a new one.
Overclocking of components:
You need to check whether your CPU is overclocked or not. To improve the performance of your computer, the CPU is overclocked to make sure a high voltage is given to your CPU for smooth performance.
If your motherboard lacks physical capacity, components that generate more power to the motherboard, if required, like good power phase design and VRMs. A lack of these components could mean that your motherboard will fail in overclocking.
How to test a new motherboard?
How to fix it?
There is a fairly easy way to fix your motherboard if it is overclocking.
At the PC startup, go to BIOs. Some shortcut keys can also be accessed by pressing F10 or F2 keys and repeatedly deleting keys. These shortcut keys can differ from motherboard to motherboard as there are many latest versions available in the market, and some people still use the older versions, so it depends.
When you have opened your BIOs, there should be an option of “reset to default”, select it and then save and reset through BIOs. This activity will bring your system back to the default version.
Read also What Is Nvidia Container In Task Manager?
A Bad BIOS update
A misconfigured motherboard could also be because of a bad update of BIOs. The original BIOs cannot be reinstalled very easily. You need a long process like reflashing your motherboard again to bring your BIOs back to the original version to fix this issue.
Most of the time, when a BIOs update goes wrong during the process, it can misconfigure your motherboard.
Now these are all the solutions of how you can fix your motherboard if it is facing issues related to software or loosely connected wires. But what if your motherboard is completely dead or faulty? The solutions given below will give you an extensive idea of your query: How to check if motherboard is faulty.
Once you have verified that your motherboard is not misconfigured but faulty. Here are certain ways of how to know if CPU or motherboard is broken:
You need to disconnect all the computer components except for the power supply unit. Check the CMOS battery if it is working or not. See if your motherboard is performing POST on the screen. Check your motherboard indicators: LED lights and beep code speakers (available in most of the latest motherboards in 2023).
Test your motherboard with other components and devices. See if there are any physical signs of damage on your motherboard (which is an obvious sign of faultiness). Replace your power supply unit (PSU).
Physical signs of damage:
This is the worst case that could happen to your motherboard. It could be a result of some accidental electrical charge (up and down of voltages). This could seriously damage your motherboard if not checked on time.
Abnormal bends:
Some abnormal bends on the wires and scratches could cause serious damages to the surface of the motherboard. So watch out for breakages and bends.
Moisture damage:
Another thing is to look out for water damages. Some of the computers have the smallest of stickers which can throw their colours when they are in contact with moisture. You should remove these stickers, which could possibly damage your motherboard through moisture.
If your computer is placed next to an AC (air-conditioner) or any air cooler which is causing moisture in the room, it could also cause damage to your motherboard.
Possible short circuit:
The circuit damage on your motherboard could occur due to mishandling that could cause sudden electrical failures. If you look for any signs of burns on your motherboard, fix them immediately. These things could be a little harder to identify, but you should at least look for them and see if your indicators suggest anything related to the electrical problems like a possible short circuit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to tell if RAM or motherboard is bad?
You can check if the machine boots properly by placing a working RAM stick on both slots. First, remove all the RAM sticks from the slots and simply put one which works well to the slot of your motherboard to see if it’s working or not. Through this activity, you’ll know if your RAM is faulty or the motherboard.
How to know if CPU or motherboard is broken?
The common problem with your CPU is when your computer starts to freeze suddenly. There are random freezes when you are using your computer could be a problem with your CPU. However, if there’s a problem with your motherboard, it is discussed in this guide which could help you guess.
How to check if motherboard is working without CPU?
There are certain ways through which you can check if the motherboard is working without a CPU. But you have to keep in mind that your motherboard must have certain features to check it. The features are post-on-self-test, this feature helps to check if there are any issues with the motherboard.
LED lights are another thing required for the process that is only available in high-end motherboards, which are expensive. However, I’ve seen that these features come in almost all the latest motherboards in 2023.
How to check if motherboard is receiving power?
If your motherboard has power indicators which are LED lights, LED readouts. Simply pull the GPU and RAM and see if the motherboard gets power without having both these computers (see if the LED indicators blink).
How to check if laptop motherboard is faulty?
It shows a blue screen of death (an ultimate symptom of a faulty motherboard). It is failing to boot, starts to lag, CPU gets restarted automatically without warning, unrecognized hardware is shown, the performance of your laptop is slowed down, power to the component is not equally distributed, and your laptop gets overheated.
These are the main signs which are shown by your laptop if the motherboard is faulty. Here I will share a few symptoms that your laptop can show if its motherboard is faulty.
How to test motherboard with multimeter?
Disconnect AC power from your computer and keep it idle for quite a few minutes to ensure all the charge is drained from the wires. Now turn on the multimeter to test your motherboard. Set it to Ohm setting to around 200, which is the lowest. Then touch the leads of the probes together (0 to meter).
How to check motherboard health using CMD?
It’s not that kind of easy and there is no hard and fast rule to check motherboard using CMD but there is a list of several ways to check the motherboard health.
Final words:
I hope from this guide you have understood how to fix faulty motherboards. In the end, I would like to suggest that you check your power supplies to see if everything is working well before going into the details of the problem.
If everything else is fine, then you should explore if there is a hardware problem with your motherboard. LED lights are an indication that could help you to know if your motherboard is faulty.
I’d suggest you keep a check on your motherboard and fix it as soon as it shows small unusual behavior signs. If you don’t fix it soon enough, it could harm the other components and, eventually, your system.
In this guide on How to check if motherboard is faulty if you feel we missed out on something important or have a better solution to a problem, you are most welcome to share your opinion. We’ll update it in this guide.
Thanks for reading.