How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

I have an HP zd7000 pavillion notebook. Almost on cue (just before the one year warranty expired) the motherboard went bad. HP repaired it and sent it back.

A short time later (after the warranty expired) I started having some problems and took it in to the local computer shop- they said the motherboard was bad. I asked them if there was a possibility that there was some problem causing the motherboard to go bad, as I had just had it replaced. They said the most likely scenario was that when I sent it in for warranty service, the motherboard was replaced with a used board that was on its way out.

I figure my options are:
1) have it replaced by a shop- $450
2) get a new computer and hope I don't have any problems
3) replace the motherboard myself- how easy is this to do? I generally am ok at fixing things. For example I do most of the repairs on my vehicles myself- and seeing as this computer cost more than any vehicle I have purchased ($1800)they have definitely needed some repairs. Or am I just asking for an expensive lesson? I assume I can find a board online for a lot less than the $450 the shop would charge to replace it.

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

I've never done it.

I've seen boards on ebay, I assume they are working pulls from machines with something else wrong.

I was thinking of replacing the HDD in a G4 ibook, then I found: http://www.sterpin.net/uk/ddibookg4uk.htm

yuk.

I'm just going to bite the bullet and let apple do it.

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

Option #2.

Why spend 80% of the cost of a new laptop just to fix the old one?

Laptops are a bitch to work on.

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

this is pretty much as hard as it gets as far as hardware work goes, but it's not worth $450 to have someone do it. If you can find the board for around $100 it would probably be worth doing, even just to sell it as a workign laptop.

what are the symptoms that make them think it's a bad motherboard?

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

You may also want to get back to HP. Repairs usually have their own warrenty that continues even if the original one expires. For Apple it's 3 months after the repair for any damage that could reasonably be associated with the repair, and the repair itself. I don't know about HP.

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

This is an $1800 laptop so $450 is closer to 30%, which is why I would consider it.

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

They did a diagnostics, they only told me the results, I am not savy enough to even guess what was entailed.

The reason I took it in was because the screen is blank when it starts up- which is similar to what happend the first time the motherboard went bad.

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

I already tried that- The guy in support said once the warranty is over, thats it, end of story. I am not sure that he knew what he was talking about, he took a long time to figure out what I was asking.

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

warranty is over? to me it looks like it went bad within the warranty and they didn't fix it. another call might be an option, too.

if hp won't do anything about it go with option #2.

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

20 days after the warranty expired I had problems with my Dell 5150 laptop. Dell tech support thought it was the motherboard and would not fix it unless I paid. What a bunch of bastdards.

Anyways, I decided just to take the laptop completely apart and re-assemble it. I was hoping that doing that would fix the problem. It didn't. However I did learn that changing out a motherboard in a laptop is a fairly easy and straight foward process.

I bought a motherboard for a Dell 5160 laptop off ebay. When it arrived it took me about an hour to successfully replace it. Basically you need a set of precision screw drivers, a sorter to put all the little screws in, and some thermal grease. Pen and paper as well as a digital camera can be very handy if think you might not remember how to re-assemble it once its down to bits.

If you can replace a motherboard in a desktop computer, replacing one in a laptop should not be a problem(I think its easier in fact).

Stu

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I asked them if there was a possibility that there was some problem causing the motherboard to go bad, as I had just had it replaced. They said the most likely scenario was that when I sent it in for warranty service, the motherboard was replaced with a used board that was on its way out.

[/ QUOTE ]

96% chance there's something causing the mobo to die
4% chance that scenario took place

Expensive lesson forthcoming

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

[ QUOTE ]
This was an $1800 laptop so $450 is closer to 30%, which is why I would consider it.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP, fwiw. Seems they are going for $500ish used on ebay. So it might be worth it to take a shot, just make sure you keep track of which microscrews went where.

I most definately wouldn't spend $450 to have it professionaly serviced when you could obtain a fully functional used duplicate for the same price.

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

WHOA STOP

replacing a laptop mobo is not easy at all
that stu guy above is either exagerating a genious or extremely lucky

i have built 3 desktop computers from scratch now and i beleive desktops are very easy

my cousin asked if i could build him a laptop, i did a little research adn found only a few laptop kits but not even a place i could buy a vid card...i asked a few people and was quickly told not to try it

if you have never built a computer before i would not recomend trying this

and if you are still going to please note:
you cant just buy any laptop motherboard, your cpu socket type has to match along with the graphics card slot and the ram type....and im guessing there are demensions to make it sit right in the case too....(u probably already knew that and were just going to buy the exact same one you had, if so i appologize)

i would also verify the mobo is the problem before i went through with this(find a friend with a laptop and try their parts)

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

Thanks for all the replies- I think I am just going to get a replacement and try to get a little money by selling it as a parts computer.

One of the deciding factors was finding www.zd7000forums.com on which I found out a LOT of people had recurring motherboard failure problems- so it looks like this has a high probability to be a big hole to throw time/money into.

Another question- if I sell this is there any way to reformat the hard drive (when the computer starts up there is no image on the monitor) so no personal info can be taken from it- or should I just remove it?

Re: How easy is it to replace a motherboard in a notebook?
 

I'd just remove and keep it for my personal spare part but if you want to sell it with the HDD use something that writes zeros to the drive multiple times. "Data shred" sounds familiar but I don't remember.