Revive or Bury?
 

My desktop crashed this week. Took it to Bestbuy and paid them $75.00 to tell me the motherboard died and they can't fix it.

Called Dell and they can sell me a refurbished motherboard for just a little under $200.00.

My desktop was bought in 2004 and I like the programs on it.

Bestbuy told me they could get the information off of it, but my husband said that doesn't mean the programs.

I have no clue how long a refurbished motherboard would last. They only give a 90 day warranty.

I have my books on this computer, pictures, family tree information, etc.

I'm leaning towards replacement, but I'm afraid that it may be a short term fix.

What do you recommend?

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

Buy a new one.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

IF I do, I'm thinking of getting another laptop instead of a desktop.

What do you think?

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

Buy me a Desktop & buy yourself a Laptop.:D


Seriously, buy a new one Laptop or Desktop.
Do your research.

There are deals out there!

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

I'm so out of the loop, I have no clue what half the new technologies are talking about.

I just got off the Dell site and there are so many choices and I have no clue what is the better deal.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

What do you use your computer for?

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

You can always get another system. your programs are on the harddrive and you would just need to replace the board. If you don't want a new system, look at ebay or your local craigslist. There are deals out there.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

Or see if you can put your hard drive in the new system, then you lose nothing.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

Mostly writing and research.

But I also have some special programs for my sublimation business that I have not been working lately. Mostly because my printer is not functioning and they have discontinued the speciality printer head.

I have a ton of pics. Bible programs, family tree program, etc.

Can't remember everything on there until I start thinking of what I might need.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

My husband said I would have to have the programs in the new computer for that to work.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

This is all true, the info your wanting to retrieve is on the hard drive not the motherboard.

Bestbuy is pretty good about building you a new computer, tell them what you use it for and they can set you up with only what you need. If you get a salesrep that talks a bunch of lingo you don't understand and sounds like he could sell ticks to a dog then ask for another rep. Another way is to go to their website and you can enter what you use your computer for and it will build one for you online then just print it out and go down there and give it to them, that way you dont have a salesperson trying to sell you more than you need. Your husband, in all due respect, is wrong though. Not only can they take all your information off of your old hard drive but they can then transfer it to your new one when you buy it .

Laptop or desktop again falls on what you use it for, if you need it to be protable or not. Desktops are more upgradable, I have installed several disc drives in mine because I may burn 2 or 3 CD's at a time, I also added a floppy drive because I transfer peoples floppy disk to CD.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

Your programs are on the Hard drive. I'd take out the hard drive - it's pretty easy to do, especially if you don't care about anything else and then reccyle the old computer and get a new one if cost isn't a factor.

Shopping around, you can probably get a replacement computer for not much more than the stated price of the Motherboard.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

Of course, by the time I chime in I now see others have answered the "Programs are on the Hard Drive" issue.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

He didn't say they were on the motherboard, he knows that. But he said the programs would have to be installed on the new computer before he data could be transferred. Which I think is what you just said here,

I have not unpacked all my office stuff since my new home has more sq ft but yet I seem to have less space. lol In other words, the rooms are larger but....

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

He said he wants wireless.

We are getting to old for climbing under the desk to unplug computers and screens and etc. lol

I have looked at laptops and desktops. Laptops seems to run a little more.

I want one that does multiple task at once, I think they call that hyperthreading, or at least that used to be what it is called.

I am familiar with Dell and HP, but anything other than that is foreign to me, outside of Apple which is not in the hunt. I would have to start all over with new programs and that is not an option.

I am concerned my Family Tree Maker is so old that it may not transfer data if I upgrade to the new program.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

It depends. If you have, say a Microsoft Office package, on disk at home - then you will need to install that afresh on the new system if the new one didn't come with an upgraded Office package.

But your Word documents and whatever else you would simply have to drag and drop onto the new system's hard drive.

Whatever you do there'll be some housekeeping - a lot of fun if you're into that, mindless drudgery if not.

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

Whatever you decide - first thing you need to to after you get it all up and running is to BACKUP your information (pics, books, etc).

If you lose it -- it's gone!

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I know. :(

He told me he backed it up not to long ago.

Hope so.

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I like the Microsoft Office package on that computer and I do have the disk, I think, but that was an WindowXP. So would that work on Windows 7?

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Huh? The programs are on your harddrive, not your computer in a matter of speaking. Without a harddrive, you can't do much. :spit

Re: Revive or Bury?
 

Assuming the harddrive is fine then it shouldn't be a problem to have someone put it in a new computer for you and actually boot from it. Booting from your old harddrive would mean your computer would function exactly like your old one with the same programs and everything. I can't imagine this would cost much either. The only thing about this method is that it would require a desktop computer if your current one is a desktop because desktop hardrives are physically larger than laptop harddrives.

They can probably even set it up to where ya can boot from either harddrive meaning that you can boot from the old one in windows XP with all ur old stuff there (thats what I assume you have) or you can boot from the new one in windows 7.

I think you said that just the mortherboard was broke so you really should talk to a local computer person and see what kinda a deal he can offer you on transfering your old harddrive to a new computer and getting it to boot properly. Assuming there isn't something I'm overlooking as to why it can't be done.

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One other thing I forgot to mention. There is another option that might not cost as much. You can probably get a motherboard from a site like newegg for around 50 dollars. You would probably need a computer guy to help you pick one out that is compatabile with all your parts and probably install it for you too so that will add some charges. But it might be worth looking into if you want a really cheap fix.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...25%20-%20%2450

Oh yea, the site is one of the largest sellers of computer parts and from what i remember you don't have to pay any sales tax through them. They are very reputable too and almost all their products have reviews and ratings. I built my whole computer from scractch from parts from their store and it's been running almost a year straight (and I mean ever hour in a 24 hour day for almost every day) with no problems. I think the motherboard I got was about 70ish dollars. If I hadn't planned on wanting it to play videogames and some stuff like that I would have probably gotten a cheaper one.