I assembled a desktop maybe 8+ years ago, the board finally went South.

It's an ASUS P4C800E motherboard , uses a Pentium IV socket 478 CPU, dual channel DDR400 PC3200 RAM -
has 4 slots, I've got 4 modules for total 3 gb RM.

I'm not a gamer, just fool around with home video & pictures, some online sports, watch an old
tv show, surf the net, simple things like that. It's always been plenty fast for everything I do.

When it happened, all the lights flashed rapidly and it beeped rapidly when I tried to start it.
Now the switch has no effect - the board powers up as soon as power is supplied to the machine.
Can't force quit the machine either.

Nothing on the monitor at all.

A tech shop checked it and said the board is bad. Sounded like they checked it by swapping
cpu's, RAM, etc. I had tried a new battery first, had hoped they would test the chipset, etc. but
doesn't sound like they did much if any of those kinds of diagnostics.



I do have an ASUS setup disc I got with the board when I bought it that ASUS says I can use to reinstall the BIOS, haven't tried that yet. While I was poking around inside making sure there were no loose cables or other obvious simple problems, I cleaned it. The CPU heat sink came off the CPU so I have to get some of the heat sink grease and reattach it before I try to start it again.

Assuming I do need a new board, I've found that boards that will accept that old Pent IV and my
ram are scarce. So far just some real cheapies on Amazon and eBay. Would like to find i.e. a
refurbished direct replacement, or at least something basically comparable. Or even a reputable
shop that may be able to repair the board if I send it to them.

Would much appreciate any leads or advice. The machine serves my needs and I'd like to avoid
the cost of a new CPU and RAM. Thanks!

A budget?

I'd expect to pay up to $200 for a reasonably equivalent replacement,
or for reputable repair service.

If a replacement is not a socket 478 (I have a Pent IV Northwoods)
so I can re-use my existing Pent IV and RAM (DDR 400 PC 3200)
that budget would need to include those items.

I've seen a few new boards within that price range, haven't had time
to fully compare features, wouldn't expect they'd have quite all that
my board had.

Ok if your budget is 200 i would suggest trashing the board ram and combo and get a new board cpu and ram. Such as
CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116405
MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138357
Ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

This is Under 200 assuming that you would already have PSU, Keyboard, Mouse, Moniter etc

Depending on if your current HDD is sata or not

2 of the 3 drives are SATA

I may have found someone willing to "clean their closet" and send me a
newer model board complete with CPU and RAM for just shipping costs.

He's bench testing it as I type this.

Can't beat that deal!

Good find.