2 replies to this topic

[Grasshopper]

From an email:

Sorry to bother you with basic, daft question, but what's the usual life of a motherboard?? My son's advent 7064 notebook is dead - motherboard failure has been diagnosed, but the thing's only just over a year old. Didn't take out extra insurance, so am trying to get some financial compensation as I think a motherboard should last a bit longer than a year. Would be grateful for an expert's advice Regards ssusan

I've put your question on the board as that is the only place that we provide support.

An interesting question. And there is no easy answer. Because not all motherboards are created equal.

I would expect a motherboard from one of the major manufacturers (Asus, Gigabyte etc) to last a long time provided it wasn't maltreated in anyway. Five years should be easy. Ten years or more would not be unusual. In fact they often get scrapped before they reach their life end because they are just out of date.

BUT I've seen motherboards from budget manufacturers fail very quickly. Either because there is an inherent design flaw or because they cut corners on quality control to keep the price down.

However here I am taking about motherboards in PCs and you are talking about a laptop. Laptops have two problems. Firstly their small size means that everything gets hotter. And there is nothing like heat to kill computer components. Secondly they are portable and therefore are subject to a lot more knocks than a full size PC. So either can shorten their life. Having said which, I've seen plently of old 486 laptops still working so again, treated right they can run on quite a long time. In fact it is usually the screen that fails first.

But again, we are talking Advent here. And whatever PCWoe may call them, that is a budget brand.

Climbing down off the fence however I would personally say that just over a year is way too short a time for the life of a motherboard PROVIDED the laptop has been treated with normal care. I have however seen teenagers merrily hitting each other with laptop cases before now. Which they probably wouldn't admit to their parents who paid for them.................

[Ben_Mott]

The chances of getting compensation from PCWorld (Curry.digital ) is Minimal .
managers are instructed to fight tooth and Nail . and they have a solicitors department at head office
which advise them on the phone,
the techies in PCWORLD do not know much about laptops and they are not intrested in fixing Laptops
without 3 years warrenty as they can not send it to Pcservices for repair.
so they might have just said yes it is mother board to get rid of you.
it could be ram or CPU etc .
http://www.techno-mart.co.uk/
http://www.laptopsolutions.plc.uk/
get and estimate from the above people

basically Advent laptops are Rubbish ,
check your house insurance see if it covers such things up to £500

[ssusan]

From an email:

Sorry to bother you with basic, daft question, but what's the usual life of a motherboard?? My son's advent 7064 notebook is dead - motherboard failure has been diagnosed, but the thing's only just over a year old. Didn't take out extra insurance, so am trying to get some financial compensation as I think a motherboard should last a bit longer than a year. Would be grateful for an expert's advice Regards ssusan

I've put your question on the board as that is the only place that we provide support.

An interesting question. And there is no easy answer. Because not all motherboards are created equal.

I would expect a motherboard from one of the major manufacturers (Asus, Gigabyte etc) to last a long time provided it wasn't maltreated in anyway. Five years should be easy. Ten years or more would not be unusual. In fact they often get scrapped before they reach their life end because they are just out of date.

BUT I've seen motherboards from budget manufacturers fail very quickly. Either because there is an inherent design flaw or because they cut corners on quality control to keep the price down.

However here I am taking about motherboards in PCs and you are talking about a laptop. Laptops have two problems. Firstly their small size means that everything gets hotter. And there is nothing like heat to kill computer components. Secondly they are portable and therefore are subject to a lot more knocks than a full size PC. So either can shorten their life. Having said which, I've seen plently of old 486 laptops still working so again, treated right they can run on quite a long time. In fact it is usually the screen that fails first.

But again, we are talking Advent here. And whatever PCWoe may call them, that is a budget brand.

Climbing down off the fence however I would personally say that just over a year is way too short a time for the life of a motherboard PROVIDED the laptop has been treated with normal care. I have however seen teenagers merrily hitting each other with laptop cases before now. Which they probably wouldn't admit to their parents who paid for them.................

Thanks for all this advice - confirms what I've manged to glean from other places , but has made me feel a lot better about things.