System board also know as motherboard
A system board also known as motherboard or mainboard is the main circtuit board in any laptop. Unlike desktop PC system boards, laptop system boards come in thousands of different shapes and sizes. Laptop motherboards are model-specific. In other words, you cannot remove motherboard from a Toshiba laptop and stick it into a Dell laptop. All parts inside a laptop are connected to the system board, either directly via a connector mounted on the system board or through a cable.
In a typical laptop the following ports and components are permanently attached to the system board and cannot be easily removed and replaced without soldering:
1. Hard drive (HDD) connector.
2. CD/DVD drive connector.
3. Memory (RAM) slots.
4. Battery connector.
5. Keyboard connector.
6. Audio (headphone and microphone) jacks.
7. Volume control wheel.
8. USB ports.
9. Eithernet (RJ45 aka network) port.
10. IEEE 1394 (Fire Wire) ports.
11. Video chip and some other components and ports.
System board, processor (CPU) and LCD screen are the most expensive parts in any laptop. In some cases, when one of these three parts fails, it’s cheaper to buy a brand new laptop than replace the failed part. But each case is different so do your research.
The system board is mounted inside the laptop base assembly. In order to remove or replace the motherboard, you’ll have to disassemble the whole laptop.
SYSTEM BOARD FAILURE SYMPTOMS.
When a system board fails, you may experience the following most common problems with your laptop. 1. The laptop is completely dead. There are no LED light activity when you press on the power button or plug in a known good AC power adapter. 2. The laptop starts but the video output on the LCD screen or external monitor is garbled. Most likely this is related to the VGA chip failure. 3. The laptop turns on without video on the screen and the power LED starts flashing. 4. The laptop works fine with AC power adapter but will not charge a known good battery. If that’s the case, most likely there is something wrong with the battery charging circuit or DC power jack.
Laptop parts | Repair Man | 
December 26, 2008 3:45 pm
299 Responses to “System board also know as motherboard”
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Pages: « 12 … 11 10 9 8 7 6 [5] 4 3 2 1 » Show All
September 13th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Steve,
Take a look here. You’ll find some good links to sites with laptop disassembly instructions.
September 13th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Bhagyanath,
Not sure what’s going on but it’s possible you have some kind of compatibility issue between the PCMCIA card and your ThinkPad laptop.
I know that ThinkPads might now work properly with some internal Wi-Fi cards because it has to be some kind of “IBM certified card” or something like that. Apparently, the same applies to some external PCMCIA cards.
Can you find another PCMCIA Wi-Fi card for test?
September 12th, 2009 at 12:49 am
hai,,,im facing a big problem…my buffalo network adapter is not working..there is 2 PCMCIA slots in ma laptop..and wen i insert the adapter to the top slot ,laptop detects the network card but after installing the driver ,it says cannot start the device..and wen i insert it to the bottom slot..my xp gets stuck..my xp continues working if i remove the adapter from the slot..what should i do..im not able to use ma wireless these days…i am using IBM T21..
September 10th, 2009 at 6:12 am
Where can I find step by step manuals on how to disassemble all laptops so I can replace motherboards?
September 8th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
bhagynath,
Toshiba Satellite A60 laptop has only one external memory slot. The main memory is integrated into the motherboard and cannot be removed.
If you have nothing installed in the slot on the bottom, you will not be able to remove RAM.
September 8th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
George.
Could be bad memory module. Do you have two memory modules installed? Try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each module separately.
September 5th, 2009 at 11:22 am
My laptop (Lenovo 3000 N100) starts normally, but after 1-3 minutes it turns off suddenly. However, sometimes (after 5-6 trying) it works I can use it without any problem.
By the way, it works since 3 months with adapter only, I supposed the battery is wrong, but I think this is a motherboard problem. What is your opinion?
September 4th, 2009 at 6:24 am
i jus want to kno where is the ram slot in TOSHIBA SATELLITE A60..COZ i cant find the ram slot..is ther only one socket for the ram..i gave my laptop for repair and they said its motherboard is dead..so i wanted to take its RAM and put it into another laptop..so can ya help me find the RAM slot…
August 26th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
elmer,
Have you tested the laptop with a few different AC adapter?
If you did, probably it’s bad motherboard.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:16 am
laptop is completely dead. There are no LED light activity when you press on the power button and when I insert good 19v adapter the voltage is decrease to almost zero voltage,Can still fix this?
August 21st, 2009 at 9:49 am
Mj,
I don’t know that. I don’t fix motherboards on component level.
Are you sure your problem is not related to a faulty RAM module?
August 20th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Hey, I have compaq R3000, it does not turn on at alll, it is not because of AC adapter, not for battery, not for AC jack,
i have done some research and found it is caused by “internal DC to DC convertor” can you show what a dc- dc convertor chip looks like on a motherboard.
Thanks a lot.
please email me
August 14th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Skido,
I’ve seen a problem like that before and I think this is related to the motherboard malfunction. I don’t know exactly what is wrong and which component is causing this failure.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Hi
my gateway laptop powers on by itself as soon as i pluck in the ac adapter. can u tell me whats wrong with my laptop. thankx in advance
August 13th, 2009 at 11:17 am
bhagyanath,
Are you asking about your Toshiba Equium A60?
Take a look at the Satellite A60/A65 disassembly at http://www.IrisVista.com/tech/
This laptop has same body, so you can use the instructions.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:10 am
bhagyanath,
First of all, I would suspect the memory failure. Try reconnecting the memory module. If you have two modules, remove them one by one. Test the laptop with each module separately. One of the memory modules could be bad.
August 11th, 2009 at 6:53 am
i hav a IBM T22 laptop…its not working properly..wen i switch on the fan starts running but nothing happens as such..what mite be the problem..help me..
August 9th, 2009 at 6:45 am
and can ya show me how to open ma laptop..or disassemble ma laptop..i don wanna mess ma laptop..so can ya provide some pics as well…
August 9th, 2009 at 6:44 am
i think my motherboard is dead..wer can i get a new motherboard from..is ther any site in particular..
August 8th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Bhagyanath,
Toshiba Equium A60 is similar to Satellite A60. Take a look at this post for known problems with Satellite A60/A65 laptops.
From your description it sounds like the laptop is getting power but will not power up. First of all, I would check the memory module. This laptop has one memory module integrated into the motherboard and another module can be installed into the memory slot. Do you know if in your laptop the memory slot is populated? Try removing the memory module from the slot and turn on the laptop. If you still experiencing the same problem (power light is on but no activity from the hard drive, LCD, etc…) it’s possible that your motherboard is dead.
August 8th, 2009 at 5:38 am
at times its fan starts..but dont show anythin..
August 8th, 2009 at 5:35 am
i hava TOshiba Equium A60.it does not work.fan does not start..makes no sound..what mite the reason for its failure and how can i repair it..
August 7th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Varum,
Try reconnecting the keyboard to the motherboard. Maybe the keyboard cable is not making good connection with the motherboard and reseating the connection will fix your problem.
Unfortunately you cannot do that. Laptop motherboards unlike desktop motherboards are model specific. You’ll have to use a motherboard designed for your ThinkPad R51.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Michael Bake,
I assume the laptop still works fine, except the fan?
It’s possible that all error messages you are getting are not related to the fan. Maybe the fan runs all the time because the heat sink is clogged with dust and the laptop overheats. Try cleaning the cooling module first. The cooling fan can be accessed when you remove the RAM cover from the bottom of the laptop. Remove the cover and blow off the dust.
Test if the fan runs normal now.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Hi. I have a Dell XPS 1330. The fan has started running in high all the time – although sometimes it will surge from low to high but then just stay on high. I did a Dell self diagnosis and it showed 3 items that required attention.
1) Smart system test – failed
2) Systemboard RTC rollover test – failed
3) CMOS pattern test – failed
I have not idea what this all means but presume it has something to do with the fan speed.
Thoughts ?
Thanks