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.
Need spare parts for your laptop?
If you are looking for spare parts for your laptop you can find brand new and used parts here. Just search by the part name and laptop model.
November 26th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
lukas,
To be honest, I don’t know what the daughter board is.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Update on the above – I’ve R&R’d another ram module and the display works on the second monitor, but still nothing consistent on the laptop lcd. Any thoughts?
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:00 am
Hi Repairman –
I have a 2004 Dell b130 which has suddenly come up with a blank screen issue. The computer seems to be running normally otherwise.
When I run it off the wall jack and power it on, I momentarily see the startup screen before everything blacks out. If I connect an external monitor, I can sometimes get the display to show there briefly (few seconds) before that goes out, too (by hitting fn/f8).
If I close the screen then reopen quickly, I can once again see the display briefly. It appears that each time I do this, it is about to go into standby mode. I removed one RAM module which seemed to get me a little more screen time, but it is still not maintain the display.
Any recommendations on what to try next? Thanks!
November 20th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
hello,
I need a daughter boards for Medion MAM2100, MD96327, pwa bd 8807im – apparently model number of daughter bard…
thank you
regards
lukasz
November 18th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Naveen,
It’s very unlikely that both memory modules failed at the same time, so I assume this problem is not memory related.
The garbled screen sounds like a problem with the video card.
It’s hard to tell but I think this is related to the video card failure.
Is it a discrete module? If yes, I would try replacing the video card.
If the video card is integrated into the motherboard, you’ll have to replace the entire motherboard.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Hi, I have a Dell Inspiron 1720. Yesterday while booting it up, the Dell Logo Screen was garbled and it wouldnt start. When I try to power it on again, the Caps lock LED just flashes for like 30 times and nothing happens.
I tried reseating memory modules & also tested the laptop with each memory module separately but it wont start.
When I try pressing the power button with ‘D’ key simultaneously, I see Colors changing on the screen. Do you think its the motherboard thats causing the issue? I also have a NVIDIA graphics card on my machine. Please advice and appreciate your time!
November 16th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Hp pavilion dv6000 schematic diagram
November 16th, 2009 at 11:33 am
mother board can’t power LCD light
November 13th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Chelns Dyson,
Most likely this is either memory or video card failure.
Do you have two memory modules installed in the laptop? Try removing them one by one. It’s very unlikely that both modules failed at the same time. The laptop might work properly when you remove the faulty memory module.
Also, try moving modules from one slot to another just to make sure it’s not a faulty memory slot on the motherboard.
If playing with the memory modules doesn’t help and the laptop still had garbled video, most likely there is a problem with the video card.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:29 am
I have a dell latitude d820 it will load os successfully and after a while the video will be garbled. Once you shut it off, trying to start it there be two blinking lights and one solid and it will not boot again. What can be causing this problem?
November 10th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Carter,
Find the motherboard part number and google it. In most Toshiba laptop the motherboard part number could be found on a sticker in the memory compartment.
If you cannot find it, give me the laptop model number: PSPBLU-XXXXXX and I’ll find the motherboard part number for you. I assume you purchased this laptop in the United States.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Hi, I have a Toshiba P205D S8804. I’m having major issues finding a supplier to purchase a new motherboard. Anyone know who I might be able to buy from. Been searching for several days and have had no luck what so ever. Thanks
November 7th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Adharsh,
You cannot. It’s not possible.
November 7th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Can i add desktop’s graphic card to my laptop
November 4th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Ron,
Make sure it’s not the network cable failure. Test the laptop with another cable.
Also, take a look inside the network port. It’s possible that one of the pins is bent/damaged. In some cases, if the pin is not damaged badly, you can straighten it with a very small screwdriver or needle.
The network port is soldered directly to the motherboard, and if the network port failed, you’ll have to replace the motherboard. I think it’s possible to replace just the port, but I doubt that you can find this part sold separately.
If the network port is bad, you have the following options:
1. Replace the broken port.
2. Replace the motherboard.
3. Use a PCMCIA network card. You plug this card into the available PC slot on the laptop and get a network port instead. I think this will be the best way to go if you have a problem with the network port on the motherboard.
November 4th, 2009 at 6:36 am
I have an inspirion 8600. Recently I have not been able to get on the internet via a LAN connection. I noticed that the yellow and orange LEDs are on at the connection port. A couple of times I have had to jiggle the cord to get it to make a good connection. I already tried the easier things, ie driver replacement, etc. but now it seems hard down. My guess is the connection is bad on the computer. How do I replace that connector (it is not in the manual) or do I need a new system board? Alternative should I take this as a opportunity to “upgrade”?
October 27th, 2009 at 8:11 am
MalaMalum,
Most likely it’s either bad memory or motherboard failure.
1. Try reseating memory modules.
2. If you have two memory modules installed, remove them one by one. Test the laptop with each memory module separately.
If one of the modules is bad, the laptop will start properly when this module is removed.
3. If the laptop fails with known good memory, most likely this is the motherboard failure.
October 19th, 2009 at 6:22 am
Thanks for the response. No, there was no image on the external monitor.
October 17th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
When a laptop happens that …….if you on it immediately it will off …….please what happened
October 17th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
MalaMalum,
It’s not very clear. Are you getting any image on the external monitor or not? Can you use the laptop with video on the external monitor?