A motherboard fault usually comes down to one failed component: a shorted capacitor, a failed power stage, a damaged charging chip or a corrupted firmware chip. We find it and replace it on the board, which normally costs less than a replacement board.
Signs of a board fault
- No power at all, with a charger that is known to work
- Power and fan noise, with nothing on the screen or an external monitor
- Switching off at random, or as soon as the charger is removed
- A laptop that stopped after a failed BIOS or firmware update
- Distorted graphics, or crashes whenever the graphics chip is under load
Repair or replace?
Component-level repair is our first choice. A replacement board is the fallback when the damage is too widespread or a part cannot be obtained. On an older or low-cost machine neither may be worth the money, and we tell you before any cost is run up.
Your data
If the drive is removable, your files are not at risk from a board fault. If the storage is soldered to the board, as on recent MacBooks and many thin laptops, repairing the board is also how the data is recovered. Find your model to see which applies.