Mother board Bad?

[ohmbru2]

I am running WIN 95 on a Gateway Pentium II machine; 266 MHz. I have had intermitant problems with the PC shutting down or getting hung up. The Gateway people advised me to format the hard disk. That was some time ago, and I remember the guy telling me that I may have a problem with the mother board. I did as they suggested and still have the same intermitant problem. I have a couple questions about my situation:

1. Is it wise to go ahead and replace the mother board or should I spend the money to have the problem diagnosed professionally?

2. If I have to replace the mother board (or some other component) how do I determine exactly what I need? Will the local PC shop know what I need based on my setup?

3. I'm sure I can install the new component myself with the right instructions. Is there a good source for step-by-step instructions or does the new hardware have sufficient instructions.

Thanks,

Brian

 

[dakota81]

A Pentium II is hardly worth the money to pay a technition to diagnose a problem, and it would probably come down to replacing some hardware component anyways, but on the other hand depending on what kind of computer you have from Gateway, upgrading will probably involve much more than just the motherboard, extending out to a sound card, new modem, video card, and if a new case is needed to begin any upgrades, a new floppy drive and CDRom might need to be purchased.

The question is, does the case you have fit a standard Baby AT or ATX motherboard? If so, upgrade that baby. If not, then you'll have to decide if you want to put a decent amount of money into purchasing basically a brand new computer, or spend a small amount and keep the setup and speed you've got.

If you can answer that question yes or no, then you can get better, more precise advice.