Calling all CC computer nerds..Help!

[WahooSteeler]

My WiFi disappeared on me the other day and after a few hours trying to figure out why I found all the posts on the internet about my HP dv6000 being a POS with mobo crapouts. I've gotten about 40 months of heavy usage out of mine, so it seems like I'm way better than most but I've read once the WiFi goes my days are numbered before mobo fries.

 

Soooo, what is the best valued mobo replacement, and is this something i can do myself? The actual model is dv6119US, AMD Turion 64x2 TL-50, nVidia 6150. Thanks for any help. :hateputers:

[Boilermaker]

turion...this is a laptop right? If you had any confidence the rest of the motherboard was going to be ok, i would have suggested usb wifi.

 

I worked thru high school and college building and repairing computers and i hated when a laptop came in. Almost everything is proprietary in a laptop, which means you are almost certainly stuck paying $200-300+ for a replacement HP motherboard which could give you the same problems down the road. Replacing any part in a laptop is slow and delicate work with tons of tiny parts to keep track of. But in a way its not a lot different than pulling and replacing an engine on a smaller scale; use the proper tools, take your time, document everything as you remove it, reverse the steps to reassemble.

 

If you have the budget, i would buy a new laptop. if you've had that laptop for 40 months its at least 2 generations old; the money spent on a replacement motherboard pays for about 1/3 of a decent new laptop that should outperform your current laptop. Personally i would never buy another HP laptop again. I've owned one and received two others thru work over the years, and they all burned themselves up within a year of the warranty expiring.

 

edit...did some searching and saw that hp issued a recall that includes your model, but the warranty is probably long expired. replacement motherboards range from 150 remanufactured to around 300 new. and i guess this laptop is somewhat of a problem child since it didn't take long to find a

.

[WahooSteeler]

thanks boiler. yeah, i was planning on most likely just having to get a new one but thought i'd see if there were any cost effective repairs available. yep, HP has had MAJOR issues with this series and have alienated a lot of "former" loyal HP customers with their handling of the problem, i.e. tuff luck. They are still offering discounted repairs at $259 + tax, but like you said, that's 30-50% the cost of a new one with pretty decent specs. i posted on newegg's eggsxpert.com too and emailed a computer engineer buddy of mine, all the same response. again, i was expecting to have to replace vs. repair and with 3.5 yrs of running 12hrs a day, not so sure I can complain. Sad thing is i just recently bumped my RAM from 1 to 2GB. Meh, maybe I can "part it out" on ebay, everything else is in great shape on it. :dunno:

 

oh yeah, for WiFi I just grabbed an extra usb wireless adapter off a desktop not being utilized in the office, so i'm at least operating for now. need to get everything backed up asap though.....

[beepbeepmyredjeep]

I used to have a similar model laptop I used for gaming.

 

I think my motherboard lasted about a year after the wireless went.

 

I did the same thing, grabbed an external usb wireless adapter.

 

I've decided that from now on I will be purchasing desktops only for gaming. If I want mobile connectivity, I'll just use my android phone. Maybe someday spend a couple hundred on a netbook.

[freakjeep93]

i bought a acer aspire netbook i don't use it a whole lot as i don't travel . but when i have travelled it was awsome to have. only cost like 300bucks in total after taxes and stuff