What socket do you think this processor is for?

[BBCMember]

A friend of mine has a computer whose motherboard seems to have died. When you turn it on, there is one beep that lasts half a second, and then does nothing. The monitor just shows a black screen with "No Signal".

It is an HP/Compaq desktop, and I can't find a model number anywhere. The processor is a P4 3.0GHz Intel processor. It could be socket 478, but it could also be a socket that looks like that. Any educated guesses? The system was bought no more than 18 months ago.

[Midknyte]

look at the socket itself. it is printed on there. a 775 is pretty obvious, so it'll probably be a 478. 423s didn't go that high.

[BBCMember]

OK. Thanks. There was another mobo at Fry's that I saw that was the 768, or something close, and that looked quite similar. The guy at Fry's said the 478 is about 6 years old, and since this computer was bought 18 months ago (at the most), I ruled it out. Is that not the case?

[Midknyte]

The difference between a 775 and a 478 is obvious. the way the heatsink mounts on each one is completely different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_775

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_478

[Rocketmech]

Why don't you check HP Support for the model spec's ? You will want to replace it with a board of the same chipset .

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html

[Sterling_Aug]

There is always a model number printed on the serial number tag.

[BBCMember]

I've looked at it is rubbed off. The client wants to change it quick, as it is vital to his business. He doesn't want to wait for HP to ship it out.

Btw, I'm assuming you guys agree that my diagnosis is correct?

[Midknyte]

if you don't get the same exact motherboard, the restore discs won't work.

if your client needs his computer for business, why does he only have one? that's a flaw in his contingency plan. if the computer is that important to his business, he should have a backup.

[BBCMember]

He has three computers, but each computer has a different function in his business, and has a different employee. However, I just suggested to him yesterday that we just throw his hard drive in an enclosure, get the data that he needs, and put it on a flash drive so he can do what he needs to do on any computer. And so we did that.

I know about needing the same mobo. He just wanted to get it fixed quickly so he could be back up and running with that function. He didn't want to have to wait for HP to send him a new mobo, etc., and he was willing to pay for it. But since Fry's was out of socket 478 mobos, it couldn't happen anyway.

[Midknyte]

if he doesn't have backups of the data, then that's another flaw in the contingency plan. any situation where there is only ONE source is a potential disaster. doesn't he have backups? doesn't he have an offsite backup? what if there is a fire, flood, hurricane, etc?

If your friend is serious about his business, then he needs a disaster plan. computers would be a small part of that.

[fizur2002]

did the socket on the motherboard look like this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Socket_478.jpg/290px-Socket_478.jpg

or does it look like this

http://www.gamepc.com/images/labs/rev-p5gd1-socketLG.jpg