Bad Motherboard???

[jmhcs]

How can you tell if a motherboard is bad. On power up, the fans spin, lights come on, dvd goes in and out, but it won't boot. Tried a new PSU but that didn't help. Don't want to buy a new mobo just to find it was something else.

[jmhcs]

By the way, no evidence of bad caps.

[Midknyte]

I haven't found a surefire way to know if a MB is bad. Process of elimination.

Try reseating/swapping the ram and video card. CPUs don't go bad too often, but I've seen Athlon XPs die more often than others.

[Ol'Tunzafun]

You could also try pulling the board out and setting it up on a phonebook or some other non-conductive surface to eliminate the possibility of a short. This usually applies only to motherboards in new builds or replacements but it is always possible that a screw or some other small conductive object has dropped down behind the board.
I have a "post card" that I use occasionally for motherboard diagnostics, but it only confirms what I already know through (like MidKnyte says) the process of elimination.
http://www.pctestpro.com/post/postcards.htm
When you have it whittled down to CPU and mobo, 19 times out of 20 it will be the motherboard.

[Bovon]

Originally Posted by jmhcs

On power up, the fans spin, lights come on, dvd goes in and out, but it won't boot. else.

There could be a world of "things" in this problem

If the machine does not "boot". is there anything that comes to screen?..any errors?, does it have the BIOS readings onscreen?..

Anything other than a dark screen?..

(I suspect a complete dark screen, which would indicate RAM, Motherboard, processor even powersupply or a defective power supply connector. Even a bad monitor will give you a "dark screen").

[CrazyCrusher]

Did you try what Tunzafun suggested? try pulling the motherboard out and hooking it up outside the case on a non conductive surface, I had problems like that before and it ended up being a mounting screw that was shorting my board out.

[jmhcs]

Will do soon. Death in family