The shop may be correct butyou will feel better about the situation if you get a second opinion. Before shopping for a new repair shop, check into geekstogo.com or computerhope.com The techs that answer you question are knowledgeable and their answers will give you some guidelines.

There's no high skill level required in changing out a bad power supply. Normally when changing a power supply... it would be hard to do it wrong or hurt anything.

When your old power supply went bad it "may have been", because something on the motherboard was already pulling too much current and heading for eventual failure.

That makes sense.
Actually, the power supply didn't go bad, so much as it was just noisy, on and off, for months and the fan was dirty.

Thanks for your input, mikie.

Judy I am not sure why your tech needed 9 hours to see if the POST was successful. You can do that yourself in the first 60 seconds. Switch on and listen. Do you hear the beep affirming the POST (power on self test) has completed? Watch the LED lights on the case front, one should remain lit constantly indicating power, the other should flash intermittently indicating the hard drive is spinning up and data being read. Do you ever watch the data roll up the black screen during startup? If so is this happening now? You might try hitting the TAB button during startup, on some motherboards that allows the data to be viewed albeit too quickly to read.

Where did you take it Futureshop, Best Buy or???

Be very careful about allowing a new motherboard to be installed because the operating system (XP?) is tied to the motherboard. This means that replacing the motherboard needs you to buy another operating system. That takes the repair bill by the time you add the shop time to closely equal the price of a new computer.

Whilst it is no consolation you are not alone with this issue sadly.

I actually dont know how long it was on the bench. It was just my guess. I have it in a computer shop that I have used for two years now. I have always trusted them, but this seemed a little too coincidental.

POST was not successful. I knew that when I restarted. There was no beep-nothing. The tech is still trying to determine where the failure is, but suspects mb at this point.
Wow, I did not know I would need to buy another OS with a new mb!

I didnt really want to go with a new computer yet, feeling comfortable with XP, and unfamiliar with Win 7. It looks like it may end up that way. Also, if Win 7 doesn't support my scanner and printer, then I would have to replace them too.
$$$$ either way I go.

I think I'm getting a headache.

Thanks owbist...good information!

Judy

Which fan?

Fan to the power supply?
Fan to the CPU?
Fan to the graphics card?

Some computer shuts down automatically when the fan to the cpu is not working.

typically the fans are 5VDC or 12VDC brushless motors. They do not run fast or slow unless voltage is not constant.

dcarch

What ever you elect to do be sure the hard drive remains in your possession!

You need to stop the tech methinks, the motherboard is toast and nothing will revive it so no point in adding more to a bill to achieve nothing.

The motherboard is a socket 775, those are readily available from CAN$60 to over CAN$100 from Tigerdirect in Burlington just behind Costco. But you need to affirm that a standard motherboard will fit that case, it might be Dell specific. They also still have XP (only one copy according to the web site for $110. Check your tech for his prices, you now have something to compare with his prices.

A Dell motherboard is available here and if you go that route I strongly suggest you get it shipped to a UPS Store in Buffalo, Naigara Falls or Tonawanda, NY and pick it up yourself Stateside. Costs $5 to use the UPS store on top of shipping of course but with our dollar almost ahead of theirs life is looking sweeter all the time. Picking it up avoids brokerage fees but the PST and GST will probably be charge as you return.

You are sadly between a rock and a hard place financially because none of the components will readily migrate to a newer computer. But, taking a different angle you can watch the Government Surplus online auctions for a bargain. The link is to the recent results and as you will see Niagara Region recently auctioned off a bunch that went from $75 to $100 for a working tower. The only thing missing is the operating system BUT it comes with a license sticker so you can borrow a copy to install but remember to use the key stuck to the tower. You old hard drive can be slaved if you wish, all your peripherals will work and it will give you a good computer. There are currently none for auction but we never go more than a few days before some durisdiction lists old equipment they need gone.

I had the exact same problem with my daughter's laptop (fan racing up and down, laptop shutting down of its own accord when overheating), and it turned out to be a clogged fan. I fixed it by removing the back panel of the machine, taking a can of dust-off and blowing it out from the inside out. A big lump of dust came out, and the laptop is running just fine 6 months later. Be careful not to turn the dust-off upside down as the propellant will come out and could damage your machine.

Sorry. Just realized this isn't a laptop.

cleaning out the insides of dust is good for all of them desktops and laptops so still good advice, it is the biggest cause of over heating, those nasty dust bunnies.

update:

Definately motherboard.
I just spoke to the shop owner and they are going to make sure I am properly taken care of. The have a very similar system in the shop (with Win XP)and they are going to try and mirror my hard drive onto it. If they can't they will build to suit-$449.00. Total labor cost $100.00!!

I am very pleased with the shop now. I have no hesitation about them, and no concerns of their workmanship, especially after reading some of the replies here.

In 6 years with my Dell I've had to replace the hard drive and now the motherboard is gone. That seems a bit much in such a short time. No more Dell for me.

Thanks everyone for all the information.

Judy

unfortunately I have heard and seen way too many stories like that in recent times about Dell which is why I just do not recommend them anymore. My husbands company used to use only Dell but have recently removed all Dell and gone to HP. I think Dell made a lot of changes and not all were good ones. Of course there are those lucky ones that have good luck with them too.

I liked that I could go to the Dell website and configure my own. That's why all 3 of the computers I've had have been Dell.

I think HP is the way I will go next time.
You are right- It's unfortunate.

You can do the same with HP as far as configuring exactly what you want. I have used their site for that, and then bought the closest thing to that "off the shelf" in a big box store at a much better price than buying direct. Just have to know which things in the configuration are important to you before buying.

thanks grandms-

I'm glad to hear that.

Judy