Motherboard Tattooing (HP)

[all mogli]

Ok, lately, I've been spending more money than need be, while fixing older computers for some experience (something I've put off for far too long).

Anyway, my nephew's hp died; I'm pretty sure it's the motherboard, since there is no video card in the system, and the monitor(s) will not display anything when attempting to boot. Booting gives power, but does not appear to go anywhere after that (except stay on).

Motherboard: A8N-LA

From my understanding (and google searching), the motherboards need to be "tattooed" by hp before any recovery disk will work. This is ok, since I have an extra retail windows laying around.

So, if this is not a problem, would there be any other possible difficulty in throwing in another socket 939 board (either same as original or any other 939 model). Specifically, will the Power Supply that came with the hp work with any other board (or does the PS somehow only work with boards shipped directly from hp?)?

The asus boards' naming conventions confuses me somewhat, but how would the OEM Asus A8V-XE Socket 939 work as a replacement? There are a few OEM A8V-XE boards on ebay for about $50 with free shipping. My next "learning project" will involve throwing in a pci-e video card in (probably cheap + used after I do some research about video cards and what to add in).

One more thing...are the front panel connectors (power, led, etc) pretty much standard, where I will definitely be able to plug everything back into the new board?

[Un4given]

Dell was known, at one time, for using a different pinout on the main 20-pin connector of their PSU and motherboard, making it somewhat proprietary. I'm not aware of HP doing this, so as long as using the recovery disk isn't necessary, you should be fine.

The only other thing to look at is the front panel connectors. I have on many occasions seen proprietary connectors for that. The wires are often bundled into a single proprietary connector on the motherboard, making this connection impossible on generic replacements.

If the front panel connectors aren't going to be an issue, you should be OK.

[all mogli]

Hey, thanks for the reply!

I checked the computer, and it seems that there's about 3-4 connectors coming from the front panel, which merge into one connector at the opposite end (and into the motherboard).

Is it possible though that this particular board maybe has some type of slot available for this kind of thing?

[Un4given]

Hey, thanks for the reply!

I checked the computer, and it seems that there's about 3-4 connectors coming from the front panel, which merge into one connector at the opposite end (and into the motherboard).

Is it possible though that this particular board maybe has some type of slot available for this kind of thing?

No. That is what I was talking about with these proprietary connectors. The motherboard maker puts a custom front panel connector on the board for the OEM, where the generic boards just have individual pins where separate connectors would go with generic cases and motherboards.