Jaeger - Motherboard Replacement

In my previous post, I was able to confirm that my rig's motherboard needed replacement. The good news: the problematic component was finally identified. The bad news: it's the frigging motherboard!

The motherboard might not usually be the most expensive component of a system but it is, in my opinion, the most troublesome component to replace. Many times, replacing the motherboard means also replacing the processor. It means unplugging everything from the old board and plugging them all back into the new one. It means cleaning dried thermal paste from the processor and doing a new application. It's also recommended to reformat and do a clean install of the operating system to avoid driver compatibility issues down the road. In other words, it's like rebuilding the whole system using old parts.

Replacement and Preparation

Before anything else however, I needed a replacement motherboard. My old one (Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H) was a Z87 chipset motherboard which has an LGA1150 CPU socket supporting my Haswell Intel CPU. I could have bought the same exact model, but I learned that I could instead buy a motherboard with the newer Z97 chipset which still has an LGA1150 CPU socket. This means a newer board with more features at roughly the same price without needing to replace my processor. Sweet! I ended up buying a board from MSI (MSI Z97-GAMING 5).

Pro tip: Buy extended warranty for your precious hardware. The extra few dollars will be worth it down the road.

If I were to reformat, I needed a way to backup files from my SSD (Solid State Drive) boot drive. I only had my mom's laptop to do this but I still needed some sort of adapter so I can just plug the drive via USB (Universal Serial Bus). They sell SATA (Serial AT Attachment) to USB adapters online, perfect!

Reassembly

[✔] All the replacement parts and tools had arrived by mail.
[✔] The SSD had been backed up.
[✔] I had every piece unbolted, cleaned and organized in a messy array across the floor.
[✔] Newegg TV's "How to Build a PC" video was ready for reference.
I was ready to start building, and so I did.

It had been more than three years since the last time I was really familiar with the innards of my rig. Many a time I found myself asking "Where does this go again?" and "How the heck was I able to make that fit there before?" and eventually realizing "Oh.. now I remember, I had to do work-around A to avoid B, or I could do C". It was time for rediscovery, like rediscovering my CPU case had a manual fan controller all along which I never used.

A few hours went by and the build was done. It was POST-ing and was booting from the yet-to-be-reformatted SSD drive. I knew I had to do a clean install. I read that Windows ties itself to the motherboard and that I may need to call Microsoft to request for reactivation of my Windows 8.1 license. I was worried because mine was an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) copy which basically means less to no support from Microsoft. Fortunately, my worries were unfounded and I was able to reformat and do a clean install without a hitch.

After installing some of the drivers, my mouse suddenly stopped working. It was working in the BIOS but not when Windows boots. I plugged in a different mouse in the same USB port and that worked fine. I did some quick troubleshooting and when nothing worked, I decided to re-reformat. It only took a few minutes and the mouse issue never happened again.

Windows 8.1 to Windows 10

I was using Windows 10 before the motherboard failure. I started with Windows 8.1 then got a free upgrade to Windows 10 sometime in the past. Unfortunately, that free upgrade offer ended last year. Although, there's a work-around if you can flat out lie to Microsoft's face about your usage of assistive technologies, meant for people with "significant vision, hearing, dexterity, language or learning needs". I lied 😐 but hey, free Windows 10 upgrade, amirite? 😉 (link to free Windows 10 upgrade)

Conclusion

After upgrading to Windows 10, I reinstalled all my hardware drivers and utilities then let Windows Update run until it can run no more. When I was sure everything was updated and the way I want it, the final piece was to create a system image for quick resets in the future. Now, Jaeger has fully recovered and thriving.