Is anyone in here an HP tech? (broke zd7030)

[Malpine Walis]

OK here is the deal. I have a second hand HP media center (zd7030) that I was given for free. The reason that it is free is because the previous owner's son did something to it (I am not sure what but it certainly involves some missing screws) and now it doesn't boot at all. The one place that he took it told him that it was going to cost at least $800 to get it working again and he decided to just give it to me.

So from what I gather, it should be possible to buy a whole new set of inside components. Looking at the various HP web sites, I found two sets of guts that should work but I don't know which one to order. Below are the two products that I think might work and you can see why I would want to know the real difference.

Apart from the processor and memory (which could be the cost difference right there) what is the difference between a system board and a motherboard?

344879-001 $626.00
System board - Integrated nVidia Geforce FX Go5000 (NV31M) graphic chipset and 128MB video memory on a 128bit bus, integrated V.90/V.92 56K data-fax modem and integrated 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN


347437-001 $135.00
Motherboard - Does not include the processor or memory a module

 

[Slackfumasta]

I'll tell you what, if anybody here is an HP tech, they might want to think twice about identifying themselves today...I've decided today to refuse to buy any more HP products for my company due to their incredibly shoddy support.

In truth, I'm ready to strangle anybody from HP at this point.

 

[Malpine Walis]

If you really feel that way, you can strangle them right after I get my lappy working. But not until then.

 

[Slackfumasta]

Well, to answer your question, what you could do is to purchase a new case and power supply and a new motherboard that supports the CPU in your HP. Then, you can move the CPU, memory, and drives to the new case and have a working computer. We used to do this a lot at a previous job when people had Packard Bells or Leading Edge computers that were not upgradable. You should be able to get away with it for under $200, as long as you get a motherboard with integrated video; or if you want to do gaming on this machine, get a motherboard with at least an AGP slot so you can put in a decent card.

 

[Slackfumasta]

Ack, wait a minute, I forgot I was in laptop forums; forget what I just typed, heh.

 

[dicecca112]

not sure if it is the same with the Hps as it is the dells, but motherboard is just the board, system board is all the components minus the case and screen

 

[Malpine Walis]

OK I may be dim or something but I don't see from the description that I posted but I just don't see enough info to tell me what to buy. Is the mobo entirely a subset of the system board?

I plan on reusing everything that I don't buy but I don't want to buy the mobo only to find out that I need to buy something that can only be had with the system board (and have a mobo that they try to weasel out of taking back).

If it is just a matter of a confusing web page and HP does the right thing to correct any mistake that resulted from that, I would not worry about it. However, I have been burned by other companies before. The typical scam seems to be 1. offer the customer a cheaper option, 2. wait for the customer to buy that and find out that it is wrong, 3. **** the customer over by making him order what he needs after the first purchase then refuse to take back the extra parts.

 

[four4875]

maybe try to get a replacement from ebay? it might be cheaper and give you the same thing the original was. other than that... i have no idea, and im sure HP dont offer pictures of the tihngs. can you find a HP tech manual for it? it should have pics and part #s for everytihng in that lappy, and even screw kits to have all of them back from where jr. lost them.

 

[Malpine Walis]

Perhaps I was not entirely clear. I have both the user and repair manuals in pdf format. I am still confused. That is why I was hoping that someone might be able to tell me the one thing that I just can't figure out.

At this point, if I never get it working, then I can say that it has not cost me any money. However, it is a kicking lappy if I get it working (P4M/3.06Ghz/17 inch wide screen/etc...). So if I had to drop $600, I really would not mind.

but a clue one way or the other would be nice and hence I have this fantasy that I can find a tech who works for an HP authorized service center.

Edit: I would need that much to go with ebay also...

 

[Elif Tymes]

Get the system board. TBH, its not worth trying to replace the laptop motherboard, only to find that the actual BROKEN item is item X that is only available through the system board. AndHP is a weasly company, they will weasel.

 

[four4875]

i dont understand the diff between motherboard and system board. unless its somethin in new lappys? a motherboard is.. the board containing cpu socket, ram slots, pcmcia slot, minipci slot. system board is... ? that with the cpu, ram and stuff in it?

i just remembered the tech manual for my compaq had the parts breakdown with drawings and part numbers for it.

 

[jman999]

Perhaps I was not entirely clear. I have both the user and repair manuals in pdf format. I am still confused. That is why I was hoping that someone might be able to tell me the one thing that I just can't figure out.

At this point, if I never get it working, then I can say that it has not cost me any money. However, it is a kicking lappy if I get it working (P4M/3.06Ghz/17 inch wide screen/etc...). So if I had to drop $600, I really would not mind.

but a clue one way or the other would be nice and hence I have this fantasy that I can find a tech who works for an HP authorized service center.

Edit: I would need that much to go with ebay also...

That is one sweet laptop, good luck with your repairs,
-Jonathan.

 

[Tebore]

There are differences between the Systemboard and motherboard. I'm not sure in this case but in my old compaq the motherboard connected the CPU, RAM and the IGP. The system board connected to the mother board and allowed the harddrive and external connections to be added.

Becareful because there is a difference. Find out which is broken inside the machine, usually there's a sticker that says part number to order for replacement. Every part in my old compaq had a sticker that said that with the part number you'll need.

 

[Icedfire101]

have you atleast taken it apart yet? and if you do want to buy it then just contact hp and ask them what the difference is...