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Difficulty: HardMotherboard, RAM, CPU, and Power Issues

A desktop computer in a business office abruptly shuts down and fails to boot. When the user presses the power button, the power supply fan spins momentarily, but the motherboard emits four continuous long beeps, displays no video output, and halts before POST completes. Visual inspection reveals that several capacitors surrounding the CPU voltage regulator modules have distended tops and minor residue. Which of the following actions should the technician take to diagnose and resolve this system failure? (Select TWO.)

  1. Replace the motherboard due to physical failure of the power delivery capacitors.Answer
  2. Reseat the memory modules and test each module individually to clear memory POST failure codes.Answer
  3. C
    Perform a clean installation of the operating system to repair corrupted boot loaders.
  4. D
    Replace the existing system memory with standard laptop SO-DIMM modules.

Answer

The correct actions are replacing the damaged motherboard due to distended capacitors and reseating or testing the RAM modules to resolve the POST memory error beep code.
Bulging or leaking capacitors reflect irreversible hardware degradation on the motherboard power delivery circuit, requiring board replacement. Additionally, continuous beep codes before video initialization indicate a memory or POST failure, requiring the technician to reseat and test individual RAM modules.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the physical symptoms on the motherboard.
Identified distended/bulging power delivery capacitors surrounding the CPU socket.
Damaged capacitors cause power instability, leading to immediate system failure during POST.
2
Interpret the diagnostic POST beep code.
Determined that four continuous long beeps indicate a pre-boot hardware initialization failure, typically associated with memory detection.
Beep codes signify low-level hardware communication errors before video or OS loading occurs.
3
Select appropriate corrective hardware diagnostic actions.
Isolate memory sticks individually and schedule a motherboard replacement.
Reseating RAM addresses potential seating/contact issues, while replacing the defective motherboard fixes the permanent physical capacitor failure.

Key Concept

Motherboard component failure diagnosis and POST beep code troubleshooting
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Topics

Motherboard, RAM, CPU, and Power Issues

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