Computer err.... Problems

My 4 year old computer (which my dad said i had to fix before i can build a computer) is umm..... is having a problem.

When i try to turn on the computer the power button flashes yellow and the screen remain blank. DVD drive and others things wont respond.

The local computer wizz said that the power supply, or wat ever u call it, was unstable thus resulting in burning out the motherboard. But they r bit dodgy because they said that it would take them about 3 days to get around it as they had so many other computers to fix. But o no they rang in a couple of hrs and said power supply burned the motherboard and asked us whether or not we wanted it fixed costing £200 for a stupid new motherboard which probably they got off ebay and a cheap power supply!
Scammers or what?

Much help needed

Thanks

General Cheesepuff

It's highly possible that that IS the reason. £200 for a new mobo and PSU plus labour is not a bad price - as long as you get as least as good components as you had before.

Now you can go back to your dad and say "See? This is what happens with pre-built computers - if I build my own using tried and trusted components, this will never happen."

Amen to that. But you ARE SOL if there is a problem with your system... :-/

Anyway, yeah, a new MOBO these days can cost at around $100 - $200 WITHOUT the CPU (US dollars, mind), depending on the make/model of said motherboard.

hmm, how about you tell us the exact computer model you have, and we'll look it up to see what a fix would entail?

400 pounds for parts on a 4 year old computer is a little extreme. in fact, that ENTIRE COMPUTER is probably not worth 400 pounds right now.

I think he was saying that it's 200 pounds for a mobo and a psu combined

In any case, I'd be reluctant to put that kind of cash into a 4 yr old prebuilt computer.

even combined, that's a good deal of cash. it could be because things in Britain are just more expensive in general, and being that this is old technology, things will cost more because they are harder to find.

either way, tell your dad that the problem is probably not fixable, since you cannot really fix specific hardware failure without replacing it.

i mean really, does he really expect you to pull out your soldering iron and manually fix the damn thing?

umm..... Yes? So should i tell him it's not fixable?

I'll post the model of the computer later if it's fixble

Thanks!

it's probably not fixable. for computers, the only way you can "fix" a part or parts that failed is to replace them.

yes, almost always "fixing" a computer involves diagnosing the problem and then if necessary replacing components in it... at least as far as hardware goes. Software is a different story... :/