rans6andrew - I've just spent a frustrating week trying to pin down a complete desktop failure. Screen just went totally black when in use, and attempts to restart showed the bios startup page, then the Windows start page - then black again.
I'd only totally rebuilt the computer in August 2012 with new Gigabyte H77 M/board, new i7 3770 CPU, new Corsair Vengeance RAM and new Gigabyte graphics card.
Tested the RAM individually, swapped the i7 CPU with a new one I had on hand, removed the graphics card - still nothing - and came to the conclusion the M/board had failed.
Got in touch with Gigabyte who agreed to repair the M/board under warranty (3 yr warranty), and sent it off.
Bought a new Gigabyte M/board because I didn't want to wait 3 or 4 weeks for the original to come back.
Bungled the purchase, and bought a new 1150 Socket gigabyte M/board, not the 1155 Socket that I have (which is obsolete).
I then went and bought the correct Socket 1155 M/board - installed it - and still the same problem!!
I finally twigged that perhaps the MONITOR could be the problem. Sure enough, connected it to SWMBO's computer - and exactly the same screen display appeared - a couple of pages, before it went black.
I have NEVER had a monitor fail in this manner - all the monitors I've had fail (and there have been a few), just go black and refuse to display anything.
Talk about infuriating. So, now I have 2 surplus M/boards - had to buy a new monitor - now I have to spend hours loading the drivers for the new M/board on the computer, to get back to a working computer - when all I originally needed, was to just go buy a new monitor.
Lesson learnt, test EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT, before making a decision as to what has actually failed.
I have to agree with
Saab Dastard - motherboards seem to be quite robust. I've burnt out a few graphics cards, cooked a couple of PSU's, had plenty of fans fail (have to be alert to that), and had one HDD fail due to using an electronic welder on the same phase as the desktop, while the desktop was running.
The start up "chatter" of the welder apparently caused some rapid voltage drops and rises that corrupted the boot files on the HDD (I have a top quality surge protector fitted, but it failed to prevent the welder damage).
I couldn't recover the HDD - perhaps someone much more highly qualified than me, could have with some effort. I just replaced the HDD and did a fresh re-install.
As far as M/boards go, the greatest danger as I see it, is damage due to bending the board, which can be done via careless installation and removal. I've never had a M/board failure, I've always replaced them as part of upgrades.
I have never had a problem with static damage, but I believe that is because I always choose natural fibres for clothing and furnishings. Cotton clothing and wool carpets.
I hate synthetics, and only have a small amount of overwear that is synthetic. I believe synthetic clothing and furnishings are possibly some of the greatest sources of static buildup.