Need to replace/upgrade fried motherboard

Could someone help me ? I have an Acer Asppire 5100 loaded with Vista Home Premium (32 bit) with 1gb DDR2 ram. It had an AMD Turion 64 processor. My sister and her children would leave it running sitting on the couch for hours, needless to say the motherboard is "FRIED".
I would like to replace or upgrade the motherboard, inexpensively, to give to my 80 yr. old father to use (basically for the internet).
Could someone advise me as to which way I should go?
Any/all suggestions are welcome.
Thank you in advance,
Irish Chick

 

Are you sure the motherboard is fried?

I've seen replacement motherboards for between $250 - $300 dollars US. I think a good place to search for one is e-bay . . . but check out the seller's record before committing to anything. You will also need thermal compound for the processor - an added expense though not large - usually $3 to $6.

Laptops (at least I have found so) can be difficult to work on. If the operating condition of the rest of its components is not known, replacing the motherboard is risky - unless you can find a new board cheaper. I guess it really depends on your situation - brand new laptops can be had for not much more then $300, and will have a warranty.

 

Thank you for your response. We bought the laptop new 3 yrs ago for my sister (& family). When she brought it to me the keyboard didn'twork. I took it to a pc repair shop I know well and they said it was pretty much the mobo. I did the maintenance on it, so I know it. I really want to use it as something other than a paper weight, but I have a limited budget. I'd like to find a compatible mobo cheap! I wanted to know if I should replace with similar or can I upgrade to a better one, if so, which one?
Thanks for any suggestions , I appreciate all your help.

Irish chick

 

What happens when you try to boot it up? There are many things that could be messed up. Best Buy and some online vendors often have new laptops on sale for around $300 or so. That might be a better option, depending on what is wrong with yours. (Typing this on my dual core elcheapo Acer I got at BB.)

I don't think you will have much luck upgrading the mobo on a laptop, you should go with the stock one. Need more info on what is wrong with the current one before you start buying stuff. What if the CPU is fried?

Have you cleaned out the fans, vents and heatsinks on it?