I just bought 2 used motherboards on ebay for Gateway 450SX4. One sounds like it has a corrupted BIOS and the other condition unknown. I bought them in hopes of repairing the video problem which seems to be common for this model.

Is there a way to run some checks on these boards without totally installing them?

Put them in a machine and plug evrything in switch it on and see if you can get into bios. No need to install anything. Check that they recognize all the hardware that is plugged in. You can also run a program in RAM eg: seatools that tests motherboard controllers etc. all from a floppy disk which loads into ram.

:lol:These are basic tests but should give you an idea :idea:if everything is working ok without installing an operating system.

You can update the bios if required from a floppy. just download & and create a boot disk

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