If you can't repair them yourself, the least expensive option may be to sell on eBay and buy known working boards.

For the broken trace you can try to dremel the mask (soft engraver tool) to expose the copper, and resolder.

Expect oxidisation on all pci/isa slots, RAM slots, and poor connections if not recleaned.

The Asus A7N8X is a semi valuable board.

The Gigabyte GA-6BXU for some reason is $1000 on ebay.

MikeSG wrote on 2026-03-19, 07:15:

[...]

The Gigabyte GA-6BXU for some reason is $1000 on ebay.

Remember that the prices you see on eBay with a random search are precisely the prices nobody was prepared to pay. A lot of sellers with a lot of storage start with idiotically high prices and keep dropping every time they list. Chances that someone pays the crazy price are low, but with enough time this method does get the seller the highest possible price.

Also some boards were used in specific industrial applications, the sort of thing that stay in use for a quarter century without upgrades (or even software updates). If the old part dies, they need 1:1 replacement. If sellers know that, they can ask much more for those particular parts, even if they are functionally identical to other board that go for much less.

With completely unresponsive boards this age, I'd check for physical damage and bad caps first, then check jumper settings (this board is almost jumper-free, but there are still one or two that could mess things up) and measure the output of the voltage regulators. If that's all nominal, next step would be to assume BIOS is corrupt: flash a BIOS image for the board onto a different EEPROM and see what that does. Failing all of those, you could have

In the case of the A7N8X you've caused the damage. It could be easily fixable or not - some pics might help. As for others helping you - what is feasible depends a lot on where you are located. If you happen to be in the Amsterdam area, I'd happily take a look (although others are probably better at this, I'm crap at fine mechanical work). If you're closer to Adelaide, shipping alone would probably be more than the value of the boards in working condition 😉

I'll echo dionb's comment that Ebay listing prices are never a good indication of value. Ebay sold prices are better since that indicates prices people actually pay.

A couple brand new Gigabyte GA-6BXU motherboards sold back in January, one for about $70 USD and the other for $180 USD. Used Asus A7N8X motherboards sell for around $70 USD. Neither board appears to be particularly valuable.

It's honestly probably not worth trying to pay someone to fix these motherboards; it would cost more than just buying a replacement off Ebay.

You could try selling them in non-working condition, but you likely wouldn't get much for them. There's the hardware giveaway thread here, if you want to give them away to someone else who could have a shot at fixing them: Old hardware giveaway thread.

Other option would be to keep them and use them to learn computer repairs. When diving into retro computers, being able to diagnose and repair hardware is a valuable skill to have.

This is also a bit of a where you are located in the world question. I believe that in the more eastern parts of Europe it may be possible to find people who will repair boards economically. It also may be cheap to ship them there from other parts of Europe. Same may be true in parts of South America, repair skills developed in the adversity of high import prices, being more common. But, North America, higher paid techs, if you can find one, a throwaway mentality for decades not developing so many grassroots tinkerers, so hard to get stuff repaired, or expensive if available.

One thing that can really help is a POST card, lets you know how far the board is going. Even with very few electronics skills this can be very useful. It can let you know that your RAM is bad in first 64k, or that something you jiggled actually helped, where if you've got several bad connections, your chances of getting them all jiggled just right "blindfold" are very small. Shows power problems instantly, if power is good and nothing appears on it, then you know your BIOS is suspect.

BitWrangler wrote on 2026-03-19, 15:48:

This is also a bit of a where you are located in the world question. I believe that in the more eastern parts of Europe it may be possible to find people who will repair boards economically. It also may be cheap to ship them there from other parts of Europe. Same may be true in parts of South America, repair skills developed in the adversity of high import prices, being more common. But, North America, higher paid techs, if you can find one, a throwaway mentality for decades not developing so many grassroots tinkerers, so hard to get stuff repaired, or expensive if available.

One thing that can really help is a POST card, lets you know how far the board is going. Even with very few electronics skills this can be very useful. It can let you know that your RAM is bad in first 64k, or that something you jiggled actually helped, where if you've got several bad connections, your chances of getting them all jiggled just right "blindfold" are very small. Shows power problems instantly, if power is good and nothing appears on it, then you know your BIOS is suspect.

I live in the USA. and I do hate the throw away culture. thinking about it "brings the zombies in my grave yard back to life" so to speak. ill look into buying a POST card, but if i still cant get anywhere I may consider either giving these boards away or just using them for practice soldering.

Like these boards would become "cadavers".