R51 motherboard question

[seaweedsl]

It looks like my R51 (14" integrated graphics - see sig) has got a bad motherboard. I've done everything possible to save it and no luck.

I've got somebody coming to visit me here in Mexico in 10 days. If I hurry, I can buy one on Ebay and they will bring it to me. Shipping here is problematic otherwise.

I have three questions:

1) It looks like any R50 or R51 motherboard will work in my 14" XGA machine, even a 15" by removing the ...interposer board (?). Is that right? Are there any mismatch issues to watch for?

2) The original MB I have now is integrated graphics, which it appears has the best reliability in the R5Xs. And my thinking is that with a gig of RAM, it's maybe better than a 64MB or especially 32MB outboard graphics chip.

Opinions? Reliability counts over performance - though it did me no good on my first R51 - which, by the way, outlasted it's warranty by a month here on the coast.


3) When swapping boards, will I run into any problems with serial numbers or the eprom thing? I'm not informed yet on how that goes, but saw a reference to putting the old number (lost forever) into the new board....


Apreciate any advice, I've got to buy something in the next 48 hours.

Thanks,
Steve