compaq armada e500 motherboard exchange

Ouch ! I have not heard a problem exactly like that.

That must be frustrating to see everything clear up finally each time.

Does your notebook have a video card (ATI or Nvidia) or is it shared/integrated video graphics (Intel Extreme chip on motherboard ?).

If there was a video card and that had a failure it is often soldered to the motherboard but if not then you seem to be right in your assessment (motherboard replacement).

Many notebooks have a couple of screws underneath (sometimes marked with a keyboard icon) that you unscrew and then release some type of plastic slide connectors on top to release the entire keyboard and access the inside components and the motherboard.

If you can't find a motherboard replacement affordably though it is often better to just get another notebook escpecially with the increased RAM, hard drive speeds and capacity, LCD resolution and size increases (and Briteview, Xbrite, Trubrite LCD's), etc.

That is exactly why I stayed under $1500 for this notebook -- if you get 2-3 years out of it great but you can't upgrade it or repair it as easily as a desktop (other than hard drive replacement, RAM upgrades, etc).