OFF TOPIC:
Teachers using that many " !!!" makes my eyes roll…
Besides, your making conclusions before you even know for sure (First you think the Mobo is dead, then you wonder how it could [color=#FF0000]dy[/color]/[color=#00FF00]die[/color] like this)
Plus your a teacher, you should be totally zen and shit at all times… No need for them extra exclamation signs imho.
Also making people feel guilty by telling you “had” to print stuff for your students and couldn’t ain’t really constructive for the problem your having. And thats propably why everyone pretty much ignored this post you made at first.
ON TOPIC
As Wrong Way mentioned did you start to troubleshoot yourself? It’s still a DIY printer so give some more details people can work with here.
Check all the cables first, measure the voltage your having on the mobo pins, these screws could be gotten loose and have a bad contact or something like that…
I assume a “technology and science teacher” has a multi-meter lying around somewhere…
And where the hell is that friend you got that printer from? He putted it together so let him have a look he knows best how everything is hooked up.
And I’m pretty sure he’s got a receipt?