I've had 2 Viking Designer machines and so does my mother, cousin, aunt, etc and none of us have ever had a problem with our mother boards. I've never heard of that happening, but I guess something can go wrong with any model no matter what the brand of the machine. I've been very happy with my Viking machines, but since they're now being made in China I'd have second thoughts before buying one that was made there. Thankfully, none of mine were made there as it happened a couple of years after I bought my Designer SE. Viking said they're just being assembled in China and the parts are still being made in Sweden.