Author Topic: Thought I fried my mobo today!!!! (Read 857 times)

coop2 · « **on:** December 04, 2001, 09:47:00 PM »

Man I almost did one of the most stupid things of all time (I'm still not even sure that everything is 100% OK). Today I was messing with the guts of my computer and I must of accidentley bumped my stick of kingston 256 DDR and when I tried to get it to boot up it would only beep (implying that their was a memory error). Anways, I pull out the stick of RAM and re-install it and try to boot up. It dosent work. I try it about another 15 times with no success. On about the 16th try I got distracted and put the RAM in the wrong way. I boot it up and then I hear a sizzle and I look at my mobo and sure enough some tiny little rectangle circut on my mobo has glowing circle (about the size of a pin head). I turn off the computer as quick as I can while cussing up a storm. Anyways, I leave for about 15 minutes thinking my mobo is fried (it wreaked like burnt plastic) and I come back and flip the RAM around and she boots up on the first try. The computer boots up fine and she is running like a champ. However the little circut that was glowing now has a chared "scab" on top of it. I'm sure its not good but the computer is running fine. Do you guys know what might have happened? I have another stick of 256 DDR but their is no way I'm even gonna attempt to install it. I guess I will have to live with 256 instead of 512.

sorry for the novel

coop

mrsid2 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 05, 2001, 01:17:00 AM »

Man you must have used some brutal force when installing that RAM since the DIMM's are slotted so that you can't install them wrong way round.

It means that in order to be able to fit the Ram stick in the socket, you had to push it hard enough to bend the dimm in spite of the protective pin in the bottom of the memory slot.

One advice to all of you who want to install DDR-ram sticks to your computer:

The slots can be awfully tight and it may actually happen that the dimm gets bent during install so that (even that it's the right way) the middle of the dimm is not socketed properly even though the side locks are already attached.

That is why it's imperative to push the dimm in the socket from the middle with your thumb to ensure that the middle part goes in right. I also found out that spraying some electric cleaner on the dimm just before install lubricates the surfaces for easyer install. Just make sure the spray you use is suitable for cleaning of fine electronics.

If I were you, I'd try to use the warranty of the motherboard to get a new one even that it's working right now.

That component you fried might be crucial for regulating ddr voltage for example and your ddr stick might be frying up slowly as we speak. Overclockers typically increase memory voltage when running out of spec, but a broken component can really put some harmful juice to the stick. I'd fix it.

coop2 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 05, 2001, 02:37:00 PM »

Thats the thing Mr. Ripley I didnt even push it downt that hard. It clamped in just as easy as it did whne the slots were lined up. Anyways, I never onced pushed down in the middle thats probally why it was so hard for me to install the RAM.

I bought the mobo with a 1 year warranty on it. What should I tell the company I bought it from? Should i say it came like that? I cant tell them I put the RAM in backwards. Any suggestions?

Ohya think the thing I fried was the part that detects the type of RAM. I think this because when I boot up the computer tells me I have pc1600 instead of pc2100.

coop

Cyan · « **Reply #3 on:** December 05, 2001, 03:09:00 PM »

A couple of things...

First..DO NOT MESS WITH THE BURN AREA...most times when you have a minor circuit arc and you get to it in time you will be ok. What happens on massive arcs is the layers within the board fuse together...remember your MB is made up of many different layers of circuits besides the top layer you see. If it is working and not arcing...what that means is when it fused it allowed the connections to remain. Might cause problems later on but then again it might not...depends on the area and how deep the burn in is.

If it is working now, I would do a 48 hour burn test to insure that it is not going to start smoking again... (Unplug your HD, CDR, etc... while doing a burn test)

If it doesn't smoke I say screw it...buy a good fan for the inside of the case...preferably some sort of card with dual fans on it. I would also get a thermometer and alarm for your case...all will only cost you about 20 bucks v. buying new MB and Chipset.

I hope this helps...and yes I know all this from experience...I actually stuck a screwdriver through a MB one time...

Remember "TWEAKING always equals TROUBLE" its why we do it.

Cheers!

Cyan

[ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: Cyan ]

coop2 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 05, 2001, 04:02:00 PM »

Yeah I left it on for about the last day and a half and everything still works fine. Except today I got some wierd system error thing and it shut the computer down. I think it may have happened b/c the 256 megs of RAM got filled and maybe thats how the computer gets rid of it. If it keeps happening then I will surely replace it. I have a year so I am not in a huge hurry.

The burn is right below where that little black fan gets its power from.

. The burnt thing almost looks like an insect. Its little and black and it has 6 "legs"

coop

-moto- · « **Reply #5 on:** December 05, 2001, 04:09:00 PM »

No Comment

Cyan · « **Reply #6 on:** December 05, 2001, 04:19:00 PM »

What was the beep code it gave you? When the BIOS detects errors on the MB it will give you a series of beeps and pauses...these can be looked up to determine what is wrong.

Good example is if you unplug your keyboard and boot. When the system detects no keyboard it will give you a code.

Most codes are universal but some motherboards go by their own code system. Your owners manual should let you know what the error is. It could be a ECC error or even a dataflow error. Either case you will know based on the code.

Additionally, you can DL various MB software tests that you can run in DOS mode which will check various parts of the mother board and the response times etc... This software can also help you identify which area of the MB was affected. System Snoop was my favorite back in the hayday prior to disposable computers.

Cyan!

"ya know this flying thing isn't too tough...CHECK 6...eee gads! Well at least my chute is easy to work...ra ta tat tat..."

System Message - You have been killed!

Damn Niki!

-ammo- · « **Reply #7 on:** December 05, 2001, 04:40:00 PM »

another good thing to look at is the digital display on the board itself when you recieve the error and reference it in the manual supplied with the MB.

Cyan · « **Reply #8 on:** December 05, 2001, 05:06:00 PM »

Ooh nifty...just saw the LED on the board...heh they tried those on a couple of 386 machines years ago to no avail...glad to see they are back

Cyan

coop2 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 05, 2001, 06:43:00 PM »

I called unitedmicro.com (the people I bought it from). The guy asked me to put the phone down by the computer while it booted so he could hear the beeps. He listened and told me everything was fine. I think he may have just been saying that b/c he didn't want me to return it. But who knows. Do you guys think I should demand an exchange or what?

Ammo- I looked at the like LCD display (the one in the bottom right) and it works just fine, does the same thing it did before I brain farted.

Ohya moto---- shaddup

thanks

coop

iceydee · « **Reply #10 on:** December 06, 2001, 09:59:00 PM »

cool... never seen that lcd thingy on any board
before...

Fishu · « **Reply #11 on:** December 14, 2001, 04:10:00 AM »

This reminds me of the time I literally smoked my computer once

I've ripped off fan from old 486's power supply and put it in the computer as case cooler.
Since theres no proper connectors, I had to use lil' home made connectors (well, remove connector from fan's cables and stick plus and minus cables into power cable connector

)
Since for some reason I didn't had covered it, I then one time opened the case for some inspections and then put everything together again.
As I turned power on, nothing happend and smoke began pouring out of back and front..
Within 3 seconds from turning power on, I had unplugged power cable.

Appeared that the part where fan connects to power supply connector, had touched top of the cd-rom, which of course caused shortcut.
Whole thin electric cable from power supplys bigger cable, had burned up to this bigger one (which goes into drives..)
Plastic cover had totally melt..
You can imagine how !!!!! scared I were

Thank god, nothing had happend, other than one small electric cable less and little burn mark on top of cdrom.
*phew*

oh.. that fan works still also