|
Home > Archive > Electrical Engineering > September 2007 > Motherboard damage
You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread.
To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to
this thread please [click here]
| Author |
Motherboard damage
|
|
|
| I posted in computer newsgroups as well but this may be more applicable,
especially if there are any computer engineers.
I was running for about a year without problem two 1 GB sticks of DDR2
SDRAM in dual channel in a watercooled system.
I was having some random crashes over the past couple of days. Looked
inside and turns out the waterblock on the Northbridge had popped off, with
the clamp ripping out one of the looped fasteners on the motherboard it was
attached to. Put the waterblock back but still no dice. After using
memtest, it turns out that the second DDR memory channel (pair of slots) is
gone--the same RAM module would work in the A slots one but not the B
slots--errors in the second, with error rate seeming to be somewhat
proportional to the FSB frequency I set in the BIOS.
Looked under the waterblock again and it looks like there's a missing
surface mount ceramic capacitor. I think I may have crushed it while
reinstalling the waterblock. So either from overheating or breaking the
cap, some damage appears to have occurred and now I can only use one of my
1 GB sticks D: It's sure strange though that the second channel slots work
at all; I wouldn't have expected a partial failure with error rates
depending on the FSB...
My question is, can I just replace the cap I think I crushed with a random
one, or maybe unsolder one of the others around it and measure its
capacitance with my LCR meter and use that, in the hope of restoring
function? Or what if I didn't crush the cap and there's actually not
supposed to be one there? I'm not sure how to deal with this.
I'm also looking for suggestions for the best place to ask this.
| |
| Palindrome 2007-09-06, 5:25 pm |
| Prune wrote:
> I posted in computer newsgroups as well but this may be more applicable,
> especially if there are any computer engineers.
>
> I was running for about a year without problem two 1 GB sticks of DDR2
> SDRAM in dual channel in a watercooled system.
>
> I was having some random crashes over the past couple of days. Looked
> inside and turns out the waterblock on the Northbridge had popped off, with
> the clamp ripping out one of the looped fasteners on the motherboard it was
> attached to. Put the waterblock back but still no dice. After using
> memtest, it turns out that the second DDR memory channel (pair of slots) is
> gone--the same RAM module would work in the A slots one but not the B
> slots--errors in the second, with error rate seeming to be somewhat
> proportional to the FSB frequency I set in the BIOS.
>
> Looked under the waterblock again and it looks like there's a missing
> surface mount ceramic capacitor. I think I may have crushed it while
> reinstalling the waterblock. So either from overheating or breaking the
> cap, some damage appears to have occurred and now I can only use one of my
> 1 GB sticks D: It's sure strange though that the second channel slots work
> at all; I wouldn't have expected a partial failure with error rates
> depending on the FSB...
>
> My question is, can I just replace the cap I think I crushed with a random
> one, or maybe unsolder one of the others around it and measure its
> capacitance with my LCR meter and use that, in the hope of restoring
> function? Or what if I didn't crush the cap and there's actually not
> supposed to be one there? I'm not sure how to deal with this.
>
> I'm also looking for suggestions for the best place to ask this.
You post a link to a photograph of the "damaged" area, plus details of
the mobo make, model, revision, date of manufacture, etc. And ask if
someone who has one if they will have a look and see if there is a
capacitor there, and see what value it is, if so. They normally have the
value printed on them.
No, replacing it with one chosen at random is a significant risk.
No, the ones around it aren't necessarily the same value.
Yes, the odds are that it is beyond economic repair and overheating has
damaged the glue chip.
You could try one of the computer diy groups..
--
Sue
| |
|
| Palindrome <me9@privacy.net> wrote in
news:MTYDi.48867$M%1.18941@fe10.news.easynews.com:
> You post a link to a photograph of the "damaged" area, plus details of
> the mobo make, model, revision, date of manufacture, etc. And ask if
> someone who has one if they will have a look and see if there is a
> capacitor there, and see what value it is, if so. They normally have
> the value printed on them.
>
> No, replacing it with one chosen at random is a significant risk.
> No, the ones around it aren't necessarily the same value.
> Yes, the odds are that it is beyond economic repair and overheating
> has damaged the glue chip.
>
> You could try one of the computer diy groups..
>
It's an Asus P5LD2 Deluxe. I messaged Asus though I don't really much from
them.
I don't have a digital camera that can get a good enough zoom to show
anything. Nothing's printed on the caps because they are tiny ceramic
surface mounts. Though they all look the same, I'm not sure I can assume
they have the same value, since I've seen different capacitances come in
the same size ceramic surface mounts. So I'm not sure if I can assume that
if one of the others I desolder and measures a given value would be the
same...
It's my only computer and I'm worried about breaking it completely. Right
now the first DDR channel is working, though I can only use half RAM.
Perhaps I'll try a same sized cap that I find in my stash in that position
and if the system doesn't boot, hopefully nothing new would have fried from
the test and I can just pull it out and go back to the current status...
| |
| JohnR66 2007-09-08, 9:25 am |
| "Prune" <bobysgotguns_@_yahoo_._com> wrote in message
news:Xns99A38092BF701bobysgotgunsyahoocom@64.59.144.76...
>I posted in computer newsgroups as well but this may be more applicable,
> especially if there are any computer engineers.
>
> I was running for about a year without problem two 1 GB sticks of DDR2
> SDRAM in dual channel in a watercooled system.
>
> I was having some random crashes over the past couple of days. Looked
> inside and turns out the waterblock on the Northbridge had popped off,
> with
> the clamp ripping out one of the looped fasteners on the motherboard it
> was
> attached to. Put the waterblock back but still no dice. After using
> memtest, it turns out that the second DDR memory channel (pair of slots)
> is
> gone--the same RAM module would work in the A slots one but not the B
> slots--errors in the second, with error rate seeming to be somewhat
> proportional to the FSB frequency I set in the BIOS.
>
> Looked under the waterblock again and it looks like there's a missing
> surface mount ceramic capacitor. I think I may have crushed it while
> reinstalling the waterblock. So either from overheating or breaking the
> cap, some damage appears to have occurred and now I can only use one of my
> 1 GB sticks D: It's sure strange though that the second channel slots work
> at all; I wouldn't have expected a partial failure with error rates
> depending on the FSB...
>
> My question is, can I just replace the cap I think I crushed with a random
> one, or maybe unsolder one of the others around it and measure its
> capacitance with my LCR meter and use that, in the hope of restoring
> function? Or what if I didn't crush the cap and there's actually not
> supposed to be one there? I'm not sure how to deal with this.
>
> I'm also looking for suggestions for the best place to ask this.
Ask someone with that board to take a close-up photo of that area of the
board and email it to you. Ask them to use the "macro" mode of their camera
so you can see the number on the components.
A few years ago when CPUs had that metal spring latch, I was building a
machine for somehow and managed to pop off a 1k surface mount resistor. I
managed to solder a 1/8 watt resistor on to get it going again.
| |
|
| Putting both sticks in the first channel works. I'm wondering how much
performance difference I'm actually getting by running single-channel
instead of dual-channel. If it's small, I might as well not bother with
the soldering job.
|
|
|
|
|