I think ive killed my motherboard...

Ham · Dec 17, 2006

As the title implies. Took it out yest to do some testing on llwyd equiptment and re-house it in my new case, and one of the things on the to-do list was re-seat my NB watter block.

We'll in the process of that i managed to get thermal paste around the resistors on the chip. S*** i think, and try to clean it off. But alphacools thermal paste is a

to get off at the best of times. So i did the best i could and crossed my fingers.

Only to find after my 2 hours of leaktesting that the **** wouldn't boot. Its not even posting and is giving no warning beeps atall suggesting anythign else.

Atm the thing is out the case and all back on air cooling.

Things ive tried:

Once stick of ram, all slots.

No ram any slots

Cleaning the NB with acetone, made it a little cleaner but still not how it looked originaly.

Reseting the CMOS

The fragtek method of reseting the CMOS

Im sure its the motherboard due to the fact its not posting/beeping at me atall. It just sits there looking at me.

Anyone got any ideas of anything else to try before i throw it out the window and buy another?

ai_01 · Dec 17, 2006

some options-

-put the speaker jumper on if u have one

-use a differ p/w supply

-im sure uv taken out everything that connects to mobo, even hd, fans, sound cards etc besides the essentials.

deathwish · Dec 17, 2006

the fact that it dont do sugests that its

1) ****ed

2) no power

3) shorting because of the thermal paste

so post some pic's of were you have got the thermal paste

other wist try cleaning it with non conductive water cooling fluid (well not the best idea but worth a try)

also make sure its not your psu first

Ham · Dec 17, 2006

Cheers for the replys guys, ive tried the one i hadn't thought of:

The speaker is built into the board. The PSU is fine (voltmetered and tested on my cellery rig) and the only things i had pluged in to test were video card & DVI connector into that and the 3 power leads from my PSU.

As i said ive cleaned it with acetone, but there is a micro-thin layer over it still which i can only tell is there as its a different colour to what it was origianly, so pics wouldnt be much use. Anything else i may have lying round that could clean off the final layer? Nitromorse is a bit extreme and thats all i can think of.

I think the ****ed suggestion is right...

Keep the ideas comming

llwyd · Dec 17, 2006

if you can get one of those really pointy cotton buds / make one what about a really mild abrasive like T cut. also what bout fairy liquid + hot water?

Rastalovich · Dec 17, 2006

Take it or leave it, but I can only suggest that after trying whatever cleaning methods, leave the board in u`r airing cupboard overnight just to be sure all that`s liquid will have a chance to evapourate.

(it`s an old coke/coffee spilt over a circuit trick)

My fear would be that something has blown the first time u tried to power it up >.<

mrapoc · Dec 17, 2006

I point my n00bish slightly stubby finger at the board shorting especially if the thermal paste contains metal alloys such as silver.

Sticky Mick · Dec 17, 2006

Any l.e.d's on the mobo that should be lit when the power is running through?

This may sound a bit stupid but I've spent hours furckling about with a PC that wouldn't show any lights anywhere, only to discover that the fuse had blown in the mains plug

To be sure about the thermal paste idea try soaking the CPU in Isopropanol and giving it a gentle scrub with a kids toothbrush (softer bristles.) Have a good look at the CPU socket as well, make sure their's none left behind on that.

Ham · Dec 17, 2006

Mick, its the northbridge, not the CPU.

Ive now tried every component combonation possible and the board does the same thing every time. Its power LED comes on, then i trip the switch jumper and the Dram LED comes on and the thing sitts and looks at me.

Ive cleaned the NB as well as acetone can possibly manage

Sticky Mick · Dec 18, 2006

Aha! Just skimmed over your first post, after a re-read I get it all now

Have you had a good squint about the other components just to make sure a bit of loose A/S hasn't crawled into another hole.

Check the laquer on the opposite side of the mobo, directly under the NB chip. Look for any blistering/discoloration of the laquer. That would give an indication of very high temps in that area, indicating a burn-out.

Here's a quick tip for everyone when applying thermal paste:

Don't put it on the chip, put it on the heatsink instead by measuring the size of the chip, then mark out the dimensions on the base of the heatsink. Next use some masking tape to mask off the area where you don't want the paste. Put a double layer of tape around. Then apply your paste to the Heatsink and spread it about with an old credit card or something similar. You'll find the tape will allow a very thin layer of paste to build up. When you're ready to fit the heatsink, just whip off the tape and "Voila!" you've got a nice clean square of paste that's just the right size for the chip.

I used this method when I rebuilt my rig earlier this year, so I know it works.

Rastalovich · Dec 18, 2006

Arggh! - The size of u`r chip! U`r gonna get seapage >.<

FarFarAway · Dec 18, 2006

during my Athlon XP days I just used a thin layer on the core and a thin layer on the HS

Always worked fine for me

Rastalovich · Dec 18, 2006

A core is a little different, both in surface area and pcb overlay.

A chip will just... seap ?

I like this word seap.

Sticky Mick · Dec 20, 2006

I've never had any problems with this "seapage" (that sounds better "seeeeaaaapage") Sounds like something that old dears get with incontinence pants

I've used my method on CPUs, GPUs, N/Bridge chips and RAM chips. If you do a good clean job you get a very VERY thin layer of AS. I reckon you could read a newspaper through it.

Rastalovich · Dec 20, 2006

Tbh Mick, I think my spelling was wrong, I think it`s seep >.<

deathwish · Dec 20, 2006

i think that he meens that if you put two mutch thermal paste onto the chip when you put the hs on the paste will get pushed off the chip onto the pcb like when you try and eat a custard slice

FragTek · Dec 20, 2006

I had a problem a tad similar to this once and it ended up being my IDE cable, go figure right? It doesnt make much sense that an IDE cable would stop the whole bloody board from even posting or doing a lick of anything but I swear after I changed the cable it worked... Hell you may not even have anything hooked up via IDE, just SATA i suppose while trying to get it to POST?

mrapoc · Dec 20, 2006

Yea massacre had that problem too after hooking up his cd-rw, he unplugged it and voila it worked, strange

Ham · Dec 20, 2006

As i said before, i had nothing pulged into the board but essentials.

Connectors wise 24pin ATX, 4pin 'p4' and 6pin pci-e power. Graphics card and its dvi connector.

Fingers crossed its not fried anything else.

If llwyds RMA goes though ill have the replacement off him (seeing as im the 1 rmaing the bloody thing).

JN · Dec 20, 2006

name='FragTek' said:
I had a problem a tad similar to this once and it ended up being my IDE cable, go figure right? It doesnt make much sense that an IDE cable would stop the whole bloody board from even posting or doing a lick of anything but I swear after I changed the cable it worked... Hell you may not even have anything hooked up via IDE, just SATA i suppose while trying to get it to POST?

Yeah - I've seen PC's fail to turn on due to the floppy cable being plugged in upside down!

I think ive killed my motherboard...

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