Dying Motherboard

[g0ggles1994]

Just want to run this past anyone who's experienced similar.

I'll keep it short, one of my RAM slots on my motherboard is a dud, will not POST what so ever. Other slots are fine, but my worry is now. Will this spread and will my motherboard completely die on me; and if so, how long have I got left?

Thanks everyone

 

[Warchild]

Which board?

I found out the cause of my old motherboards slot 1 failure. I had a bent pin in my CPU socket. As soon as I straightened it, all 4 slots were back in business.

 

[g0ggles1994]

Which board?

I found out the cause of my old motherboards slot 1 failure. I had a bent pin in my CPU socket. As soon as I straightened it, all 4 slots were back in business.

My MSI X370 Gaming Pro Carbon. I can guarantee it's nothing to do with any bent pins; I've not touched the system for a while. It just did it one day when I turned it on, hadn't opened it up or anything.

 

[tinytomlogan]

It cant really 'spread'

Its probably a dry bit of solder thats cracked or something

 

[g0ggles1994]

It cant really 'spread'

Its probably a dry bit of solder thats cracked or something

Ah, good idea, never considered that. I'll have a look to see if anything is amiss as I've been meaning to give it a good clean out. You reckon it's worth picking up an X470 or B450 if I find one on clearance anyway?

 

[Excalabur50]

Ah, good idea, never considered that. I'll have a look to see if anything is amiss as I've been meaning to give it a good clean out. You reckon it's worth picking up an X470 or B450 if I find one on clearance anyway?

If you're going to update the board go with a B550 but I'd see if MSI will cover it for you under warranty first they're usually pretty good at warranty support

 

[g0ggles1994]

If you're going to update the board go with a B550 but I'd see if MSI will cover it for you under warranty first they're usually pretty good at warranty support

I'll have a look at that. Think it may be out of warranty though as I've had it for over 3 years now.
Only reason I considered getting a 400 series motherboard as a replacement is for cheapness. I don't intend on upgrading the rest of my system until we've moved onto DDR5, PCIe 5.0and all that

 

[Excalabur50]

I'll have a look at that. Think it may be out of warranty though as I've had it for over 3 years now.
Only reason I considered getting a 400 series motherboard as a replacement is for cheapness. I don't intend on upgrading the rest of my system until we've moved onto DDR5, PCIe 5.0and all that

Fair enough on the B450 but I'd contact MSI direct first and see what they can do for you then go from there

 

[AlienALX]

First off clean the board. Like, really clean the whole thing with isoprop.

Clean the pins. Be very gentle, use an anti static brush, use lots of isoprop.

If you can get it posting flash the BIOS, as it may be what is called chip rot.

There's a channel on Youtube. I don't like the guy at all (Tech Yes City) but he has had quite a bit of success.

If, for example, a small fly or insect something landed on two solder points and died it could cause a short over a long period of time. Or it could just be a bit of dust or something.

Some people bung them in the dishwasher. Again, this has had some pretty good results. If it's BIOS rot and you can't get it to POST then you are probably screwed unless you can do SMD work.

 

[g0ggles1994]

Welp, I took your advice Alien. Took it to bits today, inspected all the solder joints as TTL mentioned, nothing there. Tiny bit of dust but no obvious corrosion or anything else.

Dismantled the whole thing -it was due for a full clean anyway- cleaned the RAM slots out with alcohol and electronic contact cleaner on both sides of the board. Reassembled with the RAM in its original slots and to my surprise it fired straight up: no POST issues, RAM all there and tested fine, and speeds back up as well.

No idea what it was, I'm guessing it might have been that bit of dust on the back but I'm stumped as I've seen much worse PCs work fine. Ah well, cheers for the advice everyone, I'm glad I didn't just switch my motherboard now, haha

 

[AlienALX]

As I said, it just happens mate. If one piece of "dust" or fly guts or what not gets in there (even something microscopic) it can cause a short.

People send stuff to that guy I don't like all of the time, and unless it's a major fault he gets it all working again.

Wicked you got it working again

 

[g0ggles1994]

Aye, I'm over the moon it was nothing serious as I've saved about £100 doing so, haha.

I've had this running just over 3 years now and it's the longest I've ran one single PC, I want to hit 5 before I draw up the new one

 

[Excalabur50]

Glad to hear it's sorted!