Is my mobo done?

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Justiceinacan

Justiceinacan

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In the process of repairing an old computer for... I honestly don't know

Anyways, motherboard is a Foxconn C51XEM2AA- 8EKRS2H AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX

I notice that headset that has 3 lights appear on it only has 1 appear, no display from a graphics card in one of the PCI express slots, a keyboard that lights up does not, and I'm thinking it's likely dead.

Is it?

Desperate sounding question, but is it fixable? Anything I should try before I scrap the system?
 
Solution
Chicano

By "Mobo side", I mean: The motherboard side (or female end) of the 24 pin connector....
The mobo female connector may look normal but the overload may have gone through without leaving a mark because it didn't find resistance there.... but it must have found it somewhere else in the motherboard, where it may have done the damage, and motherboard damage doesn't necessarily show... most of the times it doesn't.. And let's face it; a current that can toast a connector that way, can't just fade without harming something in the way... these are reasons to think something was harmed:

The computer doesn't post, beep...
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Chicano

Chicano

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What about the other PCI Express x16 slot?... Does the GPU work there?
If it does, it's fixable... if not, further tests would be necessary.

1. Reset the BIOS*.
2. Try each ram module at a time on each ram slot.
3. Test the PSU on another computer or another (known working) PSU on your computer

*BIOS reset options:
On all options remove the AC cable and press the power button and hold it for 1 minute.
a) battery off for 5 to 10 minutes
b) BIOS jumper moved to pins 2 and 3 for 5 to 10 minutes
c) Both battery and jumper for 10 minutes
d) same as c for 1 hour

e) If still nothing, you could try resetting the BIOS for a full hour, and if still nothing, reset it one last time waiting overnight or from 10 to 12 hours... after that you can lose hope on the motherboard.
 
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Justiceinacan

Justiceinacan

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Ah yes
1. I did try two keyboards ; a really old one with the keyboard input and a new one with usb 3.0 and another with usb 2.0
2. Tried both PCI express slots too, no display.

Machine powers on, should I still go through with PSU slots? (EDIT : Tests. I'm tired)
Note ; Only other desktop I own is ancient and has 250W, is it safe to put 700W into that? Just checking

No onboard video slots from what I can tell, unless those circular that there is like 5 of are video slots and I don't have whatever matching input those are.

Also I plugged in working audio to see if I could hear the windows 7 chime because I figured I might, didn't hear it although it could be because I had to go through an error message for malfunctioning parts before startup...

Thanks for the tips, I'll try figuring it out tomorrow because I finally got off my duff and bought some bulbs for my workspace...


 
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Chicano

Chicano

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Wow! looks like it had a serious current overload... question is how does the mobo side look?. Any current load that can burn the connector like that, may have also damaged the motherboard. After watching that image, I'd now say that testing the motherboard with another PSU is necessary just to make sure it suffered or not any damage...
a) If it works, it may be ok or suffered damage may later manifest itself....
b) and if it doesn't work with a good PSU, it probably suffered damage.
c) As for the PSU I would not trust it again.

 
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Tom Tancredi

Tom Tancredi

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Other than as a hobbie "can i do it no matter the cost" project, I would (based on the image) step back and reassess at this point. Your hitting a cost vs benefit point here. Unless this is a gaming rig (which would also entail other parts as well might be DEAD like the GPUs and such) the simplest / cheapest answer would be to go to Walmart get cousin a new $200 Laptop, take the drive from dead PC, scrape off the personal data onto $5 (64GB) thumb drive, start new laptop, copy data to folder on desktop, and be done.

If for gaming (again cost vs benefit) then your looking for $750 price range for all reliably working and performing parts (typically around a i5) as any parts from the dead PC can pass today but 3 months later POOF! and your back to square one. So again might consider for 'cousin' maybe better invest in a refurb PS4 from Gamestop $149 and can play all the titles they like reliably without further worries about 'compatibility' or 'can my PC play this?'.

Laptop+PS4 : $350 VS costs for new PSU, Mobo, CPU, RAM, GPUs, and if this was in a OEM PC a new copy of Windows (as the OEM license would prevent Windows from loading in any other hardware configuration).
 
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Justiceinacan

Justiceinacan

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The female end of the connector looks fine. What do you mean by side? Nothing looks out of place from what I see...

Iirc, the day it broke it was 90 degrees out and my brother was using it for multiple hours straight. I think it should have shut down sooner, though.

 
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Tom Tancredi

Tom Tancredi

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Really have to agree with Chicano. While your 'focus' is on the 'connector' you're not (based on your reply) considering all the transformer, rectifier, filter and regulator circuits in the PSU you can't see because it is inside the cage. Then along the entire motherboard the solder points that can be melted due to the short causing heat, or had fused with a parallel one due to the overload, the caps that might be blown / ready to blow on the next "90 degrees out" and so on. The same goes for the GPU card, etc.

Can you get parts to work today: Maybe? But is it reliable? Doubtful, seen to many times they have frequent issues, reboots, crashes, etc. because the data flow isn't PURE 0-1 it is now hiccuping and throws off the calculations. Can it die the next time it reboots? Powers off? just 'dies' sudden - ABSOLUTELY. Seen that too many times, good for weeks and weeks then poof, won't turn on for squat and now your three times paying (initial bad PC, replaced parts, now new PC).
 
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Chicano

Chicano

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By "Mobo side", I mean: The motherboard side (or female end) of the 24 pin connector....
The mobo female connector may look normal but the overload may have gone through without leaving a mark because it didn't find resistance there.... but it must have found it somewhere else in the motherboard, where it may have done the damage, and motherboard damage doesn't necessarily show... most of the times it doesn't.. And let's face it; a current that can toast a connector that way, can't just fade without harming something in the way... these are reasons to think something was harmed:

The computer doesn't post, beep, display video, doesn't light up the keyboard and probably doesn't power the mouse light either. All these symptoms can be caused by one or more of the following:

1. bad PSU,
2. dead motherboard,
3. dead GPU,
4. bad RAM or RAM issue,
5. dead CPU,
6. corrupted or dead BIOS

EDIT:
7. One more cause is bent socket/CPU pins.
 
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Solution
Justiceinacan

Justiceinacan

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http://i.imgur.com/shsjkW8.jpg

yall were right, this did affect the motherboard - totally overlooked the cylinders and was looking for scorch marks on the actual board >-<

There are 4 damaged cylinders - two with burn marks and two that have major bulges and are almost popped out of their slots.

Basically scrapping the system by now, thanks for all the assistance. I learned a lot from this :)
 
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