Motherboard Fried - Whats the cause

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

Specialjesus

Honorable
Aug 30, 2015
16
0
10,510
The other day i bought a new GTX 970 and installed it but system wouldnt even power on. So i removed the card to check if that was the issue and then all of a sudden i smelt burning and noticed the board fried near the ATX power connector. What could be the issue? I have a corsair 650w PSU, believe a TX650 from best buy, about 6 years old.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_T756bDst1fYVIwQVJzWTV5aDg/view?usp=sharing

link to picture of melted area.

Other specs
Gigabyte MB
AMD FX 8350
 
Solution
Flying Head
Something caused a lot of current to flow through that black circuit board trace. The ''Over-Current Protection'' is supposed to stop that from occurring. The current draw may has been less than what trips the protection. If it had tripped then the power supply would have not supplied voltage, or would have turned off. Why it happened after the GPU card was removed is strange. The GPU card has auxiliary power connectors on it because the motherboard is not capable of supplying enough current to the card. If the power connectors were not attached to the card it simply would not run, but usually not cause any damage. So I can't say the cause, but the result is the burnt circuit board trace (the black could also be from the nearby...
Sort by date Sort by votes
S

Specialjesus

Honorable
Aug 30, 2015
16
0
10,510


Gigabyte GTX 970 Windforce

I had to use two adapters to even connect in the first place.. then removed the card to try a boot and it fried.....
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
captaincharisma

captaincharisma

Glorious
Oct 13, 2004
10,963
76
45,290


using multiple adapters is never a good idea

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Flying Head

Flying Head

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
123
0
10,710
Something caused a lot of current to flow through that black circuit board trace. The ''Over-Current Protection'' is supposed to stop that from occurring. The current draw may has been less than what trips the protection. If it had tripped then the power supply would have not supplied voltage, or would have turned off. Why it happened after the GPU card was removed is strange. The GPU card has auxiliary power connectors on it because the motherboard is not capable of supplying enough current to the card. If the power connectors were not attached to the card it simply would not run, but usually not cause any damage. So I can't say the cause, but the result is the burnt circuit board trace (the black could also be from the nearby capacitor, but its case doesn't show damage). Sometimes overheating will cause a burnt spot, but not be a catastrophic failure. It could then restart and be fine. Smoke until failure is bad. Your power supply specification is satisfactory and has protection. What evert failed may not have drawn enough current to trip the protection, but still have been sufficient to burn the trace.

So it looks like you are ready for a new motherboard and perhaps a new power supply. Sad.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
S

Specialjesus

Honorable
Aug 30, 2015
16
0
10,510



So got the new MB and PSU, install went great. but no video, wont even go show bios flash screen. im assuming the CPU is also fried....

Or could it possibly be that the new MB is DOA?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Flying Head

Flying Head

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
123
0
10,710
How can so many things go wrong? It is not playing fair! If you had lots of spare parts they could be swapped in to find the problem. Are their any beep codes that could point to a cause? I understand it hard to hand over 'your own build' to a technician, but maybe it would be an effective means to get it going again. Are you close to a store; you got your parts fast.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
S

Specialjesus

Honorable
Aug 30, 2015
16
0
10,510


Amazon 2 day shipping is my friend, sometimes next day lol. No mobo beeps what so ever.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
captaincharisma

captaincharisma

Glorious
Oct 13, 2004
10,963
76
45,290




does your computer case have a speaker or does the mobo have a screen that shows a series of numbers?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Specialjesus

Honorable
Aug 30, 2015
16
0
10,510


i has a speaker connected to the board, but im not sure if its even working,.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Flying Head

Flying Head

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
123
0
10,710
If your speaker is external, then you can take a 1.5 volt battery (any size) and touch briefly the speaker. There should be a crackling sound. The problem doing that is it takes 4 hands. If you have two hands like most of use you can hold two leads on the ends of the battery with one hand, and use the second hand to hold the two leads between your thumb and second finger at the proper spacing, and the first finger to hold the plug down against the table so it does not move away. Or, if the wire were the right size it could be inserted into the speaker connector like a male header on the motherboard. Same if you had an Volt Ohm Meter (VOM). On a low ohms scale it would supply a small current which cause a crackling sound. The crackling is because of a poor connection and it makes and breaks as you nervously touch the wires to it. The (face plant) troubleshooting guide says your problem is the motherboard or power supply. Duh! Those are new. But there are other suggestions to try.

Keep your old power supply. It may be good and could be useful sometime.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom