Motherboard damaged due to shorting?

[bosaki]

I recently built a new PC with an Intel DH67BL motherboard, intel i5 2500k processor, 8GB RAM, and a Crucial 64GB SSD. Initially I was experiencing random shutdowns, and inability to boot, but when the computer was working, it booted extremely fast, and everything ran well.

I eventually figured out that my random shutdowns were caused by a misplaced standoff shorting out the bottom of my motherboard. Once I fixed the standoff, I got some weird behavior in windows 7 including driver issues with the network adapter (Intel 82579V Gigabit Network Connection). Every time I shut down and reboot, I have to disable, then reenable the network adapter for it to work. Bootup also took a lot longer. (All drivers were up to date)

So I reinstalled windows, updated all drivers, and everything booted fast until I got the driver issue again...

So my question is, did I damage any hardware by shorting out the motherboard 15 or so times? (I could seek replacement hardware.) Or is this purely a software issue? Any suggestions on how to fix it?

 

[farrengottu]

you could uninstal that network driver and try an older one. otherwise its hardware.
RMA while you can

 

[itzdanielp]

Sounds like one of the shorts overloaded a circuit and damaged it.

I would go ahead and RMA it.

 

[bosaki]

OK. I tried installing an old version, and it wouldn't even let me. Apparently the old version was incompatible with the newer version of the Intel driver manager.

I reinstalled the newest driver and still having the same issues.

Might have to RMA this. Unless I could buy a new one and return the old one to save time... Although they probably check the serial numbers...

 

[pjmelect]

It is doubtful that the short has any bearing on your current difficulties. Your problem probably stems from your network drivers. Reinstall Windows again and do not update the network drivers via Microsoft update only use the drivers that came with the motherboard CD.

 

[geekapproved]

Misplaced standoff, simple noob mistake.

You only need a standoff for each hole in the mobo.

Sounds like you probably fried something, considering the back of your board was grounding out on metal for god knows how long.

Just pray it didn't damage your other components. Be glad you didn't have a fire at least.

 

[pjmelect]

As an expert at making ****-ups in which over the years I have committed every foul up imaginable, experience has shown me that having a extra stand off shorting the motherboard, if it doesn't stop the computer from permanently booting then you have probably got away with it.

 

[bosaki]

It is doubtful that the short has any bearing on your current difficulties. Your problem probably stems from your network drivers. Reinstall Windows again and do not update the network drivers via Microsoft update only use the drivers that came with the motherboard CD.

That's what I had done on the second windows install. I only used the drivers from intel. It just seems weird that the network adapter still works, it just gives a "cannot start device" error unless I disable/reenable.

 

[bosaki]

Misplaced standoff, simple noob mistake.

You only need a standoff for each hole in the mobo.

Sounds like you probably fried something, considering the back of your board was grounding out on metal for god knows how long.

Just pray it didn't damage your other components. Be glad you didn't have a fire at least.

Yeah, I felt really stupid once I realized what was wrong... The computer had shutoff when inserting/removing a USB drive too... That should have alerted me.

Any chance I damaged the processor?

 

[itzdanielp]

Your processor is probably fine, but it is impossible to say until you test it.

 

[bosaki]

Your processor is probably fine, but it is impossible to say until you test it.

How can I test it? I mean, windows runs fine other than the problems I mentioned. Is there a diagnostics test I can run or something?

 

[itzdanielp]

If everything is working properly except for the driver issue the CPU is probably fine.

 

[ko888]

That's what I had done on the second windows install. I only used the drivers from intel. It just seems weird that the network adapter still works, it just gives a "cannot start device" error unless I disable/reenable.

Did you download and use the Version: 16.5 driver that was released 1.5 weeks ago from Intel's web site?

 

[bosaki]

Did you download and use the Version: 16.5 driver that was released 1.5 weeks ago from Intel's web site?

Yes it's version 16.5.

 

[bosaki]

Update: Ran Intel's processor diagnostics, and everything passed.

I got the same driver error with my wireless USB adapter, but only once, and it was after coming out of sleep. Still getting the ethernet issue on (sloooow) reboots. Hmm...

 

[itzdanielp]

I would suggest getting a new MB

 

[bosaki]

I would suggest getting a new MB

Yeah, that seems to be in the immediate future...

 

[bosaki]

I installed a new motherboard today and reinstalled Windows. I no longer have the network adapter problem, but I'm still getting slow-ish boots. They are faster than they were, but they are still slow, but only when I have my 2TB Samsung HD204UI plugged in (Windows is installed on SSD). When I unplug the SATA cable, Windows boots lightning quick, like it used to.

The BIOS boot order is correct. I tried different SATA ports and different SATA cables. I didn't originally have this problem... Could the HDD possibly be damaged? The HDD runs fine otherwise... Suggestions?

 

[ko888]

Take a look at the hard disk drive's SMART data and look for any warnings.

Use a utility like CrystalDiskInfo or HD Tune to view that hard disk's health.

 

[bosaki]

Take a look at the hard disk drive's SMART data and look for any warnings.

Use a utility like CrystalDiskInfo or HD Tune to view that hard disk's health.

Installed HD Tune, and under the Health tab, it says "Health Status: OK"

 

[bosaki]

Also started a dedicated thread for this here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/321755-31-storage-causing-slow-boot#t2396916

 

[bosaki]

Best answer selected by bosaki.