I fried my board (1 Viewer)

[Christian Behrens]

So, yesterday morning my computer just died while running normally. I thought it was just the power supply, but trying a different one showed me that more than just the PSU is gone, it seems that the board itself is fried as well, as I disconnected everything and it still didn't show any improvement, as only the CPU fan started moving, but something burned, I could smell it.

But should I be seeing anything on the board (or the CPU for that matter)? I took it out, but visibly everything looks fine.

Thanks,

-Christian

 

[JamesHl]

You won't see anything visible unless something went incredibly wrong.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Or you get lucky. You could look at every mm through a magnifying glass, but remember that these boards are multi-layered, and have like 7 sections of 'wires' held together with 8 sheets of plastic.

Good luck!
Glenn

 

[Christian Behrens]

Thanks guys, just checking.

As the computer was working just fine the way it was for quite a while, what may have caused this out of the blue? Power surges?

-Christian

 

[JamesHl]

Generally a short. The only way I've seen a motherboard zapped that wasn't a power surge was someone mounting the board with a stud from the old board still on the tray.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Unless you abused it, part failure. When one goes, it cascades. Watch your memory and CPU unless you want to chuck them.

Glenn

 

[Hunter P]

Something probably burned up on your MB. The cause could be poor cooling, leaky battery acid, or something else. It might be the CPU, a diode, resistor, whatever. You might want to take a closer look. It might not be obvious to a casual glance but I think you will find the burnt component upon closer inspection. Magnifying glass helps.

It is possible that the MB can still be repaired but more likely you're gonna have to replace the whole MB.

 

[Christian Behrens]

Thanks so far everyone.

What are the chances that I can reuse my CPU and memory? I am looking at getting the same board again, so I can put back everything the way it was.

In case the CPU is bad as well and I put it on a new board, would that potentially fry the new board?

I would like to get back up and running ASAP with as little investment as possible, but if these shortcuts (reusing CPU and mem) could make me effectively spend more than necessary, I might just look into upgrading board, CPU, and memory.

-Christian