Attempting to bring back my old machine.
Attempting to bring back my old machine.
That's accurate. This explains why you notice the absence of thermal paste on the chip—just checking if it warms up when I try to use it and power it on. The board includes test pads, and everything works fine except for Vcore, which drops below 1mV when powered up. I don't recall exactly how this device failed; it might have been a sudden shutdown, though that's uncertain. It was many years ago, stored in an anti-static bag after the failure. The second computer I ever assembled. Looking at your video now—how do you know such detailed knowledge?
Also updated on the Z97: performed a quick soak and light nylon brushing with deionized water. Dried fast using a heated dehumidifier (some unusual tools involved). Continued power cycles with the 8pin CPU; it stays on even without installation but still shows some new issues, mainly around the VRMs. Likely came out of a damaged area, probably near the power regulators. I’m planning a longer soak now. Hard to capture clearly in the photo, but I can see it when I run my finger over it. Also, I reinstalled only the MB and CPU cables to verify everything works. Used only pure distilled water.
I stumbled upon a video by chance and clicked it, which sparked some curiosity. It reminded me of those dunking boards in water that people use to fix faulty boards—they tend to get dirty, but they’re not really helpful against real electrical issues. Probably explains why most boards won’t power on at all instead of just needing a power cycle. Still, one of my X58A UD3s did that before soaking it in water. After reseating the main BIOS chip, it started working again. The only problem was the VRM heatsinks; removing them helped it turn back on. It turned out the issue was a corrupted BIOS—just flashed code 03 and it shut down. Now I just need to restore the main BIOS for my Z97X SoC, since I’ve been using my amateur BIOS mod. At least the backup is holding up, so I don’t have to deal with soldering equipment again.
Update on the board: It underwent a thorough clean with two 99.9% isopropyl alcohol bottles and cue tips. It was soaked in deionized water for more than 12 hours, then dried using a dehumidifier. Despite this, the same problem continues. To prevent an immediate power cycle, the only solution seems to be removing the CPU 8-pin pin. It appears I might need to consider buying a used board from eBay, but I still want to run it for the challenge. I have a question for the community—though I’m not an expert in motherboard circuits, I do work with PCBs and know a bit about electronics. Would it be worth trying to rework the VRM areas? I also have a solid SMD component collection. I’m unsure if this could help short-term, but I remember similar fixes worked on PlayStation and Xbox boards. I realize this might be very different from what I’m dealing with. Or am I just wasting time thinking about a possible reflow fix? I’m willing to invest time in diagnosing the issue and see if it’s worth the effort. I asked Asus for schematics, but I doubt they’ll share them.