Did I accidentally kill my motherboard? Plus, the old "dead board" springs come back to life.
Did I accidentally kill my motherboard? Plus, the old "dead board" springs come back to life.
I was dealing with a difficult setup, yet I believed the MB was fine because I booted it into Bios on the first day I received it. However, after storing it for about a week to focus on other tasks, I put it back in. Initially, everything functioned without the CPU cooler attached just to test if it would post. This setup included two RAM modules in B1 and B2. It did post, and I shut it down before the CPU became too hot to touch. A week later, I repeated the process this time using only one RAM module in B2, and it posted quickly. So far so good.
Once I reinstalled the CPU cooler mounting bracket, the brackets, and attached the tower cooler, it still didn’t post. I then removed the CMOS battery, repositioned the CLR CMOS jumper, cut off power connections, and took out the tower cooler. I cleaned away some thermal paste and removed the 7600K, then reset it carefully to confirm proper contact. I inspected all pins and found none bent.
After that, without any cooler or accessories, I tried again with just a single RAM stick. Immediately it posted. I’m worried my method of jumping the power buttons might have caused the issue.
Anyway, I was optimistic and reattached the cooler this time—very gently tightening it so the screws wouldn’t turn, without applying much force. Or so I thought.
With everything unchanged except the cooler, when I tried to power it on in that condition, there was nothing at all—no lights, no blinks, nothing. So I completely disassembled it again.
Then, with just a single RAM stick, no cooler, no CMOS battery, and no pressure, I received absolutely no response. Just a "dead board." This is confusing me. Was it the pressure from the cooler mounting that caused the failure, or did something else kill it?
It was working then. All I did was tighten the CPU cooler back in, install the second RAM module, and put the CMOS battery back. It somehow stopped working during that process.
Feeling quite disappointed, I went to the storage area and pulled out another board from last week—what I thought was a dead one. Luckily, it worked this time! A completely different MB, the Z370 Asus Prime, which was dead as a doornail.
Miraculously, it now functions—after last week’s “junked” board, which I had suspected might be a scam from eBay. Swapping the coolers brought it back to life!
Sometimes I wonder if some hardware is connected in a way that’s quantum-like—maybe it exists or doesn’t, depending on the moment. What do you think? Any experience with this situation?
did you test it on non-conductive surfaces?
are all power connectors connected?
without a CMOS battery, functionality is limited today (though not always, but usually)
which CPU cooler was installed? are there any shorts? is it properly set up for this system?
there might be a scratch on the motherboard or a small crack.
I use a composite tabletop and place the MB on top of a MB Carboard box to work on it. The PSU isn't great, but I haven't had many issues with them before. I've built on at least 10 of these, and only one had a minor "electrical buzz noise" similar to what you'd hear from a power transformer. It was the APEVIA 550W model. I'm willing to take the risk. Regarding scratches or tiny cracks... I don't think so, but I can really inspect it closely and see if anything stands out.
It's unclear if I had the Cmos battery again when I gave up. It might have been there, but it's not certain