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    #1

    Dead board with no obvious signs

    This is my once usable, Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI board.Within 15 minutes it was completely dead. It was on almost constantly for 3 years and 3 months.
    It started out by doing a hard shut down from XP, and would do that several times, even during POST until it eventually showed no POST at all and the USB ports had no power.
    I thought maybe the power supply was bad, but I checked inside it and found nothing obvious.
    Best guess I have is a VRM went bad, but maybe someone can see something I didn't (sorry about pic size, don't have PS installed). I changed out the ram, PSU, video card, unplugged all optical drives and hard drives. Nothing worked. It was behind a UPS and not even it went off from a power failure or surge, and I know it didn't over heat either.


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    #2
    Re: Dead board with no obvious signs

    I have not seen something strange except for the blue heatsink near memory slots, have you cut it?

    Reducing heatsink increase the device temperature and maybe this bring it to fail in the long run.
    If you connect the PSU and try to start the MOBO, does the CPU Fan work?
    Can you feel if something is overheating on the MOBO?

    I see some Nichicon cap and if I'm not wrong there have been some faulty production but I can't remeber the years.

    I have no suggestion, you have already done what I would do, maybe someone else here can help you.
    Gianni
    Last edited by Gianni; 10-02-2008, 04:26 PM. Reason: Typo
    "In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins...Not through strength, but through persistence."
    H. J. Brown

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Dead board with no obvious signs

      It's not the stock heat sink.
      I had to clip some pins to make room for the newer video card, but it never went over 90F. CPU fan didn't die either.

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Dead board with no obvious signs

        The K8NXP-SLI is a late 2004 motherboard, so it could employ bad Nichicon HN or HM caps (bad ones were manicatured from 2002 to 2004): I don't see any bulged cap anyway.
        For starter I'd clear the cmos (detach the power cord and remove the battery for about 10 minutes) and boot the minimal config: mobo, cpu, 1 stick of ram, videocard (maybe a cheap entry level one, just to avoid power issues) and psu. If it still doesn't post, check the chipset (the one under the cut blue heatsink): the nForce 4 has a serious heat problem which can be exacerbated if the heatsink doesn't dissipate heat enough (because e.g. the graphic card is too long and blocks air cooling).
        BTW, can you list all components?

        Zandrax
        Have an happy life.

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Dead board with no obvious signs

          Some Nichicon HN and HM series caps made between 2002 and 2004 were defective, though they usually bloat.

          I also see a chemicon KZG.
          I've had those fail with no visible signs of a problem.

          .
          Mann-Made Global Warming.
          - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
          -
          Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
          - Dr Seuss
          -
          You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
          -

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Dead board with no obvious signs

            I already tried clearing the cmos the day it died. I left the battery out all night.
            I also took all the heatsinks off for to check for any scorch marks, nothing.

            When it went dead it had
            2x1GB and 2x512MB of corsair value ram, Opteron 145/8?, 8800GTS, and a 1yr old PC power 610W. It has to be the board because the same PSU, VGA, DVD, HDD, and PCI cards are in the new machine.

            I even tried my old 6600GT card and another 410W PS in it after leaving the battery out, and no ram at all. Just blank screens with no beeps. Fans still worked but that was it.
            I was under the impression that bad caps would give symptoms over time, not just up and die?
            This board was rock solid up till then. Even if it's repairable I'm still a bit leery on doing so. If the RAM is no good I wouldn't bother any further since regular DDR hasn't gotten any cheaper sadly. But at this point I'm only looking for the cause.

            It's been replaced by a EP45-DS3L
            http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128345
            I just hope this one is as good as they imply..

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Dead board with no obvious signs

              Caps aren't all the same, they don't all fail for the same reason, and are all subject to differing conditions,,, There are many different failure modes for capacitors.

              I have twice had KZG problems where the system worked fine one day and then simply wouldn't boot the next morning. I know it was the KZG because that's all I replaced.

              .
              Mann-Made Global Warming.
              - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.
              -
              Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
              - Dr Seuss
              -
              You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
              -

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Dead board with no obvious signs

                even if the ram is bad corsair has a lifetime warrenty.
                and i had a board that looked fine cap wise that would not post.had a shorted nichicon hm on vcore.
                vrm would not run into that short.
                time to see what is not running.
                so many things can cause no post.no clock,vcore,vdimm,whacked bios,ect.

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Dead board with no obvious signs

                  I have a Gateway board that is DOA after recapping. It is in the winter projects bin for re-evaluation. I used all Rubycon MCZ but it is solid DOA. The VRM sings quietly so I know I have a cap problem.

                  I didn't ESR test each cap prior to replacement. Then again, I didn't have an ESR meter, either. Over the winter, I will build my ESR meter kit, and see if I can correct this board.

                  OP, if your board is valuable to you, recap everything from 470uF and up with premium caps. Or, can do it in sections. Start with VRM, then memory, then the field caps.

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