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Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

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    #1

    Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

    Guys,

    Sorry to just barge on here and post but I need so advice...

    I have built a car PC running with an Intel Little Falls 2 mobo (D945GCLF2).

    It has been running great for months and then suddenly decided to 'die' the other day. The mobo was mounted in the dash but not particularly well protected so I decided something had shorted as the M2-ATX car PSU was apparently running fine and the green power indicator on the actual motherboard was lit but with no other signs of life.

    I purchased a replacement board together with a mini ITX case and rebuilt. The PC booted fine and ran for all of 60 seconds before it also died with the exact same symptoms!!!?

    I've checked the PSU on a standard desktop board and it runs... just although it does shut down and start again after a few minutes but I am guessing this has more to do with my 12v supply and the wattage of the CPU than any fault.

    I've metered the voltages and they all read spot-on 3.3, 5 and 12V

    The only things left to check are the various USB components - FM radio tuner, touchscreen, hub plus a serial GPS mouse.

    The speaker jacks run to an amp in the car but I would have thought that's one-way traffic as far as current is concerned?

    I've noticed that both dead boards are very hot on one transistor (voltage regulator?) - see yellow circled area below:



    Two questions...

    1. Does anyone think the boards are repairable? If so, any ideas?
    2. What could be causing the boards to blow?

    Big thanks in advance for any help!!

    David
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

    Try with bare minimum system.
    No drives, mouse, etc. - Just video and keyboard.
    See if you can get into the BIOS.
    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

      #3
      Re: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

      Board in photo looks like it might have Nichicon HN caps.
      Those were defective from 2001 thru 2004.
      .
      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

        #4
        Re: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

        Hi PcBonez

        Thanks for the replies.

        The boards both show ATX power is connected but will not power up - no fan spin etc. All that happens is the circled transistor gets very hot.

        These boards first appeared in 2008 although I can see Nichicon PET written on at least 2 caps. Also used is Samxon, N.P.N(?) and Rubycon.

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

          You have two boards with the same problem.
          Most likely something from outside affected the boards so check the things they have in common.
          The first thing to do is get rid of everything you don't need to boot it to a BIOS screen because if some outside bad part is still connected you aren't going to get anywhere.
          .
          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: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

            What is this power supply, show some pics of it.

            It may be in-spec on a DMM, but the fluctuations in voltages can happen quicker than it refreshes, so you may not see them.

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

              Two different boards.... Same FET gets hot.
              - - Trace it and find out what powers the FET.

              .
              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: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

                Make sure your power supply is good. Noisy PSU kill these. I was lucky I caught this.

                Cheers, Wizard

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

                  Hi guys,

                  Thanks for the responses so far.

                  I have to say I'm no electronics specialist.. the PSU is a custom 12v in, car ATX. It is less than 8 months old and only used for 30 mins per day on average.

                  Here's a pic -

                  Someone has suggested the car alternator but for the second board, the car was not running and ignition was at ACC position.

                  I have tried both boards bare and get the same result - the transistor gets very hot, very fast BUT no fan spin so no BIOS.

                  There's no obvious signs of fried component. Would they be close to the transistor? I measured the resistance across the pins and get 170 and 19 ohms in both directions.

                  The transistor has got the marking 1117A 822176 impressed onto it. I did a search for the numbers on the 'net but nothing came up.

                  Here's a closer image of the component:



                  A full-size version is also here: www.tapsupply.co.uk/CVR4/moboclose.jpg

                  Thanks again for any guidance.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

                    1117A is a Low Voltage Dropout Regulator but it ID's a familiy not a specific part.
                    Some are fixed voltage and some adjustable.
                    Might be regulating any of 1.8V, 2.5V, 2.85, 3.3V, or 5V.
                    Most are rated from 800 mAmp to 1 Amp and getting hot might be normal for that much current through a part that small.
                    For instance 1 amp at 5v would be 5 watts [and that's just the load on it].
                    .
                    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

                      #11
                      Re: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

                      Thanks PCBONEZ!

                      So, even though there's no obvious signs of life apart from the LED on-board, this regulator might be working ok? - Shame because I was hoping it would be an easy-ish fix!

                      Is there a way of testing with a meter? (Sorry for my ignorance)

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: Something is blowing my Intel Little Falls 2 D945GCLF2 mobo!?

                        I've just plugged one of the boards into a standard ATX PSU and left for a while - the regulator/transistor took about 30 seconds to get noticably hot.

                        The southbridge chip also began to warm up a little.

                        The voltage across the regulator (outer pins) was 1.80V.

                        Think I'll start the project from scratch!!

                        Comment

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