MSI MS-6368 mainboard freezes before loading OS

[delaware74b]

Re: MSI MS-6368 mainboard freezes before loading OS

The 4 solder holes in your last post look okay. Clean the board with a little 90% iso alcohol on a cotton swab and you're ready to reinstall.

Some of the through holes I have done looked far worse than yours and they still worked. As long as you don't pull the via out of the board, you're good. I had pulled a via out of a cordless mouse when I went to remove the left button momentary switch. It had at least one layer between the top and bottom (D-OH!)

[momaka]

Re: MSI MS-6368 mainboard freezes before loading OS

1) Can anybody tell me what the colour(dark and light green) of protective lacquer on the mainboard signifies?

light green = signal or voltage trace (essentially a wire that connects different components)
dark green = no trace. Basically it indicates insulating material between the signal/voltage traces.
There are many layers of this sandwiched in the board.

Congrats on the fix, btw!

[gandhig]

Re: MSI MS-6368 mainboard freezes before loading OS

The snaps were taken before cleaning. i could find only 70% iso alcohol here and it was not removing the flux. A gentle rub with a fine tipped screw driver removed the flux, then i cleaned it with iso after which it looked a lot better. Are via and solder pads one and the same?

Ran some DOS diagnostics from UBCD which turned out OK. i will run some more tests and boot from ubuntu live CD before attaching my hard drive(which is already in use in other system) with Win XP OS to this recapped board for final confirmation.

[delaware74b]

Re: MSI MS-6368 mainboard freezes before loading OS

Solder pads are what you solder components to the board's traces (think of traces as the wires).

Vias are the tubes that go through the circuit board, connecting the various layers to the different components.

Example: a via for a (-)capacitor leg connects the capacitor to the ground plane on the top side of the board and a layer in the middle while the via for a (+) capacitor lef connects to the plane on the bottom of the board.

[gandhig]

Re: MSI MS-6368 mainboard freezes before loading OS

Ok, got it. Thanks.