Broken Southbridge on ASUS P5N32E-SLI

[Chaks]

My ASUS P5N32E-SLI motherboard all of a sudden stopped. Does not BOOT/POST. The power switch does not switch-on the system. When i press the power button nothing happens. no fans, no display, no beep (i have connected a motherboard speaker to the header). If I force the switch-on by shorting the ATX-Power-On signal with ground on the 20pin connector then only the fans are running. No Beep/No display/No POST.
I tried all possible combinations like replacing ram, CPU and, power supply but same problem.
So I finally removed the heat sink from the north-bridge and south-bride chips just to make sure that the chips are ok. I found the south bridge chip was broken and the broken piece was attached to the heat sink very firmly like it was stuck with adhesive. I was very careful and I did not use any pressure while removing the heat sink ... the heat sink came off rather easily without any effort.

Do you think the CHIP is totally broken and the motherboard cannot be repaired? Or the broken area on the chip is not deep enough to damage the chip.?


Broken Nvidia Chip:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxc...ew?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxc...ew?usp=sharing

Broken piece on heatsink:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxc...ew?usp=sharing

[Uranium-235]

Re: Broken Southbridge on ASUS P5N32E-SLI

Moved: did not belong in laptop section

[momaka]

Re: Broken Southbridge on ASUS P5N32E-SLI

Do you think the CHIP is totally broken and the motherboard cannot be repaired? Or the broken area on the chip is not deep enough to damage the chip.?

Oh yes, that Southbridge has definitely gone South .
You may be able to revive the motherboard if you find another motherboard with the same nForce Southbrdige like that and change the one on your board. But other than that, the motherboard is scrap.

[Stefan Payne]

Re: Broken Southbridge on ASUS P5N32E-SLI

That "southbridge" by the way is just a normal AMD nForce Chip, as you can see on what's on there -> nF570...

So this chip is gonski.
And I don't think you're able to replace it...

[juliadream]

Re: Broken Southbridge on ASUS P5N32E-SLI

That "southbridge" by the way is just a normal AMD nForce Chip, as you can see on what's on there -> nF570...

So this chip is gonski.
And I don't think you're able to replace it...

Well you could, but it's a matter of economics. If you have the equipment to get it off and stick on a replacement then it's possible, otherwise the sheer cost of the tools and equipment, let alone finding another chip.. well

I have seen them literally hacked off with a woodworking chisel and then a new one fitted with the reballing kits and a heatgun, but that was back in the Xbox 360 "brute force" days.

I'm not that brave, but it could be a decent project to make a first attempt at such a procedure, after all.. nothing to lose if you fail.

[Chaks]

Re: Broken Southbridge on ASUS P5N32E-SLI

Thanks a lot everybody.
Considering the complications of the south-bridge chip replacement and the amount of effort ... I have decided to scrap the motherboard. There is no point in spending so much of effort (expensive effort) for a motherboard that's 5 years old and ... probably well past its expected life.

[mikan]

Re: Broken Southbridge on ASUS P5N32E-SLI

drop it on ebay, someone might want it for caps/different parts of the board, or to practice on like I'm doing with old boards right now. 775's aren't totally scrap, you can still drop the top of the line processors in them now for cheap and oc them to decent processing levels. Looks like working ones still go for around $80-100, so a bad one you can probably get $25 for at least.