2 Dead INTEL D845GLAD Mainboards

In message , Alasdair Campbell writes

Umm, they're both faulty but in different ways?

Might be worth buying a cheap POST card from eBay, could be BIOS corruption/bad flash on the semi working one..

If the boards are a few years old, they might have the faulty capacitor problem which plagued a lot of manufacturers. Look at the main capacitors, the round cylindrical metal ended cans (1cm dia x 2 cm high) around the memory sockets and processor. If the ends are domed and not flat then that may well be the problem and replacement may fix them if permanent damage from overvoltage has not been caused to the processor or RAM.

If the motherboards are new, then the above scenario is unlikely.

Russell

The motherboards are indeed 2-4 years old, but neither show signs of the capaciter problem. Normally I'd just resign them to the great recylcing centre in the sky, but a client wanted a report written on the completely dead one, and I had visions of using the other as part of a render farm. The owner wishes to pursue PC World under the sale of goods act. I've checked every component on the board for signs of damage and can't get any further.

Thanks for the help

As

ascertain

The semi working board died after a memory upgrade attempt by a client's son. As I've never had aboard die on me, I can't see how he would have mangaed to kill it and presumed it was BIOS corruption, however the emergency bios update system isn't working.

I think I'll just need to say goodbye to it/ Hate throwing things out however..

well those boards are prone to a MOSFET failure, and treats a circuit trace like a fuse, thats why it sits liek a duck :-)

If the board switches on/off the cpu is possibly Ok. Check for correct voltages on power rails!

Quite probably "static damage"

Intel 845's? From that era, it's more likely defective caps. Look for the tops of the electrolytic caps bulging.

In message , Baron writes

You can also fry a board if you force the wrong memory into it or put the correct memory in the wrong way round. It's not common and takes a special kind of idiot but.....

The caps do NOT have to BURST or OOZE to be bad. The 2002 - 2005 era was VERY BAD for almost all manufacturers (motherboards, switch power supplies, car audio, iPods, hard drives, test equipment).

Abit replaces the bad boards -- I would talk to you local Intel regional representative (or talk to a certified dealer -- who can for you)

Here is the WEB SITE (to get educated)

Covered in IEEE Spectrum in 2002 , Cnet.com and most journals during that period. EVEN WIKI has an article about the plaque !