Requiem For A Motherboard 502
JimLynch writes "In my last DIY column, I discussed what it was like to build my first system. As time went by, unfortunately, my DIY system wasn't all wine and roses. This column tells the story of how I destroyed my motherboard through a series of ill-planned and stupid actions. It should stand as a shining example of What Not to Do for DIYers everywhere."
no doubt.. (Score:0, Interesting)
when i first started slapping computers together, things were easy enough to do without too much worry... general rule of thumb: if it don't fit, don't force it.
Wow (Score:1, Interesting)
I checked the temperature of my motherboard with SiSoft Sandra. The readings I got showed that it was too hot indeed. I was skeptical of Sandra's exact readings, however, so I posted a note in the forum and received some good suggestions for alternative programs to check the temp with.
Not very smart, are you? You smell your computer burning, but you start up Windows anyway (most BIOSes have temperature monitors built in) and mess around. Just...wow.
What Not to Do (Score:1, Interesting)
Eat while working on PCs
Attempt to wash circuit boards, unless you have a ready source of de-ionized water, and it's still iffy
Dry sensitive electronic components with a blowdryer with the heat on
Install/remove heatsinks with wrong tools. I nearly chopped one of those tiny resistor packs in half with a cruddy old screwdriver
Let dust accumulate until it looks like the inside of a vacuum cleaner bag
Also, keep an eye on those electrolytic caps, in the past some leaked and caused a real mess.
In other news:
Every now and then Google News does something weird, I thought the combination of heading and article were interesting:
Just take your time (Score:5, Interesting)
There are some tips you should know, like installing the cpu and heatsink before the mobo is in the case. And making sure you screw in the mobo with the correct standoffs.
Long story short (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:no doubt.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Agreed. I haven't built a system since an O/C Celeron 2 800 running at 900 Mhz was a kickass system, but in my experience the hardest part was figuring out with components your board supported. Most componenets could ONLY be connected the right way and it was just about impossible to connect things the right way in the wrong place. As my co-workers used to say when I worked at Old Navy: "A partially trained Monkey could do the job, and the customers would probably treat him better"
Building my first PC was no where near as confusing as the first bike I built, or the Car Engine I hope to rebuild in the future (as soon as I can listen to one of those muscle car guys talk about engines without my eyes glazing over, and parts of my brain BSODing)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:no doubt.. (Score:5, Interesting)
I only run Linux on it and never even installed Windows at all, everything is fully supported by Linux.
The only problem I have with it is over heating. I have a nice heatsink/fan sitting on the AMD 2500+ and I'm not overclocking it at all. But still, I have to have the case open and a small table fan pointed right at the motherboard to keep the temperatures down to 44c...otherwise it raises to 55c+ with the side panel on and the two case fans running.
I've seen the temp jump up to 61c-62c which from what I've heard is either fine to it's too hot. I've heard the gamut of people saying it's not a problem and not worry about it.
But here's the rub...I run Gentoo Linux, and since I compile everything, I don't want it overheating while in a compile...as an error could easily be compiled into code and be almost impossible to track down a bug....or so I've heard. This has NEVER happened to me. I guess I'm just extra paranoid about the temp.
Other than my paranoia, everything runs tip-top and is very speedy. First computer I've built from scratch (not to mention the first OS I've built from scratch) and everything is ok. Other than me running the memory as single channel DDR instead of Dual channel for 3 months because I had it in the wrong slots. D'OH!
Worst I ever did.... (Score:3, Interesting)
After smelling smoke, I reached for the plug, and turned to find the ZIF socket a smoldering mass melted into the motherboard. Removing the Bright green Cyrix heatsink from the ZIF socket revealed that I had shattered the ceramic block that encased the CPU chip.
I took the melted motherboard, cracked CPU, and the faulty manual back to the store and they acknowledged that the manual was wrong. They gave me a new mobo, and a used but working CPU, even though I had only bought the board from that store.
Please Support Your Local CompuTard (Score:2, Interesting)
For all the disparaging comments, the one good thing that comes of all this is this: Cheap Hardware. I've built a lot of machines and only once had a problem with overheating when I didn't quite get the heatsink on the CPU perfectly ... no burning smell, just the temp in BIOS rising swiftly was enough to make me pull the plug.
I've got another "jinx" friend who fries motherboards and graphics cards regularly. I laugh at him quietly so as not to give myself bad computer karma and realize that the more people feel that they can DIY, the cheaper components will get. Good can come from idiots of the world, however reading this is like reading Darwin Awards for computer retards.
Re:no doubt.. (Score:1, Interesting)
Just making sure everyone saw this gem.
Re:sheesh (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The outlet is the key (Score:2, Interesting)
Worst that could happen is if power dropped in the middle of flashing a BIOS, but that's recoverable via a quick trip to the nearest little computer shop that has an EPROM burner (or warranty replacement if your bios is a TSOP)
Re:no doubt.. (Score:3, Interesting)
i did read the whole thing (Score:2, Interesting)
I can relate to components not fitting in certain configurations;CD rom drives that were 2cm to long for the mobo/case combination i was trying to install them in, or powersupplys right up against cpu heatsinks blocking the air flow. with infinite combinations comes infinite ways to screw things up.
I once put a HUGE heatsink/fan combination on a CPU for a friend. it was an aerocool deep impact limited edition (gold plated heatsink with iridescent fans) as seen here without the 80mm fans mounted on it or the gold plating. [tigerdirect.com] i had to use a dremel to trim the shroud around one of the fans so it would clear a memory module. but I figured "hey, you can't see it from my house"
Wait, I know this guy.... (Score:4, Interesting)
"Would you like us to istall it for you?" (Not an attempt at selling over-priced services, just an attempt to prevent the inevitable.)
"No, I'll do it myself"
After the requsite hour she called back and claimed that the mobo didn't work.
"Did you hook up the power supply? Make sure the CPU was properly seated? Checked the RAM? Plugged in the drives? Proper grounding on backplane screws?"
She answered yes to each question as I explained each of them to her. After a good 30 minutes of trouble shooting...
"Oh yeah, when I was putting the motherthingy in, I poped off a brown cylinder with my screwdriver. is that important?"
"Hmmm, yeah, capaciters can be important. They probably didn't put it on the board to look cute."
And that is how I know the guy. I sold a mobo to his mother. "...
Re:no doubt.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Firefox wouldnt matter too much - a bug in glibc would be annoying. But most of the time the compile simply fails - if you compiles fail on different source code lines (inreproducable) you can be pretty sure it is a hardware problem (overheating or bad RAM).
Which is why I've heard many times not to be overclocking while your compiling anything.
Thats a good advice. My current system ran at 85C when first assembled (And mainboard, CPU and cooler came as a bundle). Starting a compile locked the system. My brothers system even failed trying to install Windows XP because of lockups. Checking the CPU temperature in the BIOS we saw a temperature of 120C (on my system because of the compile, on my brothers system even when idle.). We decidered there just wasnt enough pressure from the Cooler (Arctic Copper Silent Pro) on the CPU - so we manufactured two thin copper plates of about 0.8 mm width and did put it between the mounting piece and the cooler. We now needed much more force to press the cooler onto the CPU, but both systems now run stable on 50C.
So:
Dont trust manufacturers. Even good ones. If something seems weird (like cooler that could be pressed onto the CPU
Re:worst article post in a while (Score:2, Interesting)
Lots of the little tykes - such as my soon to be nephew-in-law believe that just because they can figure out how to install and play Counter Strike, that they can fix a PC (or enroll in Computer Science.)
The simplest possible thing that can do WONDERS for keeping a machine running for a long time - is practice propper grounding techniques. Use that wristrap, kids. Ground yourself, your computer, and your components. MOVE THE PLASTIC AWAY. Just by freaking breathing, you're generating enough static to static to blow holes in the gates.
Perhaps if more wanna-be-geeks would read something like this first, they might save themselves a little bit of frustration and time.
I've only killed one. (Score:3, Interesting)
Bang. That machine never worked again.
Re:Bad times (Score:2, Interesting)
Zen, Motorcycles and You. (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're experienced you'd probably apply a penetrating liquid and an impact driver at this point. But suppose you're inexperienced and you attach a self-locking plier wrench to the shank of your screwdriver and really twist it hard, a procedure you've had success with in the past, but which this time succeeds only in tearing the slot of the screw.
Your mind was already thinking ahead to what you would do when the cover plate was off, and so it takes a little time to realize that this irritating minor annoyance of a torn screw slot isn't just irritating and minor. You're stuck. Stopped. Terminated. It's absolutely stopped you from fixing the motorcycle.
This isn't a rare scene in science or technology. This is the commonest scene of all. Just plain stuck. In traditional maintenance this is the worst of all moments, so bad that you have avoided even thinking about it before you come to it.
The book's no good to you now. Neither is scientific reason. You don't need any scientific experiments to find out what's wrong. It's obvious what's wrong. What you need is an hypothesis for how you're going to get that slotless screw out of there and scientific method doesn't provide any of these hypotheses. It operates only after they're around.
This is the zero moment of consciousness. Stuck. No answer. Honked. Kaput. It's a miserable experience emotionally. You're losing time. You're incompetent. You don't know what you're doing. You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take the machine to a real mechanic who knows how to figure these things out.
From "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. (Chapter 24)
Re:you know (Score:2, Interesting)
*faint pop* and a low dense ground-fog kind of smoke on the mb later...
She put the cpu's in 180 degrees from proper... Probably why Intel started pin keying.