Killed an Asus P3b-f \ VOGONS

Killed an Asus P3b-f

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First post, by meljor

Posted on 2015-03-11, 21:02

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I was busy benchmarking some cards on this board and it was just laying on a wooden table so i have easy acces for switching cards.

It takes a lot of reboots and i grabbed a screwdriver that was too big to short the power-on pins. It touched a row of pins next to it and a nice flash was the result.... 😢

I wanted to make an easy power switch for years now and i guess this needed to happen sometime. I now made the power switch, lesson learned.

The board powers on but gives a flashing screen, like it wants to display something but can't. After a while it shuts off by itself.
Any thoughts about any sort of reanimation?

Tried bios reset, pci and agp cards, different ram, different psu. (and all components still work on another board)

It's not a big loss since i have a few of them. But they were supposed to be backups for when the board got tired, not killed by me.

I really like the Asus P3b-f boards and i feel stupid for loosing one in such a stupid way.

asus tx97-e, 233mmx, voodoo1, s3 virge ,sb16
asus p5a, k6-3+ @ 550mhz, voodoo2 12mb sli, gf2 gts, awe32
asus p3b-f, p3-700, voodoo3 3500TV agp, awe64
asus tusl2-c, p3-S 1,4ghz, voodoo5 5500, live!
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Reply 1 of 12, by chinny22

Posted on 2015-03-11, 21:51

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Shame mate but we've all killed something by being lazy/complacent. Good news is you'll have learnt your lesson (well for a few years at least) and it was something that you can replace easy enough

Reply 2 of 12, by Robin4

Posted on 2015-03-12, 02:39

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Stupid to use screw drivers to short the pins.. Better use and only computer switches

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 3 of 12, by RacoonRider

Posted on 2015-03-12, 03:08

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meljor, sorry to hear. What exactly have you touched? USB?

Robin4 wrote:
Stupid to use screw drivers to short the pins.. Better use and only computer switches

As long as you only touch the front panel pins you are safe. I did that hundreds of times on ATX boards to find the PS_ON pin, so far so good.

Reply 4 of 12, by smeezekitty

Posted on 2015-03-12, 04:13

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Look for fried components.

Reply 5 of 12, by RacoonRider

Posted on 2015-03-12, 04:58

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smeezekitty wrote:
Look for fried components.

Seems like South bridge trouble to me, btw

Reply 6 of 12, by bjt

Posted on 2015-03-12, 11:09

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I have used a screwdriver on the power pins too in the past and thought every time that I was asking for trouble.
Don't feel bad, (Sh)it happens. At least it's not a super rare component.

My list of kills

Deskstar 60GXP HDD (plugged power connector in upside down)
FIC PA-2007 board (miswired USB header)
Jetway Socket 7 (blew up VRM when overclocking a 686MX, still worked with non-MMX chips)
K6-3+ 450Mhz CPU (died after overclocking to 600Mhz)
Radeon 9800 Pro (image corrupted after replacing heatsink/fan)
Voodoo3 PCI (VRAM went bad... not sure if it was my fault)
Voodoo5 AGP (as above)
IBM Portable PC 5155 (blew up PSU trying to fit a larger speaker. That was a long time ago, I would have fixed it now)

RacoonRider wrote:

As long as you only touch the front panel pins you are safe. I did that hundreds of times on ATX boards to find the PS_ON pin, so far so good.

Really? Shorting the LED/speaker power pins can't be good. I guess you are relying on the protection resistors on the board to take the load. Also you might raise some 3.3V or 1.5V logic lines to a higher voltage depending on the pin layout. Anyway I guess it's OK based on your real-world testing 😎

Reply 7 of 12, by Sutekh94

Posted on 2015-03-12, 13:59

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bjt wrote:

RacoonRider wrote:

As long as you only touch the front panel pins you are safe. I did that hundreds of times on ATX boards to find the PS_ON pin, so far so good.

Really? Shorting the LED/speaker power pins can't be good. I guess you are relying on the protection resistors on the board to take the load. Also you might raise some 3.3V or 1.5V logic lines to a higher voltage depending on the pin layout. Anyway I guess it's OK based on your real-world testing 😎

I've done that countless amounts of times as well, haven't managed to kill a motherboard yet.

Some of my personal "kills":

Samsung VG36483A 6.4GB HDD - fried the controller board.
IBM Deskstar 60GXP 20GB HDD - ditto
Gigabyte 478 mobo from an IBM NetVista computer - moisture damage from when I tried to clean all the dust off of it, never worked after I tried to clean it
HP Pavilion tx1215nr laptop mobo - one of the first times I tried baking a mobo in an oven. Managed to bend it out of shape and dislodge a couple of components.

Of course, all these happened a long time ago, and at least they weren't rare components. It's just a part of working on computers in general, IMO.

That one vintage computer enthusiast brony.
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Reply 8 of 12, by JayCeeBee64

Posted on 2015-03-12, 16:15

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@meljor: do you have a POST card? It may help you pinpoint the problem with the P3B-F.

Ooohh, the pain......

Reply 9 of 12, by jwt27

Posted on 2015-03-12, 18:42

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POST card will help to see if it's getting stuck on the IO controller. This is the most likely part to burn up if you shorted the IRDA pins. Also check if this chip's running abnormally hot.

Reply 10 of 12, by kreats

Posted on 2015-03-13, 04:46

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Yep think i have done this exact same thing.. Good idea to get 2 of everything while it is still relatively cheap

Reply 11 of 12, by RacoonRider

Posted on 2015-03-13, 10:48

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bjt wrote:

RacoonRider wrote:

As long as you only touch the front panel pins you are safe. I did that hundreds of times on ATX boards to find the PS_ON pin, so far so good.

Really? Shorting the LED/speaker power pins can't be good. I guess you are relying on the protection resistors on the board to take the load. Also you might raise some 3.3V or 1.5V logic lines to a higher voltage depending on the pin layout. Anyway I guess it's OK based on your real-world testing 😎

Well, there's just a reeeeally brief touch. Front panel LEDs need current-limiting resistors anyway, and a few seconds won't burn them 😀 Delivering +5V from USB power to one of the signal pins is usually lethal for south bridge however.

Reply 12 of 12, by meljor

Posted on 2015-03-13, 19:16

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I touched the IR pins and probably right after the power-on.

I don't have a post card and i can't see any damage. I will throw it away. Lesson learned, after 20+ years i still make mistakes 🤣

Just glad i have spares. I just decided i would stop buying these (i have 4) but now there is room for another one 😎

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