Re: Shorting Motherboard

[andthenisaid]

So, I just bought an Asus A7V333 motherboard, with an Athlon XP2000 (Thoroughbread 266fsb). When I first turned it on, all the fans were spinning, but after about 10s a lovely burning smell started coming from the top (CPU) end of the board... oh dear. After a little while of playing around, turning the board on then off about a million times, I discovered that the board only made the smell when aligned with the screw holes. Which means it must be shorting out on the case, yeah?

How do I find out where it's shorting? there's nowhere it should be touching on the bottom. There's no I/O plate on it and the audio outputs are touching, could that be it?

Anyway, when I install the RAM, with the mobo unseated, and start up, the OK beep is given, but the monitor doesn't react. The monitor's pretty knackered though and used to keep fading, so I'll try another to see if thats the problem. The graphics card is really old, but I assume the motherboard supports AGP 1/2/4 because it's meant to be backwards compatible. Hopefully a new monitor will sort this out, though I'm replacing the graphics card soon anyway.

[jmichna]

Are you using the brass standoffs (usually comes with a retail mobo kit)? If yes, and still a problem, you may be able to find nylon/plastic standoffs.

Also, in another thread, someone else was fighting what appears to be a shorting problem (diff brand mobo)... he had success using the foam packing material that came in the mobo packaging, and placing it underneath the mobo before screwing it in place (physical barrier between any raised solder points on the backside of the mobo, and the metal plate below the mobo).

Good luck.

PS: Welcome to TechIMO !

[andthenisaid]

cheers. I think I worked out the problem. The case used to have an AT motherboard in it, so there was a brass spacer touching the back of the new ATX mobo. Unfortunately, I think it's probably been fatal, cos' now the BIOS keeps screwing up, I've reflashed it, but still it keeps crashing and changing the words into illegible stuff (like jpg's opened in word). Then it refuses to load 2000 pro, or the CD, or the boot disks I've got (2000 or DOS). Then occasionally, just for fun it'll randomly restart when I'm trying to do something... I think it's fair to say I knackered the mobo. So now, I'm going to have to nab my brother's board and hope he doesn't notice!

thanks for the help.