OT: I smoked my motherboard.... :(

[Joe Evans]

I have (had) a Gigabyte GA7VAX MB that has been working flawlessly for about 9 months now. The fan on the North Bridge chipset recently started making noises similar to a 747 taking off so I ordered another fan from NewEgg. I got a Vantec IceBerq copper fan.....really nice, quiet, etc....

I replaced the fan and rechecked all the other connections and cut the computer on.....everything sounded like it was running normally but the computer wouldn't boot. I tried everything I could think of to get it working but it still won't boot. I must have scratched something or caused a short in a circuit when I was removing the old fan.

I ordered an ASUS A7V8X-X from NewEgg to replace it. Is this still a Digi recommended MB? Anyone have any problems with this specific board? Thanks in advance. (Oh, I noticed that this MB just has a heatsink on the NorthBridge chipset so I won't be making that mistake again) [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Anyone want to buy a Vantec Iceberq?


--joe

[in10shun]

Sounds like you tripped one of the mobo's built-in safety features. If it turns on but won't boot, it's most likely because something is telling the motherboard that it's not safe to boot. When you screwed it back down, did any of the screwheads make contact with board outside of those little safety rings? That will cause a short. Is the fan seated/plugged in/working properly? Does it not spin as fast as the original fan? A lot of motherboards have fan monitor systems that set off red flags if the RPMs go too low. You can turn these off or adjust the settings in the bios. Hope this helps.

James