Desperate Help!!! I chip off a small thing on my Pro2-A, <I took a picture that show where the chip is>

[heng1028]

When I was taking the orange heatsink on the northbridge, i accidentally chip off one small chip out from the mobo.

But i still can run it at original speed and i have not tried to oc it yet, i wonder what should i do??

edit: i can run at 1gig as well

 

[heng1028]

anyone??

 

[freefalle6]

if it run leave it alone

 

[heng1028]

but how can i know it is an important chip or what??

do you think i can get it repair??

 

[BradS]

Yes, you can RMA it at your cost (you broke it). If it runs, don't worry about it.

 

[Technonut]

Why would you want to RMA a board that you damaged removing the Northbridge heatsink?? It is clearly your fault, and not MSI's. If it still works, and the damage that you did bothers you, the proper thing to do would be having it repaired at your expense.

 

[JoPalm]

(Newbie Question) What's RMA?

 

[SuperSix]

Depending on what part it is, it may be OK. Can you take a pic of the area or part that was damaged? As far as returning it to MSI with physical damage inflicted by you, that's very dishonorable. But.. It's your conscience.

 

[broadwayblue]

maybe the credit card you used to purchase the mb covers accidental breakage?

 

[KR]

From what you've described, you've broken either a capacitor or resistor from you board. If it's a capacitor and all works, it's probably a decoupling cap and there's enough capacitance on your board to allow things to work without it. If it was a resistor and things still work, chances are it was a pull-up resistor and the float voltage on the signal you've affected is still able to reach a logical high state for things to work - or it could be a signal that's normally pulled low and the pull-up is not needed for that signal. In any case, if it's working and you can't see any problems as a result, consider yourself lucky and use lots of caution in the future.

If you're really not happy with the piece being missing, you can return the board for service and pay the repair costs to replace the part you've broken off.

 

[barlav]

RMA: Return Merchandise Authorization

 

[heng1028]

this is the link that shows where i chip pff the small chip from my mobo

anyone know will it do any harm to the mobo??

the 2 red arrows pointing the chip where it is missing

 

[natenut]

I think thats a capacitor. Do you have the broken off part? if you do you can just solder it back on or have someone do it for you. Dosent look like it would be too hard. Kinda reminds me of my playstation moding days.

 

[heng1028]

i have chip off the chip into half and i don't know where did it fly to.

the other half still remain on the mobo

i think it is broken into 2 already

is that an important part of mobo??

 

[heng1028]

i don;t think that is a capacitor
i think it is a resistor

 

[Navi]

KR:

I would like to correct you on your defination of decoupling capacitors (I design motherboards for airplanes as part of job).

There are three uses for capacitors in any circuit: bulk, filter, decoupling.

Bulk: Generally a larger type cap 1uF or greater. Designed to provide quick current to devices when they need it. This is generally used to stop voltage droops in specific areas of the board when current draw is high momentarily.

Filter: Used in analog circuits to modify the shape of AC type signals (AC is anything that isn't DC). This can drive you nuts once you break 1GHz.

Decoupling: Attached between power and ground planes. This capacitor is choosen at a specific value to create an AC &quot;short&quot; between ground and power planes. This in turns allows designers to treat power planes as ground planes when trying to reference traces to create specific impedances that operate at a set frequency. Typical values used are 0.1 uF and 0.001 uF on most designs which creates and effective short between the frequencies of 10 MHz to 100 MHz quite easily.

Of course there is a lot more theory I could go into...you could read my masters thesis on &quot;capacitor cost reduction vs board stability and integrity&quot;. That paper actually got me my first REAL job.

-Navi

 

[heng1028]

is there anyone know what is that part for??

 

[heng1028]

is there anyone know what is the thing for??

it is written C106 beside the chip and the one next to the chp is C107

 

[KR]

Navi-

I re-read my response and honestly can't find where I supposedly defined decoupling capacitors anywhere. I did speculate that the device he broke may have been a decoupling cap, which does as you say act as an AC short, generally to remove any unwanted AC component (or spikes) from DC power sources, and usually installed from VCC to Ground at an IC which would either be affected by unwanted spkiking or generate an AC component which could propagate to other devices on a PCB.

Having said that, I can add that I'm certainly happy to hear that your paper landed you a mighty fine job in the FCC, FMC, VIA and TCAS design lab. Did your paper also include any comments on the use of tantalum caps for filtering and their increased high frequency decoupling characteristics (over other electrolytic types)which is certainly an added plus. Hope so. And no, I won't correct your spelling or your grammer or typos - I make enough of those to be tolerant of simple errors and am aware that english is not the first language for all the users here. Nor are many here performing in an engineering function as you are nor have 20 or more years in engineering and engineering management to draw from as some here do.

Now, with that addressed, can you assist the young man and his question (forgive me for assuming that it's a he if in fact it's not the case) as to the function of the Capacitor he's broken and the effect on his board's continued operation?

 

[heng1028]

so any expert here know what is that for??

 

[John]

Maybe you should email MSI's tech support for a proper answer.

 

[AMD4ME2]

its most definitely a resistor.. what it is for I wouldn't begin to guess.. I can say this: I am absolutely sure it provides resistance

technonut is right though.. if it works you will have to either live with it.. or have it repaired at your expense. Since you yourself damaged it RMAing the board would not be honest thing to do. However if you lie and cheat all the time.. go for it dood! no sense in changing your values just cause we think you would be a crook

 

[heng1028]

i can't find any email address that i can send to ask at the MSI web site

 

[heng1028]

anyone can send me tech support email address of MSI??

and i found the problem with the missing chip

i can't get the multiplier lower than 9.5 and the default goto 9.5 as well

wonder why

 

[KR]

AMD4ME2 -

Please re-read heng's report that the component is identified as C106. The &quot;C&quot; identifier generally identifies a component as being a capacitor.

Heng -

If the board is malfunctioning you have a couple of choices: 1: RMA the board to the MFR for repair -or- 2: Return it to the vendor for replacement. Let your conscience be your guide as to how you handle the approach. You could claim innocence and let the vendor/mfr pay for your mistake or you could take a more responsible approach and pay for the repair of your damage.