HELP! SPARK FROM MY MOTHERBOARD!

[KingstonU]

*UPDATE* Tried it again and it powered on, currently posting this from said PC... does that mean it's ok? Could it fail eventually in the future?


Please Help!

I took my mother board out to readjust my CPU cooler, I had it placed on the static free plastic that it came with the whole time. Once that was done I put it back in the case and plugged everything back in. It all looked good so I turned it on and immediately a HUGE spark came from the south side of the mother board, it looks like it was a little circuit just above the red IEEE 1394 hub with 8 prongs in it.

It looks like I plugged in the 8 prong USB 2.0 connector (for the ports on the front of the case) there instead of the blue one right beside it that it is supposed to go into (they are the same shape) :frown:

As soon as it sparked I pulled the power plug right away. There was some smoke and there is some residue/burn marks on the red IEEE 1394 hub.

Is my motherboard fried? What should I do? Try it again or is it definitely gone?

P5Q Pro/Q9550/Enermax Modu82+ 625W/2x2Gb G.Skill DDR2 1000/HD4870/Vendetta 2/200Gb HD/ XP SP3


Thanks so much!!

 

[law9933]

A HUGE spark & smoke, I would say it is dead. Wait for other opinions.

 

[Quiksilver]

Sounds like you fried that specific USB connector and Firewire port.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: KingstonU
*UPDATE* Tried it again and it powered on, currently posting this from said PC... does that mean it's ok? Could it fail eventually in the future?

Yeah, it could. There could be copper traces burned thin or components pushed to the edge of failure. No way of knowing for sure.

If everything checks out OK and you don't want to replace the board, then just (as always) keep good backups of your system and data so that you can restore things if the board fails.

 

[KingstonU]

Will I still be able to overclock it?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: KingstonU
Will I still be able to overclock it?

Lol I like your attitude Yeah you can, just because there was an electrical problem with that firewire or usb port doesn't mean the board as a whole has a problem. What you would want to do in this situation is mayhaps clean the surface of the motherboard to avoid anything further happening from the spark, like Rebate said the residue could pose a problem in the future.

 

[KingstonU]

Thanks for the advice :beer: