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Strange Problem with DFI Motherboard... Please Help


Shane

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You can do a quick look at your caps to see if there any potential bad ones. The pictures on the right of this page:

http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5

can show you some examples. What to look for primarily is a slighy bulge on the silver colored top part (it should be flat) or ever a rust color on the tops. Of course, if you had leaks on the bottoms or blow outs (you can look for that as well if you want) I would expect even less performance than what you are currently seeing.

Either way, if it ends up being caps they CAN be fixed without replacing the board but that comes down to your particular experience with electronics, so replacing the board may end up being a better solution for you.

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As i don't have enough electronic knowledge, i'll let other members help you. I think some capacitors died (they're often redudants on high end boards) and then 2nd pci-e x16 slot isn't powered enough, the first slot is most likely also damaged and setting a card there is probably doing a shortcircuit (and then not powering the board at all).

I would replace the board asap as it might fry some other part but again perhaps someone with enough electronic knowledge can help.

Ok, I appreciate your effort, thank you

You can do a quick look at your caps to see if there any potential bad ones. The pictures on the right of this page:

http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5

can show you some examples. What to look for primarily is a slighy bulge on the silver colored top part (it should be flat) or ever a rust color on the tops. Of course, if you had leaks on the bottoms or blow outs (you can look for that as well if you want) I would expect even less performance than what you are currently seeing.

Either way, if it ends up being caps they CAN be fixed without replacing the board but that comes down to your particular experience with electronics, so replacing the board may end up being a better solution for you.

Upon examination, my caps appear to be in pretty decent order, no electrolyte leakage or bulging that I can see, I have taken a couple of photos as well in case you can see something I can't (all of the capacitors are in this condition)

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/img20110713153442.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/809/img20110713153459.jpg/

As for performance, I haven't actually noticed that much of a drop in most games, the only one where it's really noticeable so far is COD: Black Ops, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, and Bioshock 2 all seem to still run normally

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No! I apologize, I should have looked in your first picture. The caps on that board are not easily identifyable on visual inspection for failure, because they have a different casing. I forget what this type is named. :(

You can only check for leakage visually.

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All of my caps are of that kind, does that mean that if I do have an issue that I am unlikely to be able to identify it because of the type of casing DFI used?

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All of my caps are of that kind, does that mean that if I do have an issue that I am unlikely to be able to identify it because of the type of casing DFI used?

Unless there is a severe bulge or leakage, yes. That type of cap is popular on boards now, the MSI and Intel boards I looked at just now use them. Maybe they are more resistant to the bulging? :unsure:

The only other way would be to use ye-olde-multimeter (and some math skills) to make sure you are getting the correct readings as marked on the caps.

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@jaclaz : Some of those caps leak on the top as well, they have that same protection thus a cross or so in the inside (underside of the top). I´ve seen them popped but I was surprised about that.

There, I did the google trick and found this: http://oerg866.tototek.com/snapshot039.jpg

---

Now back on theme: The HD5770 DOES pull more power from the PCI-E slot than the HD4870; the HD4870 uses 2 6-pin PCI-E connectors to lower the electrical stress on the PCI-E slot, the HD5770 only uses one and pulls a lot more from the PCI-E slot. This change could have been enough to get an already bad electronical component to fail.

Now, the next step will be solid SMD caps (HI-c), used on for example more expensive videocards and MSI new line of high-end mobos:

mb3.gif

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All of my caps are of that kind, does that mean that if I do have an issue that I am unlikely to be able to identify it because of the type of casing DFI used?

Unless there is a severe bulge or leakage, yes. That type of cap is popular on boards now, the MSI and Intel boards I looked at just now use them. Maybe they are more resistant to the bulging? :unsure:

The only other way would be to use ye-olde-multimeter (and some math skills) to make sure you are getting the correct readings as marked on the caps.

I don't have a multimeter, are they expensive?

The "old type" had a pre-impressed cross on the top, they are normally not SMD.

This acted as "safety" or "pressure release" valve to avoid defective ones to actually explode.

The SMD ones leak (when it happens) on the bottom, never on the top:

http://www.repeater-builder.com/motorola/spectra/spectra-caps.html

jaclaz

When I did my inspection I looked pretty closely, and I didn't notice any underneath leakage

@jaclaz : Some of those caps leak on the top as well, they have that same protection thus a cross or so in the inside (underside of the top). I´ve seen them popped but I was surprised about that.

There, I did the google trick and found this: http://oerg866.tototek.com/snapshot039.jpg

---

Now back on theme: The HD5770 DOES pull more power from the PCI-E slot than the HD4870; the HD4870 uses 2 6-pin PCI-E connectors to lower the electrical stress on the PCI-E slot, the HD5770 only uses one and pulls a lot more from the PCI-E slot. This change could have been enough to get an already bad electronical component to fail.

Now, the next step will be solid SMD caps (HI-c), used on for example more expensive videocards and MSI new line of high-end mobos:

mb3.gif

The card I had previously was a 4850 not a 4870, and it only had one 6 pin PCI-E connector

Is the power draw significantly different between the 4x and 16x slots?

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For your lastest question: pci-e x4 max power is 25W and pci-e x16 is 75W. Infos taken from the source.

Hmm, interesting. Just a question for those of you in the know, if the power can be provided by the slot, will the card draw power from the slot before the PSU connector? If the answer is yes, it could be an indicator that my motherboard's circuitry could be the issue

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Your mobo is faulty any way. The power would come up first on the PCI-E powerconnector and then from the mobo as the mobo would need more time to send power to the card, although it´s milliseconds. It doesn't mather if it was a HD4870 or HD4850; both cards draw less power from the PCI-E slot on the mobo.

*mobo / motherboard :P

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I don't have a multimeter, are they expensive?

Ah no they aren't (or don't have to be that is) but if you don't have one already maybe just skip this step... I wouldn't say you should just jump into using a Multimeter without some training or other things (besides motherboards or other expensive things) to test on. ;)

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Your mobo is faulty any way. The power would come up first on the PCI-E powerconnector and then from the mobo as the mobo would need more time to send power to the card, although it´s milliseconds. It doesn't mather if it was a HD4870 or HD4850; both cards draw less power from the PCI-E slot on the mobo.

*mobo / motherboard :P

My hardware is still being powered, I hear my hard drives spin up, whatever it is, it's specific to the VGA x16 slots

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