[SOLVED] Mosfet of RGB header is fried on my Asus motherboard, it works and i don't understand if it does anything.

[HeartOfAdel]

I've been using my ASUS Z390 Hero for almost 2 months and there's never been any issues. I just accidentally noticed that there's something fried below an rgb header above ram. Have no clue why and when that happened and what it's connected to, but originally it came fine.

It looks like rgb connected area. It's right under the trace B (of RGB). I do use multiple apps at once to control different lights and at least Armoury Crate indicates that it syncs with rgb headers, although there's nothing plugged but maybe something interfered with something else?

Would love to get a piece of advice from someone who understands this part of motherboards well.

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information,

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Will the system boot? What works? What does not work?

Any problems, errors, LEDs numbers, beep codes,etc.?

Overall, there may be other damage that is not so visible. Or partial damage somewhere that allows the build to work but could go "poof" at any time.

Do you have all data backed up?

If the motherboard is not already permanently damaged I would not expect a much longer life for it.

 

[HeartOfAdel]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information,

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Will the system boot? What works? What does not work?

Any problems, errors, LEDs numbers, beep codes,etc.?

Overall, there may be other damage that is not so visible. Or partial damage somewhere that allows the build to work but could go "poof" at any time.

Do you have all data backed up?

If the motherboard is not already permanently damaged I would not expect a much longer life for it.

I'm not sure if all those things matter, PSU is relatively new, MSI MPG A650GF, powering i9 9900K, RTX 3080 FE no issues. PC works perfectly fine, and has been for quite some time, no beep codes, no reboots, no nothing. I'm typing from this pc.
The only issues i encountered were:

1. Watch Dogs 2 can completely freeze the entire computer in 5-10min. But the hardware is stable in stress tests and all other games. It is seemingly a gpu related issue because it stops freezeing (at least not as fast) when i start recording using shadowplay. The screen also slightly slitghly blinks, rarely, so it's graphics software related. I suspect it comes from ReBar, HAGS or new drivers, it's Ubisoft optimization after all.
2. Setting up fast memory was very difficilut, mobo would always ruin training. Took weeks to play with training settings to become stable (and A TON of restarts, maybe that's the issue?), it's been a month ago already, testmem5 anta stable. But changing one timing could still ruin stability, and i messed with the setting called DLLbwen to fix that (because forums said that) which completely altered the way pc boots. Even after returning it to auto, resetting cmos, pc always trains memory Twice after a cold boot, lights disappear for a split second and then it boots. This is 100% a bios bug, because it happens at every ram frequency with any number of sticks and Only after a cold boot shutting down the surge protector. Just putting it to sleep or not shutting the surge protector, it posts immediately.

In general, it has nothing to do with those i'm sure. The blown thing leads to the rgb header, specifically the B trace. And i have no idea when that even happened, could be months ago.

 

[drea.drechsler]

It could be exactly as you say: a FET in a VRM circuit that develops the voltage for powering some of the RGB lighting. If so, that's all you might have lost. But the rest of the VRM components are still present and they may go bad at some future point, this time possibly putting a short on the +12V line from the PSU. At best, the PSU's OCP (over current protection) will simply cause your system to shut down. But if it's OCP doesn't work right it might also bring on low +12V condition and random instability, or at the very worse cause more damage up to and including a fire inside your PC.

If it were mine and I wanted to save the motherboard I'd try to completely and cleanly remove both FET's in the offending VRM, maybe even the switching capacitor. Of course you lose the RGB but it's only cosmetic.

And then it could be much more than a VRM developing RGB voltage. Determining that will require a schematic or at least the board itself to trace out interconnects.

 

[Ralston18]

This motherboard?

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...HERO/E14809_ROG_MAXIMUS_XI_HERO_UM_V2_WEB.pdf

Do verify that I found the applicable User Manual.

The damage being near the RGB headers shown on Pages 1-2, 1-3, and 1-24. Correct?

= = = =

Take a look in Reliability History and Event Viewer. Either one or both may be capturing some error codes, warnings, or even informational events just before or at the time of the Watch Dogs 2 freezes.

Or other errors etc. that are otherwise being captured.

Increasing numbers of errors and varying errors are a sign of a faulty/failing PSU - new or otherwise.

FYI:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html

Not with the intent that you need to go out and purchase another PSU. Just use a few of the calculators to size the PSU and ensure that the PSU is sufficient for peak power demands. If a component provide a range of wattage values use the high end wattage value.

Stress tests have their place. However, stress tests are limited. No manufacturer wants to produce a stress test that melts down the host system.

I am not at all sure about the memory setup problems. The starting point is to ensure that the installed memory is supported by the motherboard, and within the documented specs and allowed configurations for both motherboard and RAM. Per the manufacturer.

This:

"i messed with the setting called DLLbwen to fix that (because forums said that)"

Do you have the links to that information? Making such changes is not in my comfort zone (full disclosure) but there are those who are well versed with manipulating memory voltages and clocking. Knowing more about what was attempted could be helpful.

All in all, physical damage to a motherboard simply means that something went very wrong and even though there are no immediately apparent issues beyond the noted melting it is very likely that more problems are going to result.

 

[HeartOfAdel]

This motherboard?

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...HERO/E14809_ROG_MAXIMUS_XI_HERO_UM_V2_WEB.pdf

Do verify that I found the applicable User Manual.

The damage being near the RGB headers shown on Pages 1-2, 1-3, and 1-24. Correct?

= = = =

Take a look in Reliability History and Event Viewer. Either one or both may be capturing some error codes, warnings, or even informational events just before or at the time of the Watch Dogs 2 freezes.

Or other errors etc. that are otherwise being captured.

Increasing numbers of errors and varying errors are a sign of a faulty/failing PSU - new or otherwise.

FYI:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html

Not with the intent that you need to go out and purchase another PSU. Just use a few of the calculators to size the PSU and ensure that the PSU is sufficient for peak power demands. If a component provide a range of wattage values use the high end wattage value.

Stress tests have their place. However, stress tests are limited. No manufacturer wants to produce a stress test that melts down the host system.

I am not at all sure about the memory setup problems. The starting point is to ensure that the installed memory is supported by the motherboard, and within the documented specs and allowed configurations for both motherboard and RAM. Per the manufacturer.

This:

"i messed with the setting called DLLbwen to fix that (because forums said that)"

Do you have the links to that information? Making such changes is not in my comfort zone (full disclosure) but there are those who are well versed with manipulating memory voltages and clocking. Knowing more about what was attempted could be helpful.

All in all, physical damage to a motherboard simply means that something went very wrong and even though there are no immediately apparent issues beyond the noted melting it is very likely that more problems are going to result.

Yes, it's that motherboard. I'm going to repeat it again, that the system is perfectly stable. I already ended up deleting the game after i filmed a gameplay benchmark. That happened right from very first days of using the pc months ago. At first i thought it was not enough voltage for a given cpu frequency, but after testing it with quite overkill offsets of like +50mv and the game still freezing the pc i realized it was something else. This is was the only one that gave that strange blinking, i'm sure it's gpu/driver related

My PSU is not even year old and functions properly. I get extreme cpu usage spikes up to 125w power in Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Witcher 3 which don't happen even remotely in Watch Dogs 2 and other games, yet these games run super smooth and consistent.

People claim that setting Dllbwen could solve their ram training issues, but what this setting does is basically unknown. It's mentioned somewhere here for example. Wouldn't ever recommend touching such unknown settings at this point. https://community.hwbot.org/topic/197141-msi-z490-xoc-biostools/page/4/

 

[HeartOfAdel]

It could be exactly as you say: a FET in a VRM circuit that develops the voltage for powering some of the RGB lighting. If so, that's all you might have lost. But the rest of the VRM components are still present and they may go bad at some future point, this time possibly putting a short on the +12V line from the PSU. At best, the PSU's OCP (over current protection) will simply cause your system to shut down. But if it's OCP doesn't work right it might also bring on low +12V condition and random instability, or at the very worse cause more damage up to and including a fire inside your PC.

If it were mine and I wanted to save the motherboard I'd try to completely and cleanly remove both FET's in the offending VRM, maybe even the switching capacitor. Of course you lose the RGB but it's only cosmetic.

And then it could be much more than a VRM developing RGB voltage. Determining that will require a schematic or at least the board itself to trace out interconnects.

I'm not really going to touch anything, because i've done enough of touching at some point. I don't feel like this is going to affect anything. I just wanted a clarification of sorts. I don't know how long it's been there, but the pc works like it should.

 

[HeartOfAdel]

It could be exactly as you say: a FET in a VRM circuit that develops the voltage for powering some of the RGB lighting. If so, that's all you might have lost. But the rest of the VRM components are still present and they may go bad at some future point, this time possibly putting a short on the +12V line from the PSU. At best, the PSU's OCP (over current protection) will simply cause your system to shut down. But if it's OCP doesn't work right it might also bring on low +12V condition and random instability, or at the very worse cause more damage up to and including a fire inside your PC.

If it were mine and I wanted to save the motherboard I'd try to completely and cleanly remove both FET's in the offending VRM, maybe even the switching capacitor. Of course you lose the RGB but it's only cosmetic.

And then it could be much more than a VRM developing RGB voltage. Determining that will require a schematic or at least the board itself to trace out interconnects.

Is there an instruction or video on how to remove it? Still quite curious

 

[drea.drechsler]

Is there an instruction or video on how to remove it? Still quite curious

Not specifically, it's kind of covered under general soldering/de-soldering skills though so go looking at some videos on that if you want.

There's a couple ways, preferred would be to de-solder the components using a soldering iron. It might also be possible to cut it away with a pair of diagonal cutters but that creates a potential to damage the underlying motherboard in the process if done carelessly.

Take it to a capable electronics repair shop and they could remove it for you..and maybe even solder in replacement components and test it for proper operation. If the board has decent value then it might be worth it.

Ultimately, just using it while it's still working is of course a viable choice. Just be aware of the risk.