Oops i think i broke it

[davecarp]

ok so heres the problem, i have an asus motherboard that i was testing on the bench and did not have a power switch to use so i used a pair of needlenose pliers as my own switch by shorting the pins. that worked just fine and the board and powersupply worked great, then i went to short it again turning off the motherboard. as i was removing the pliers i hit another pin on accident and created a small spark. now the mobo wont start at all. so my question is, am i to assume the board is a lost cause and toss it in the garbage or is there some way to fix my stupid mistake. any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks!!

 

[mlcloud]

A small spark? That sounds bad. Any visible electricity on a motherboard = really bad. Most static electricity "sparks" are absolutely invisible yet they still contain enough power to completely fry motherboards and RAM.

If you didn't mention the spark, I might have thought otherwise... but someone with more expertise with troubleshooting dead motherboards will have to come to this thread.

 

[davecarp]

well it was a visible spark to another pin in that whole cluster of pins where the power switch connector plugs in. i thought it was dead, but i was reading another thread on the forums and someone had a similar problem to mine. they did not short the mother board but installed a fan controller and the machine would not come on. one of the replies to that forum was to unplug the power supply for a few minutes and let the thing drain of all residual power, then plug it in and start it. i did this thinking i had nothing to lose and it worked! im so happy now that it works i cant even describe it. i know im not going to be poking around one of these things with a pliers anytime soon, i think ill keep an extra switch handy from now. anyways thanks for your reply!

 

[i_hate_flying]

Good for you! If you were actually doing something on the motherboard and saw a spark, then you'd be screwed. I've done that back in the day. But those pins that connect to the power switch are something else.

 

[4745454b]

Pliers are a bit big, next time try a SMALL flat head screwdriver. If you have a steady hand, all will work out ok. If you constantly do a Mohammad Ali impression, ask someone else to do it.

 

[rambo117]

oh well thats good! happy for ya! hardware problems are a bitch, ive had my share. *guhh*
If you have any other probs, you know where to come to

 

[jsc]

Because I breadboard a lot, I made my own breakout box to emulate a computer case out of wiring and LED's scavenged from an old, junked case. Then I tucked the whole thing into an old plastic Dysan floppy disk box:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-262730_13_0.html

 

[davecarp]

hey jsc thats a great idea, i think ill try to make something like that to avoid future problems