4 LEDs - is my CPU borked?

[Nil Einne]

Never mind I think I've found the problem... My board is most def borked. I took it out of my case only to find it's slightly darkened/blackened at a section at the underside of the mobo. It's between PCI express slot 4 and PCI slot 1. It looks as if one of the cap legs is broken! I wasn't even using PCI slot 1 (or any PCI slot) or PCI express 4 since my only card was my 6600.

 

I'm mystified as to what could have happened.

 

Do you really think it could be a PSU issue? My PSU is fairly new since I board it for this board (in June) and it obviously meets the requirements and it's an Enermax so should be good. Wasn't under that much load since I only have the listed stuff (updated) + 2 80mm fans

 

As said, as far as I can tell my PSU is still fine. It works fine with my NF2 for sure although obviously that isn't stressing the PSU as much etc.

 

Even worse, does anyone think I have any hope of RMAing it? I know how difficult it can be to RMA a board when there is any sign of damage.. I will have to be sending it away for an RMA either to DFI Taiwan/Asia or the original POP country so it's gonna cost a bit so no point if it get's rejected.

 

Obviously there is no one from DFI Taiwan here to answer but it would be helpful if someone from DFI USA could comment whether it's likely they would accept it for RMA. Perhaps I should ask Donna? At least then I would have an idea or my chances since I expect it's going to be a long and tiring process in any case :-(

[Boppo]

Sounds like an electrical failure on the board. I would hope they would RMA it.

[Nil Einne]

Here's a pic. Cut into two pieces due to the file size limitation but there is some overlap so you should be able to work out what it's like

 

:-(

[red930]

Based upon what I can see and identify in the pics, I'd say a couple of traces were damaged. Beyond that it's tough to tell.

 

Here's a pic. Cut into two pieces due to the file size limitation but there is some overlap so you should be able to work out what it's like

 

:-(

[Nil Einne]

From DFI Taiwan

 

As per your photos of burnt location, the root is most possibly from unexpected short circuit. Such circumstance is belongs to improper usage with no warranty. You may still contact your dealer or the nearest local distributor for verify

 

I don't know how it could have short circuited tho since it was in the case and there were no loose screwed or wires or anything inside and it happened suddenly. I also find it a bit strange that a short circuit would have destroyed/damaged the capacitor leg but I'm not really an electronics wiz. In any case, as I expected due to the physical damage, it doesn't sound like it'll be easy to convince them it wasn't my fault even if that were true. :-(

 

Not sure whether to send it back to the country of purchase or what now... I just knew buying it from overseas was going to come back and bite me in the butt unfortunately the silly local DFI distro told me they weren't likely to bring in the Ultra-D anytime soon (although they did just AFTER I bought it)

[Nil Einne]

I have one more interesting thing to add. I see most people have no problem running their cards in the PCI-ex slot 4 at 8x. A long time ago I switched the jumpers and tried to run my card in slot 4 but it would not post. However it posted and worked fine in the same slot at 2x and posted and worked fine in the other slot at 8x and 16x. This was around the time when I first got the board in July. In fact, I believe my bios claimed NC NC 2x 8x.

 

I assumed from this the board was not supposed to support 8x in slot 4 and perhaps only the SLI did so I gave up. But now that I'm thinking could this have been an indication there was something wrong? Has anyone else had this problem? But then again it seems unlikely the bios woul have been able to detect if the slot was partially broken (assuming I'm recalling correctly about the NC NC 2x 8x bit)

[Boppo]

I have one more interesting thing to add. I see most people have no problem running their cards in the PCI-ex slot 4 at 8x. A long time ago I switched the jumpers and tried to run my card in slot 4 but it would not post. However it posted and worked fine in the same slot at 2x and posted and worked fine in the other slot at 8x and 16x. This was around the time when I first got the board in July. In fact, I believe my bios claimed NC NC 2x 8x.

 

I assumed from this the board was not supposed to support 8x in slot 4 and perhaps only the SLI did so I gave up. But now that I'm thinking could this have been an indication there was something wrong? Has anyone else had this problem? But then again it seems unlikely the bios woul have been able to detect if the slot was partially broken (assuming I'm recalling correctly about the NC NC 2x 8x bit)

The card should have worked in that slot at 8x.

[Boppo]

From DFI Taiwan

 

 

 

I don't know how it could have short circuited tho since it was in the case and there were no loose screwed or wires or anything inside and it happened suddenly. I also find it a bit strange that a short circuit would have destroyed/damaged the capacitor leg but I'm not really an electronics wiz. In any case, as I expected due to the physical damage, it doesn't sound like it'll be easy to convince them it wasn't my fault even if that were true. :-(

 

Not sure whether to send it back to the country of purchase or what now... I just knew buying it from overseas was going to come back and bite me in the butt unfortunately the silly local DFI distro told me they weren't likely to bring in the Ultra-D anytime soon (although they did just AFTER I bought it)

Can you take it to the local distributer and have them look at it for you?

[Nil Einne]

I have contacted the local distro and they are willing to help but they will need to send it to somewhere (Taiwan I guess) and say it is unlikely they will be able to do so for 3-4 weeks when they have enough to send so have advised me it might be best for me to send it back myself. I'm not sure what they do with motherboards they supplied, def a 3-4 week timeframe is not the norm here in NZ so I expect they would normally test it and replace it with their stock but will not do so in this case as they did not supply the board. I'm a bit skeptical about sending it to Taiwan since even I could convince them to take it, they do seem to think it's my fault and if they reject my RMA, I'm not sure whether they will sent it back to me for free or what. So it seems like my best option is to send it back to the country of purchase... :-(

 

I never mentioned this before but I've been a bit annoyed with the local distro for a while now. I asked them if they were going to bring in the Ultra-D before I purchased mine. At first they said this was unlikely. About 3 weeks later and a week before I made the final purchase, I asked them again, this time no reply! So I gave up and purchased from overseas. A week later I found they HAD just brought in the board. I contacted them to let them know how I was annoyed and they did agree to try to help me when I asked them if they would (this was when I purchased the board a few months ago). So I'm not certain if they made a special exception in my case or would have normally dealt with me.