Question Anyone burn out Ryzen CPU's PCI-E lanes?

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,327
10,035
126
Trying to figure out how common that this is. Trying to diagnose whether I need to replace a mobo, or a CPU.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
25,542
14,497
136
What are the symptoms ? CPUs bad ? not likely. Motherboard bad ? Likely, but not the PCI-E lanes.

Details please !!
 
  • Like
Reactions: CatMerc

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,327
10,035
126
Yeah, my primary GPU died suddenly. Only, I find out that it wasn't the GPU proper, but the slot.

This is not the first GPU that I lost, using that CPU. But in the first case, it was a different PSU, RAM, mobo, and case. Same CPU though. But that one, the GPU itself was completely dead.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,620
10,830
136
No. It wasn't the video card as I have a bunch that I swapped in. The motherboard was/is just flat out dead. Bear in mind, stock clocks, stock cooling and just dead while reading web pages.

Sounds like power delivery issue then. It's really hard for the whole board to tank like that when so many system functions have been moved to the CPU on modern systems (like Zen/Zen+). All you really get on a mobo are a southbridge and some VRMs. When you get down to it. Lots of connectors and traces and such, but the controllers that could fail and kill an entire system (like the mem controller) are all on the CPU now.
 

CjMitsuki

Junior Member
Feb 17, 2019
2
4
41
No. It wasn't the video card as I have a bunch that I swapped in. The motherboard was/is just flat out dead. Bear in mind, stock clocks, stock cooling and just dead while reading web pages.
It can still be the video card causing problems and not necessarily due to a bad GPU or anything power related. Heavier GPUs without extra support cause stress on the PCIe slot due to sagging and some motherboard manufacturers now have started including "armor" or just general reinforcing of the slot as the stress on the slot can cause the PCB to fracture or just outright break traces. You could take a multimeter and check each pin in the slot for a short or take it further to see if a trace is broken and check for continuity on each pin. That would be much more work as you would have to follow the trace of each pin to a resistor or soldering pad or since the board is dead you could just take an exacto knife and scrape the coating off of the trace to get the contact. Broken traces can be repaired and even a broken PCIe pin can be repaired but whether thats worth it or not depends on price of the board and your personal worth of your time if thats even the cause.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,327
10,035
126
Well. I finally got around to swapping CPUs. I had a Ryzen R3 1200 free from another gaming PC I built, that I had pulled out previously to flash some MSI B350 Bazooka boards, to prep for some Athlon 200GE overclock action on those boards (which was a success, 3.80Ghz @ 1.40V, probably could reduce the vcore a bit).

Anyways, with the 1200 in place, in my Gigabyte AX370-Gaming (great board, BTW, but mine was a refurb), the top / primary PCI-E slot (wired x16 to CPU), still does NOT WORK.

So, I guess it wasn't the CPU's PCI-E lanes that burned out, just the slot on the board. (Whew.)

So now I'm looking for a replacement board, will post that in another thread, probably in Motherboards.

I'm guessing, that possibly I popped an in-line SMT (surface mount) fuse on the +12V to the PCI-E slot, or something... maybe that was a prior problem with these boards, and that's why they were refurbs? Or just bad luck from mining? Oh well. Board still works, mostly, just the secondary slot. Maybe I could re-purpose it with an APU, I think that it has an HDMI port on it.

Oh, and if you get a Ryzen CPU or APU, prefer one with SMT (simultanous multi-threading) Enabled on it. This 1200 has Four cores, and SMT disabled, and ... it bogs down. I'm mining on all four cores, and web browsing, and man, it is a little big sluggish. Whereas my Ryzen R5 1600 wouldn't bog down nearly as much, due to some SMT threads still having CPU time available.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,327
10,035
126
Switching the power switch on the back of the PSU to OFF, while I slept, didn't do it. (I did not unplug the USB3.0 or the ethernet, but those are +5V.)
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,327
10,035
126
Well, it was worth a try. Is the board under warranty?
It was a good idea, and perhaps I made a mistake by not unplugging EVERY connection to the PC, but I would have thought that switching off power on the back would have sufficed.

I doubt that it's under warranty, I got it more than a month ago, and I think that it just had a 30-day from Newegg. It was a refurb for $50. You win some, you lose some. (I wish that I had bought a few more as spares. They were only $50 + tax.)
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
25,542
14,497
136
It was a good idea, and perhaps I made a mistake by not unplugging EVERY connection to the PC, but I would have thought that switching off power on the back would have sufficed.

I doubt that it's under warranty, I got it more than a month ago, and I think that it just had a 30-day from Newegg. It was a refurb for $50. You win some, you lose some. (I wish that I had bought a few more as spares. They were only $50 + tax.)
Larry, Larry, Larry.... When will you learn, you buy cheap stuff, you have problems, as you get what you pay for. There are exceptions, but for the most part, this is what happens when you use cheap parts.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,327
10,035
126
Larry, Larry, Larry.... When will you learn, you buy cheap stuff, you have problems, as you get what you pay for. There are exceptions, but for the most part, this is what happens when you use cheap parts.
X370 boards, are "cheap parts" now? :(

I figured, it was a factory refurb, how bad can it be? It came in a nice (generic, except for the sticker identifying the mobo and serial number) box, and had all the accessories.

I've come out ahead, enough times, buying cheap (factory!) refurbs, that I'll continue to do so, but I didn't order spares, that was my only mistake. New units would have cost $130, I would have come out ahead buying two for each PC, even if I had to junk one of them.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
25,542
14,497
136
X370 boards, are "cheap parts" now? :(

I figured, it was a factory refurb, how bad can it be? It came in a nice (generic, except for the sticker identifying the mobo and serial number) box, and had all the accessories.

I've come out ahead, enough times, buying cheap (factory!) refurbs, that I'll continue to do so, but I didn't order spares, that was my only mistake. New units would have cost $130, I would have come out ahead buying two for each PC, even if I had to junk one of them.
Refurbs are usually not actually rebuilt. They do a quick check, and if its OK, sell it for cheap with next to no warranty. I do open box from newegg and new, thats all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Thunder 57

killster1

Banned
Mar 15, 2007
6,208
475
126
X370 boards, are "cheap parts" now? :(

I figured, it was a factory refurb, how bad can it be? It came in a nice (generic, except for the sticker identifying the mobo and serial number) box, and had all the accessories.

I've come out ahead, enough times, buying cheap (factory!) refurbs, that I'll continue to do so, but I didn't order spares, that was my only mistake. New units would have cost $130, I would have come out ahead buying two for each PC, even if I had to junk one of them.

the next build i make (unless i go x570 or something) is the msi carbon x470 gaming. https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/X470-GAMING-PRO-CARBON/Gallery Pretty sure i saw it for 100$ on ebay, id rather gamble and buy 1 good board than 3 refurbs for 50$.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
25,542
14,497
136
X370 boards, are "cheap parts" now? :(

I figured, it was a factory refurb, how bad can it be? It came in a nice (generic, except for the sticker identifying the mobo and serial number) box, and had all the accessories.

I've come out ahead, enough times, buying cheap (factory!) refurbs, that I'll continue to do so, but I didn't order spares, that was my only mistake. New units would have cost $130, I would have come out ahead buying two for each PC, even if I had to junk one of them.
Actually, we don't even know if its the PSU or the motherboard at this point......
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,620
10,830
136
Switching the power switch on the back of the PSU to OFF, while I slept, didn't do it. (I did not unplug the USB3.0 or the ethernet, but those are +5V.)

Did you hold down the power button to clear the caps?

Actually, we don't even know if its the PSU or the motherboard at this point......

All we know is that it isn't the CPU. It's probably the motherboard though.