Did I damage my K7T-PRO 2-A?

[NewBuilder]

I was attempting to mount a GlobalWin Fop32-1 on my AMD Tbird 1 Ghz and the screwdriver I was using slipped onto the mother board. There is a small "scratch" near the socket holder ont the motherboard as a result of this. After everything is installed and I attempt to boot up the pc it doesn't work. All 4 led lights stay red and nothing else happens. No BIOS no nothing. Should I write off the mobo? Thanks!

 

[chansen]

Did you break a trace or damage any components? It doesn't sound like it. Check the legend for the fault LEDs and see what you come up with.

 

[NewBuilder]

Thanks for the reply. I don't think I damaged any components. What's a trace? Is it one of those really small copper looking metal lines that appear all over the motherboard? If so then it looks that I might have broken one or more due to the scratch. Could that cause my problem?

 

[toph99]

yes, a trace is the line on the motherboard. if you damaged one, and only on the surface, there's a chance you could repair it with a conductive pen, put it's risky. might want to look into rma'ing the board

 

[NewBuilder]

Thanks! So, could the problem I'm having with the Pro2-a be caused by a broken trace?

 

[BlueScreenVW]

Yes, it definitely could. If it worked before the surgery and you've only changed the CPU heatsink, I'd try to repeat the CPU mounting procedure a couple of times (to make sure it's properly inserted). If that doesn't work, I'd get an 8x magnifier glass or so and take a good look at the traces. If they're not too close, I'd try some conductive silver ink. Or maybe get it repaired by a professinal, like at a TV repair station? Anyway, this can definitely screw your board.

 

[NewBuilder]

Thanks. Actually I don't know if it worked before. This happened prior to the first boot. I've ordered another board. We'll see what happens when I get that one.

 

[Jamey]

I hate to say RMA the board and pass YOUR problem on to someone else, but the truth of the matter is most every vendor will accept such things as long as you don't advertise your bonehead move to them. They will send it back to the MSI, and MSI will take the loss in the end. This isn't so bad, cause the major cost of a MB is in development and setup, not materials. I can't think of any manufacturer that wouldn't take back a product that they produced within a short time from manufacture for ANY reason other than complete distruction of it (fire or similar complete disaster). MSI has to assume that mounting CPU's will result in this happening rarely. It really could be considered a design flaw. Once you try to alter the board (conductive ink), it will be harder to RMA. I work in retail, and we will take back any product we sell for almost any reason within 30 days, some 90 days, for free replacement. It keeps the customer happy.

 

[Subversal]

You should make absolutely sure you broke a trace on your mainboard. I've slipped and ran across my mainboard's a few times and never caused any damage. What are the DLED's telling you? All red right? Try what BlueScreenVW suggested in the cpu mounting over and over. When I started installing my second system, my machine wouldn't boot too (all 4 DLED's were red) so I made sure my cpu was inserted properly (just took the cpu out and put it back in a few times) and worked the brand new socket in a bit and it worked fine.