Electrical Engineers...

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

cause - improperly seated ram(the ram contacts crossed two of the DIMM contacts)

effect - dead DFI lanparty NFII 400 ultra, 512meg stick of Geil ultra series

it seems pretty isolated,the only visible damage is in the DIMM and a single mofset below the DIMMS. the melted solder also engulfed a near by resistor though, but i'm fairly sure i can clean that up.

area in question with mosfet yanked off

mosfet

dimm

i'm a first year electrical engineer(so basically i know nothing ), but i figure maybe soldering on a new mofset would at least allow me to use the other two DIMMS. there is no other visible damage, and i have a spare CPU and spare DDR400 generic ram for testing so i don't have much to loose really.

do any of you think this is a very good idea?

 

[JSSheridan]

Originally posted by: AWhackWhiteBoy
i don't have much to loose really.

do any of you think this is a very good idea?

If your time isn't worth much and you don't mind voiding your warrenty, go for it. First thing you have to do is find replacement FET's for the one you fried, and it shouldn't be to hard to find the exact model the manufactuer used. You may find that you can only buy them in quantity, i.e. units of 10, and be careful handleing MOSFETs, since I killed a few in lab simply by touching the contacts. And make sure you get the pin-out aligned correctly.

In addition, there is likely some damage that isn't visible. I'd say the odd's of the board being useable after you've finished are about 1 in 5. You're probably wasting your time, but you will learn a bit. Good luck. Peace.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

thanks for the reply,i already bought new stuff and this old board is just hanging on the wall. its nots a real priority but i'd figure i'd at least ask before i give up hope completely. a sad ending indeed for my $150 mobo. i won't bother to try and fix it.

thanks again for the input, it confirmed my thoughts.

 

[ViperV990]

mmmh send it back to DFI and see if they can fix it for a "small" charge?

 

[Soulkeeper]

it's definately doable
match the numbers on the chip with what you can finda at fry's electronics or your local radio shack
but i wouldn't try to do it on yur lunch break or anything
could be a 3 day or weekend job
might also be able to use some kind of wire if the contact in the dimm socket blew or something
also inspect the memory module and it's smd resistors for signs of damage if you havn't already

good luck
you might need a pack of soda/beer for this one

 

[Mark R]

Replacing the mosfet shouldn't be too difficult - but you will need a suitable soldering iron. You'll need at least 25-40W of power to solder due to the heatsinking integrated into the board.

I'd be more concerned about damage to other parts of the board like the mosfet driver. Replacing U15 (if it's dead) on that board might be a bit of a challenge.