I am posting here b/c you guys help more. Problem...

[FluxCap]

I took my motherboard out of my case via the removable motherboard tray to do some work on it and I found a large burn on the SATA Link chip's sticker(the one with the green NF7-S sticker on it). The burn is about the size of a pencil eraser tip and that is it. Is this chip for only controlling the serial hard drives? I don't intend to ever get one so should I not worry about it? I think this happened over a month ago maybe. The system has been perfect and stable for 4 weeks. Should I still RMA it? Even if I do, they will probably check it and say it is ok and slap another sticker on? I got it from excalbierpc.

I have never RMA'ed anything before but I want to ensure at least 3 years of solid performance from this motherboard. Do I RMA directly to Excaliber or straight to Abit? I am a perfectionist about stuff and I want to feel good about my product and have no doubts that something is wrong or not going to work. Thanks for any help.

 

[Chucko]

That doesn't sound good. I would RMA it, you never know what will happen next. RMA for Abit is done directly to them. They have a good RMA process in my limited experience. They even offer a cross ship, but you have to post a credit card. They also want a copy of your receipt and your serial number off your board.

 

[mindless1]

What, exactly, are you calling a "burn"?
Is it just discolored, or bubbled/melted, or some degree more like ash?
If they used a crap sticker that's not tolerant of temp change, you could be experiencing the same situation as many peeps, just an "unpretty" sticker.

You might reassess your case cooling, and put your finger on the chip after the system's been running for a while... if the chip is really hot you may have a problem. The chips IS only for the SATA drive interface, but if it failed, it might have effect on the southbridge logically, and thus further problems. If it's just warm enough to discolor the sticker (and since you don't plan on using SATA drives) you might consider attaching a small heatsink with thermal tape.. it'd keep it cooler, and if you needed to return the board, thermal tape easily enough releases and cleans off without leaving a trace behind.

 

[FluxCap]

No ash, brown color and a very slight "lip" in the shape of a circle from where the sticker stopped it's burning. Where can I get thermal tape for cleaning?

I just touched the chip before I posted and it is very cool, almost room temp. BUT that could be because it is already wasted.

 

[Doh!]

Thermal tape is not for cleaning. He was saying that before you RMA the board, clean off the thermal tape should you have attached a heatsink to cool the chip. Right now, you don't have any heatsink on the chip so don't worry about cleaning anything.

 

[FluxCap]

Ahh, ok. Was early, I guess I was slow !!

I still am undecided. I hate to be without a PC for 2 weeks but if excaliber would give me another then I wouldn't hesitate one bit. I am not sure they would, bad luck follows me so...

 

[mindless1]

Only you can see that burnt mark... if you think they'll agree that the board has a problem you might ask if they'll cross-ship a replacement if you can give a credit card as security.

If you need a bit of thermal tape and a tiny 'sink, i probably have something i can spare/free, if you wanted to mail me an addressed, postage prepaid padded envelope (send PM).

 

[FluxCap]

I doubt they would cross-ship. I don't know many companies that would.

Cool, thanks. I will let you know after I hear back from my email to Excaliberpc.