MB PCB Scratched... Can I fix it? Return it?

[sammah19]

So I've got this MSI Pro 266 mb, and it worked fine for about a day. Then I touched the keyboard plug while it was on, and it rebooted, then shut down. I took out the motherboard, and found a fine scratch about an inch below the ps/2 input from the keyboard on the back of the mb. It cuts across what looks like 4 connections, and the scratch is very light. When I try to start them computer now, it powers up the cpu fan, spins up the HD, but the diagnostic LED's show it is stopping on "Keyboard Detect." So I'm wondering, has anyone ever had any luck repairing a scratched PCB? I'm wondering if it has just caused these to short out, and if I can maybe use a magnifying glasss and re-insulate them from one another. If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what I can do. I bought the motherboard from a company that buys out inventories from other stores that go out of business, and they do not accept any returns :/ Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Bozo Galora]

no, and no.

Hope this helps.

 

[SonicTron]

What are you trying to say?

You unplugged the keyboard while the computer was on??

Doesn't sound like this had anything to do with a scratch on the mobo itself. The scratch is probably just a minor cosmetic blemish.

Sounds more like you shorted the keyboard port. Try unplugging your system for a while, maybe that will help.

Otherwise.....I would try to RMA it. They can probably fix a problem like that without any trouble.

 

[Fenix793]

try an RMA with MSI they should be able to fix it.

 

[Woody419]

Try another keyboard yet? Make sure that keyboard connection is good and snug. Sounds like a bad fitting plug/socket connection.

 

[cbuchach]

I have two bad traces on my A7V133 (my fault) which control the IDE LED and maybe other things--the board still works, though I have some IDE anomalies. I have tried on several occasions to repair the traces using a conductive pen, strips of aluminum foil on tape many times but have never gotten it to work. The traces are just too darn small. Even with a magnifying glass it is hard to work with them. Trying to accurately reconnect the traces without shorting the other I have found to be impossible in my situation.

So, if your traces are real small and close together, I wouldn't count on fixing them. If you do figure out how to fix it--LET ME KNOW!

 

[sammah19]

Well I've contacted MSI about a RMA, just waiting for the reply. To elaborate on my original post, what happened was that it never worked absolutely perfect, I ran it for about a day, then it started randomly rebooting, and I couldn't turn it off with the Power button, so when i went to pull the power cord, I touched the keyboard connector and it rebooted. Further attempts at jiggling the keyboard connector made it reboot or turn off. I've tried to boot with literally every single component replaced (got lots of extra computer junk) and nothing works.

There are about 5 traces, pretty close together (probably .5 mm I'd say). The scratch seems to have smeared across them, very lightly on the surface, so I think the problem isn't that the individual traces are interrupted, but that the signal is crossing over them. I am hoping that I could scratch away any conductive material in the spaces between the traces if it can't be returned to MSI. Thanks for all the suggestions, and if I'm able to fix the traces, I'll definitely post it.