Quasi-rant... motherboard problems..

[TheVrolok]

I purchased a P4 1.7 and Intel D845WN mobo from www.allstarcomponents.com about 3 weeks ago, it arrived and I went to put it in... I mounted the board, installed the processor and fan, then put some RAM in and finally my video card just to see if it would POST.. so I power on and what happens but nothing... no processor fan goes on although the light on the mobo does light up.. hmm.. after another second I notice an odd smell and look down to see smoke rising from the AGP slot as the first pin on my GeForce 3 starts to glow red hot and melt.. quickly I kill the power and pop the card out.. thankfully no real damage..

Anyway I mail the board/cpu right back to the company.. So my father calls them today(he's not very computer literate) and they tell him that the board checks out just fine and there is no damage.. so I think to myself.. no damage, ok, that's probably understandable, just a small portion of the AGP slot if anything may be slightly singed.. it's my GF3 that's half burnt... And checks out fine? I don't get that.. the CPU fan wouldn't even turn on when I POSTed. So this evening I call up myself after returning home from school to get a better talk with their techs in... so what happens but I'm put on hold.. after 2 mins some lady picks up and asks for my problem.. I begin to tell her then all of a sudden.. *click* ... I've been hung up on.. ok I guess, so they're morons. I call right back and I get the machine that lists the times their phones are open for tech support.. 8am-6:30pm... Hmm.. It was only 6 when I got hung up on but I guess they had an early day?

This is making me irate... Anyone wanna give me a list of ways I could have somehow 'mis-installed' my board so that the fan would not power up and the thing would melt my vid card? Feel free to list any kind of mistake... Even with the power supply and case.. I VERY much doubt I did anything wrong but perhaps there is something that iludes me? Also, the same case is currently running the system I'm on right now very smoothly, and cool. Thanks.

 

[olds]

Was the mobo in or out of the case? If in, it may have been shorted by the case. Something may have fallen into the AGP slot during assembly. The video card may have not been seated properly. The CPU fan may have been plugged into the wrong fan header. But I think it's fishy that they hung up on you.

 

[DaiShan]

I can think of how EACH or those problems COULD occur on their own, but not all at once, unless there was a problem with the board, that problem with the AGP slot makes me believe there is a problem with the voltage regulator.. have you been able to test out the video card in another machine? If it is dead, I think that makes them responsible for that too...

 

[olds]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that they were all happening at once. I was trying to list reasons why it might happen.

 

[TheVrolok]

<< Was the mobo in or out of the case? If in, it may have been shorted by the case. >>
It was in, although I did have the spacers properly installed too, plastic spacers so they shouldn't conduct.. I don't recall seeing anything from the board in any type of contact with the case.

<< Something may have fallen into the AGP slot during assembly. >>
Perhaps the most probable of these situations, although I noticed nothing of the sort happening and the card was inserted with no abnormal resistance

<< The video card may have not been seated properly. >>
I'm as sure as you can be without being 100% sure that it was, there's always a chance that it wasn't, but I can promise you I seated it correctly. Even so, a non-seated card shouldn't cause that much voltage to run into the slot.

<< The CPU fan may have been plugged into the wrong fan header. >>
No chance. Not only did I look at the diagram of the board on Intel's site, but I also made sure to note it written on the board. Also, I plugged the fan into my old board and it worked perfectly.

<< But I think it's fishy that they hung up on you >>
Ditto.


<< I can think of how EACH or those problems COULD occur on their own, but not all at once, unless there was a problem with the board >>
I agree 100%, and yet they told my father there's nothing wrong with it... Hmm....

<< that problem with the AGP slot makes me believe there is a problem with the voltage regulator.. have you been able to test out the video card in another machine? If it is dead, I think that makes them responsible for that too... >>
Yes, the card is still functional thank God, I'm running on it right now.

 

[LordAccord]

Yeah, that makes me think of motherboard voltage as well. Does the fan that you have pull a lot of power? Perhaps the motherboard was getting too much draw... thats a thought that popped into my head.

LoRdAccord