scratch on the mbo

[gmiko]

It's an Asus Z68V-Pro, it died 3 days after purchase (VGA LED on, computer wont boot, the usual with this mbo). It seems when I was removing it from the case to return it, in all my fury about my new computer not working, I scratched it a bit. Ofcourse, the supplier denied my warranty because of this. Picture they have taken is in the attachment. How important are those scratches and could they kill the mbo if it didn't die by itself beforehand? Thank you.

 

[epic_geek]

It's hard to tell the depth of the scratches from the provided image, but they are across the traces along the edge of that board. If they're deep enough it could easily have severed the traces making it practically non-repairable.

 

[Spikesoldier]

yes, it could contribute to the failure. now, ive had screwdriver slips every once in a while and hit the pcb, but never has it broken through the silkscreen and exposed copper like that. the location of the scratch is particularly bad, as it is right over traces on the pcb.

it sucks that it was DOA before the physical damage, but a store/supplier will always deny service/return when any physical damage is present.

chalk this one up to a lesson, cool out and exercise more care next time.

 

[Harvey]

The good news is, you weren't trying to replace through hole components (capacitors, etc.) that could break traces on internal layers, so it gets down to how good your vision is and how good are you with a soldering iron. Use a magnifying glass to look VERY closely at the questionable traces. If you find visibly cracked or broken traces, here's how you can try to repair them with absolutely NO guarantee of success:

1. For each broken trace, use a razor or an Exacto blade to scrape a little of the insulating solder mask on each side of the break to expose around 1/8" of copper.

2. Quickly and cleanly apply a light coat of solder the exposed copper trace. Don't let the iron linger on the trace because you could cause more of the trace to lift the board or melt away.

3. Take a short length of bus wire or a section of a lead wire from a 1/8 - 1/4 watt resistor or small capacitor (~ 1") and apply a coat of solder on around 1/4" of one end. This should be a slightly heavier coating so you can melt it onto the coated, exposed trace.

4. Use pliers to make a sharp "L" shaped bend in the coated end. The coated, short part of the "L" should be long enough to attach to the exposed trace on each side of the break. You want to be able to use a pair of needle nosed pliers to hold the solder coated wire directly on the solder coated exposed, broken trace and apply a solder iron long enough to make the solder from the wire flow and reconnect the broken trace(s). Do this to each trace that appears to be broken.

5. Pray, do a primative rain dance or recite any other mystical incantations you can think of. It won't help, but it may break the tension, and you're already on shakey ground.

6. Reassemble, and apply power.

A. If it works, coat the exposed, repaired trace(s) with fingernail polish or other non-conductive paint. Then, smile, cheer, pop a brew or take a toke -- whatever you do to celebrate a successful rescue. :thumbsup:

B. If it doesn't work, go back to step 1, look for other possibly damaged traces, and if you find any, repeat the above steps.

7. If you get to the point where you don't see anymore damaged traces, and it still doesn't work, pop a brew or take a toke -- whatever you do to commiserate over a failed rescue attempt, recite the words of the immortal Dr. McCoy to James T. Kirk... "It's dead, Jim," and move on.

Side note -- Best Buy will accept your dead motherboards, vid cards, etc. for proper recycling. :thumbsup:

 

[e-drood]

conductive silver repair fluid (paint-like in laquer base) + v. fine new sable paint brush & apply directly to exposed cracks ONLY - do not spread anywhere else - just touch tip of damp brush to center of crack/scratch, but do not try to "paint" everywhere...

as this is multi-layer printed circuit board having fine tracings, it is virtually impossible to solder over cut fine tracing using "home" soldering equipment without damaging board substrate layers

micro point iron having precision thermostatic temp control - this is production line touch-up soldering station

 

[e-drood]

motherboard tracings are generally 0.5mm to 1.2mm wide - solder mask (on mobo surface) should not be scraped off as this will lead to corrosion of exposed electroless copper tracing/land

and of course if the tracing in question is precision signal path length controlled capacitance conductor soldering onto mid length of tracing will change those values...

soldering to cut/broken tracing/acetone wipe/isopropyl wipe remarkable