P4P800E Destroyed

[MensaBoy]

ive been troubleshooting some things in this thread
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=358798

i was running cool and stable at 230 FSB, and 1.4v, had the computer shut down today while i was at work to heat cycle the AS5, got home, turned on the comp and figured i was done with checking the max overclock for a while

i backed the FSB down to 220 and set the volts to auto, booted and started surfing the net, Ebay and the like

went to plug a digital camera into the front USB port to get some photos off it foe Ebay...POOF !!! black screen and comp reboots, or at least tries to

drives dont seem to spin up and it just sits there....light on monitor is amber instead of green, and suddenly, the comp starts to talk to me

"sytem failed CPU test"...OMG! NOOO, its the POST reporter on the board...

pull the case cover off and i get a faint smell of burnt electronics...not good

anywhoo, i cant power it down with the switch, have to shut off the PSU

tried to reseat the CPU, no luck, so i go to work and grab one of our dell internet boxes, and yank the CPU (2.4) and throw it in the P4P, "system failed the CPU test"...

OK, maybe the board fried and not the CPU...put my 3.2 in the dell box, and no problems, im typing this from that box with my CPU now...

wtf?, plugging in a USB cable fried the mobo?, this wasnt just a coincidence, it was as if i hit the reset switch when i plugged the cable in, the instant i plugged, poof...

i was looking at other mobo's half heartedly before, i guess now i have no choice, has anyone ever heard of this happening?

i got the board on ebay, so no RMA'ing it, but can i send it to ASUS direct?

should i even bother or just get a P4C or a Max2?

[apu318]

Well.. it didnt seem like there wasnt too much load on the cpu then.. and then when you plugged in the usb, the cpu load went up, and other circutry on your board started being stressed and it failed. I'm an AMD guy so I have no knowledge of what else to do.. my experiance with Asus RMA though.. An Excuse for a bad joke.

[Temijin]

I've always been told that USB uses enough voltage to fry any component in a split second. So, after learning that even a small voltage can corrupt, destroy, or burn any electronic part, I now shut down my pc before plugging anything in that is USB related.

I had an Epox 8RDA3 do the flame-tango with a USB transistor at the bottom of my board. One of the ground wires had pulled out of the connector. I hooked up a USB Cam to it while it was on...*POOF*. Didn't get to see what that wire might have touched.

Don't think USB is hot-swappable :p

[Zuzzz]

USB is meant to be hot swappable. I have never had a USB do that nor have i had any issues related to plugging in a USB device hot. IF however you plugged the USB plug to that front case connector backwards onto the mother board I'm guessing the voltage could do a lot of damage.

my .02

Z

[MensaBoy]

USB is meant to be hot swappable. I have never had a USB do that nor have i had any issues related to plugging in a USB device hot. IF however you plugged the USB plug to that front case connector backwards onto the mother board I'm guessing the voltage could do a lot of damage.

my .02

Z

ive used the connector a dozen times previous...

from searching for the post reporter error, i find many people with the P4C having an issue with a solder flattening out behind the HSF mount bracket on the backside of the mobo, alas, the P4P doesnt have this...also many people having issues with the P4P800's and Antec PSU's, i would try a different PSU, but it will have to wait till tomorrow, im just too tired and pissed to try anything else tonight

[Albaholic]

the smell of burnt electronics is never a good thing, i would suggest you try your luck and rma it to asus. before your board decides to take other parts with it. I havent had much luck with asus either when my a7n8x bite the bullet... so Good luck

[Time4aMassiveOC]

dont get the p4c800. it has droop issues. :) get an 875 chipset from abit, or an albatron, any way you decide. 875 all the way. unless its a northwood. then the 865 is fine.

[MensaBoy]

dont get the p4c800. it has droop issues. :) get an 875 chipset from abit, or an albatron, any way you decide. 875 all the way. unless its a northwood. then the 865 is fine.

kool, im getting a Max 2 advance, should be in today

[MensaBoy]

running on the MAX-II advance now, its very good, slightly higher scores across the board, and volt seem more stable

weird having such a big difference in the temp tho, a little scarier than the lower reported temps of the P4P800-E

[davidpanderson]

Hi,

I recently had the same problem (like, yesterday) and my PC is screwed for now until i get a new Mobo:

P4P800-E Motherboard
P4 3.0GHz Prescott 1MB Cache
2 x 512 OCZ DDR RAM PC3200 2-5-3-3-7
ATI AGP x800Pro VPU at 256MB using VGA
Standard Intel Heatsink and Fan
Antec 480W PS
2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB in RAID 0

I was playing WoW and tried plugging in my iPod USB 2.0 cable into the front of the case (Antec tower case with USB on front) and the system shut down, restarted, then all I smelt was burning plastic. The black chipset near the PCI slots (is that the Southbridge?) has a hole in it and it is all melted. I am sure that me using the USB connection is what did it; nothing else was ever wrong with it and it was working fine.

Thankfully I have an Apple iBook G4 (lol...I know some people will hate me for that), but it never screws up and it incredible for everything except gaming and video editing.

I am having great trouble RMAing it to ASUS; their websie sucks and they did not respond to their emails. I am just going to go out and buy a new Mobo, same one, for $139 Canadian. Hope this gives someone some help, and if anyone has any suggestions for me please let me know!

Thanks!