I think my "OC" fried my board

EarthDog said:

If the mobo died, it was a freak thing not because it wasn't up to the task when working properly.

Click to expand...

those were my thoughts exactly. i work in technical support, and one thing that i've learned is that we like to draw conclusions as to what caused this and that when in MANY more cases than we like to realize, 2 events just so happen to coincide and had nothing to do with one another. in other words, i get the feeling the mobo might have failed even if you didn't do the overclocking.

i would also like to point out that i have revived motherboards in similar circumstances, when i thought all hope was lost. i don't know what all you have tried, but here are some things i recommend from past experiences

1) look for bulging caps. if you find one, well, there's your problem

2) remove motherboard battery and leave cmos reset jumper in for 1 hour. put the battery back in, then continue to let it sit without any other power for an additional 30 minutes. come back to it, hook up the minimum stuff to boot and give it a whirl

3) remove EVERYTHING from the board that you can. video card (if there's an onboard one, i didn't check), all case connections except power maybe PC speaker in case it beeps a post fail at you. remove all SATA connections, and put in only one stick of ram. move the ram from bank to bank until you've tried all banks. if you have a second stick, try doing the same with that one

4) press and hold the power button while flipping on the power switch in the PSU. wait a few seconds, then flip it off. depending on how big the capacitors are in the PSU wait about 7 seconds then flip it on all while continuously holding the power button down. repeat this through about 3 cycles of on/off. this is in effort to discharge the capacitors. at least that is what my intention was at the time, i don't know if that's what specifically happened to fix my mobo, but it worked for me once before!

5) very carefully reseat the CPU and reapply thermal compound and the HSF. be extremely deliberate during this process, making sure not to skip any small steps. it's been my experience that most of the time when a motherboard wont even power up it's motherboard/PSU/CPU related. i don't think i've ever had a ram failure (even when my entire memory bank went out) that it caused the mobo to not even power on. it tends to just cause a POST failure with no video and just a beeping sequence when there is a problem outside of the PSU/motherboard/CPU.

So with all of these aside from the 5th method leave the cpu out? I have applied and removed it about 4-5 times along with another cpu so I'm running low on paste haha.

Another thing I just noticed a little while ago after the last attempt to start it was a slight smell coming from the socket where the cpu sits. I'm not sure if my hands were dirty or something may have slightly brushed against it but it smells a bit odd and looks a slightly different color from the rest of the socket. This was only visible after my last attempt. The thermal paste was extremely sticky as well. Idk if that is how it is normally suppose to be but it didn't seem to be spreading as easy. Hopefully the cpu didn't burn out as well . I will try these methods tonight after confirming if I need the cpu on the board as well.

Edit: I have a cmos reset button on the board so I don't think there is a jumper. How do I go about method 2 in this case?

xsuperbgx said:

I remember rumors of msi 790fx and 890fx boards dying because they couldn't handle over clocks and higher currents. I think it was gd80's that had issues during the phenom2 era. A web search might bring some of those up.

Did you do an extended CLR CMOS where you take out the battery, un plug the PSU and put the jumper on overnight? Look over the board around the socket and see if you can see an burned or discolored areas.

Click to expand...

Not rumor - Fact.

I have a MSI 790FX GD70 that died from OC'ing with my 1100T chip. It went out like you may have heard, the MOSFETs kicked the bucket and it suddenly began throwing a code FF with nothing shown on the monitor.
It's a 4-1 phase board and these boards for awhile were dropping like flies or so it seemed. You can check this thread for the info I'm referring to: http://www.overclock.net/t/943109/about-vrms-mosfets-motherboard-safety-with-125w-tdp-processors

It also seemed at the time the MSI's were the main culprits/victims of this problem. Even if this is referring to some "Older" boards, the info is still relevant and the info is good overall.

Dr. McCoy said:

I have a MSI 790FX GD70 that died from OC'ing with my 1100T chip.

Click to expand...

Had to RMA my brother's MSI board 3 times.

My Asus boards lasted years....

MSI just sucked for Phenom II

I would also consider the PSU as being the real problem. Easy enough to check if you have a spare working PSU.

Yeah I tried that already. I'm pretty sure the issue heat since I had one fan haha

Okay so I got back the same model board today from MSI and hooked everything up. I have the exact same setup as before but w/ stock speeds on CPU. I ordered some fans just yesterday to help with my heat problem. I'm currently seeing temps up to 75C on my TMPIN1 which is my north bridge right? Should I just not run the rig until my fans come in?

It should be able to run even at 90C, but i wouldn`t feel confortable doing so. I prefer to keep all my temps under 65-70 if possible, if not then run it till the ordered cooling parts arrive.

I am getting temps in the mid 60's and spikes in the high 70's right now. Called MSI to ask what temps I should avoid and they said I should be good up until the 80's. Do you guys know if turning off 2 cores will make much a difference in my TMPIN1 temps?

alzerm said:

Should I just not run the rig until my fans come in?

Click to expand...

If you know you a heat issue, I wouldn't run it until you were certain you could deal with the heat.

Got fans into setup today then OC'ed to 3.6ghz again with good idle mobo and cpu temps. I used OCCT just out of curiosity to see if I would get an error again and I did. Idk what to look for when checking for errors and or if they come up. I have the images from the charts if you guys could help me figure out what is wrong? The test lasted 2 mins then it stopped.

Here are my temps and settings

It died b/c it an MSI. Don't be surprised if the new one croaks too.

OptyTrooper said:

It died b/c it an MSI. Don't be surprised if the new one croaks too.

Click to expand...

Yep, I can see that happening too before long.

The 890FX also has the weaker 4-1 phase setup so you need to be careful with it. Those boards are good with anything that's a quad or lower but with hex cores, those can and will kill them quickly if you push it. I seriously suggest looking into a better/stronger board to run with that Thuban when you are able or at least start looking around to see what's out there. If you have the $$ an Asus Sabertooth is a great board to use with it plus you get the ability to run an AM3+ chip if you'd like. Offerings from ASRock and Gigabyte are good too so check those out as well if you do look around. Nothing that's really good will be cheap but you'll have something that can handle that 1035 with ease if you do and not have to worry so much about anything falling over.

I thought it was a 8+2 which made it alright for the Thuban?

Edit: My temps seem to be fine now and the only thing I have tweaked was the vcore voltage. I ran a test on Prime and got a BSOD. Should I run oc genie and then stress test w/ what that sets things to and go from there?

I'm just confused w/ the information I am getting. I have looked around and in multiple places seen that this board is an 8+2 phase which should be good for OC'ing. I have also seen that the board dies out on people after a while but I am trying to figure out why. I get a spike now and then in the low 70's but temps are idle at 46C on my NB w/ stock settings so I'm confused as hell XD

alzerm said:

I thought it was a 8+2 which made it alright for the Thuban?

Edit: My temps seem to be fine now and the only thing I have tweaked was the vcore voltage. I ran a test on Prime and got a BSOD. Should I run oc genie and then stress test w/ what that sets things to and go from there?

I'm just confused w/ the information I am getting. I have looked around and in multiple places seen that this board is an 8+2 phase which should be good for OC'ing. I have also seen that the board dies out on people after a while but I am trying to figure out why. I get a spike now and then in the low 70's but temps are idle at 46C on my NB w/ stock settings so I'm confused as hell XD

Click to expand...

Let me doublecheck and confirm the phases in the board. I had seen where those were also dying and believe it was also stated MSI didn't bother to pay any attention to what was going on. Even if it is a 8-2 phase, the fact those boards were also having trouble should be enough to be weary of it.

EDIT: Check this out: http://www.overclock.net/t/946407/amd-motherboards-vrm-info-database
Turns out we were both right..... And wrong.

Scroll down and click onto the AM3/MSI tab and you'll see.

Yeah that is one of the places I checked for it.