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Shorten Motherboard Life

fadsarmy

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Shorten Motherboard Life
« on: December 19, 2010, 09:52:52 pm »
I didn't know but the most common cause of shortening the life of your precious motherboard after static  discharge is to access the motherboard whilst it is powered on. I have been doing this for years but recently I learnt my lesson.

The pc was actually off but still connected at the mains. I was trying to remove a pci card and I dropped the screw onto the board which powered it on. Next thing I know is that the onboard NIC is gone from device manager. I killed it.

I also tried to change a fan whilst motherboard was on. As I connected it to the header the pc restarted and learnt that the fan header had died.

You may get away with it a million times but one day you'll be caught out!


Dark Mantis

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Re: Shorten Motherboard Life
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2010, 09:58:28 pm »
That's a good lesson to us all. To be honest I expect most of us take chances like that sometimes and expect to get away with it. As you say in the end the numbers stack against you. :'(
« Last Edit: December 19, 2010, 09:59:01 pm by Dark Mantis »
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bytheway_r

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Re: Shorten Motherboard Life
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2010, 11:48:07 pm »
You know, the situations you described - that's exactly how I do things. Somehow I never bothered to think if there's any danger to the board when the PSU's on.

Guess I'll watch myself from now on :).

Re: Shorten Motherboard Life
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2011, 08:10:24 pm »
 ;D
We all learn somehow, I've killed one or two things in the past.
Gigabyte P55A-UD3 / Intel i5 660 / Gigabyte HD 4870x2 / 4xOCZ Vertex raid0 / Tagan 900w / 2x2Gb G.Skill Ripjaws pc3-12800.