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Thread: Fluid coming from my motherboard !

  1. #1
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    Fluid coming from my motherboard !

    Due to last resorts.. I tried smelling the board for any smell of burn. But instead I found two transistors with fluids coming out from them. The motherboard is a Abit KA7. The transistors which have fluids leaking from it is situated near the CMOS jumper settings and one near the RAM slots.
    The board seems to be running alright but it can't detect any harddrives.

    Anyone think that this motherboard is still usable ? How about a RAID card install to detect the hardrives instead of the ones IDE controller in the motherboard ? Do you think this will work ?

    How about if I sent the motherboard to have the transistors replaced ? Is that possible ? Will the board still be usable ?

    Any comments ? Please do state any comments ! Please.. I am really desperate .. I can't find anymore motherboards for Slot A Athlons anymore.

  2. #2
    Member mraltoid19's Avatar
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    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Don't get the motherboard fixed!!!!!!! If your motherboard is indeed fried (I can't tell but whenever I hear of things oozzing out of somthing that cant be good) A raid/ata100 card is a good Idea to but if you don't have one they run for about 50 bucks. If I were you I'd buy a new motherboad. Now I know the KA7 is a slot mobo but you can pick up an SiS 735 based mobo from ECS for $65!! And probably pick up an Athlon 1.0 Ghz (or Duron if you want the new core) for about $60. Visit www.pricewatch.com for prices also check out www.ubid.com for some deals.


    Keep it real.

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    Member piyopiyo13's Avatar
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    Fluid coming from a motherboard is definitely not a good thing. If your motherboard is old, you might as well buy a new motherboard that supports RAID and that works. Last time I checked, RAID controllers at CompUSA cost $99, while built-in on a motherboard they cost an extra $20 or so. If you just got your motherboard and it's still within the warranty and you can live without your system for a few days, it might be preferrable to just send it in for a repair.

  4. #4
    Member V_I_R_U_S's Avatar
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    I have heard of a few other people who had this problem with the Abit KA7. I would stay away from buying that board.

  5. #5
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    Looks like I'm going to have to revise my Grand Theory of Electronics to include fluid loss. My old theory states that electronics run on smoke. This smoke is manufactured into the product. When the smoke escapes, the product ceases to function.

    Standard PCI IDE adapters reasonably priced. IDE adapters with RAID will cost extra. If you don't need RAID, just get a regular PCI IDE adapter. Promise is a popular brand, but there are others.

  6. #6
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    thanks

    Thanks for the suggestions ! Actually not only two transistors have fluid oozing from them... lots of them had. Anyone knows what might have caused this to happen ? Was it too much voltage going into the board or is my power supply insufficient ? I am using a 250W power supply for my 700mhz athlon.
    Will an auto voltage regulator help ?

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    I'm not good with mobos, but I'm taking a high school tech course... and fluid coming from transistors means one thing...(so far that I learned, anyway...) the voltage is way too high. I sort of was making a transistor radio that was supposed to run on 1.5 volts, and I wanted to see if I could pick up more with a 9v battery... the transistors leaked. One question, I know this sounds stupid, but does the computer have any surge protectors hooked up, and if so, what kind?

  8. #8
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    Are you sure it's actually fluid, and not hardened resin?

  9. #9
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    too much voltage ? that maybe the problem. I have asked one of the local computer vendors at my place and he said that it might have been the moist that caused it.
    And yes the computer is on a lightning arrestor/isolator. It's by cal-labs and it's made in malaysia.. don't think you have heard of it before.


    Dried resin ? I am not sure what that might be, but if it's the black stuff on top of the transistors.. yes some of them had it. There was a time I looked at the mobo and yes there were still fluid, not yet hardened. It's like the fluid that comes from batteries. Brown and oily ? Some transistors were also bloated. The usual flat top has a bump on it. There were also dried stuff at the bottom of the legs of the transistors. Not sure what that might be.

  10. #10
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    I acnt believe that your mobo still works at all! You toasted it somehow. Maybe you should cjeck your power supply output voltages before you install a new mobo. By the way, 250watts is sometimes OK for Athlons but 300watts certified by AMD for Athlons is better. Sounds like you need a new PS anyway. Good luck
    arjay

  11. #11
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    Yes.. it actually is still working without the transistors. I even got it to boot once until the Loading Windows Millenium.. It just stalled after that..
    I should get a 300w PS. Can't afford to fry another mobo
    thanks for the advice

  12. #12
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    Originally posted by BFlurie
    Are you sure it's actually fluid, and not hardened resin?
    I was going to ask the same thing. Transistors are solid state devices, meaning no fluid (except for the magic smoke).

    twabize, are you sure it's the transistors that are leaking? The transistors are the black square plastic components on the motherboard. They're about 1cm square. Some mobos have them lying down on the circuit board. Others have them "standing up", sometimes mounted on a little heatsink of their own.

    If anything is leaking, it's gotta be the electrolytic capacitors. They're cylindrical and look like little batteries standing up on the mobo. If you exceed their voltage rating or reverse the polarity, pressure build up and that can force the liquid electrolyte out of the capacitor. In extreme cases they'll expand (look bloated) and may even explode.

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    Originally posted by RavantH
    I'm not good with mobos, but I'm taking a high school tech course... and fluid coming from transistors means one thing...(so far that I learned, anyway...) the voltage is way too high. I sort of was making a transistor radio that was supposed to run on 1.5 volts, and I wanted to see if I could pick up more with a 9v battery... the transistors leaked. One question, I know this sounds stupid, but does the computer have any surge protectors hooked up, and if so, what kind?
    Remember that Transistors dont burn out for no reason 99% of the time. It is possibly some other fault on the Mobo that caused the Transistors to burn out, possibly a short circuit in some other components that caused a current/voltage surge.

    In my opinion I think its best u replace the whole board, it being of intricate circuitry, I would not advise u to fix it, cos if it happens to have a MAJOR short circuit at a later date, it could mess up your other hardware etc. Dont risk it dude!


  14. #14
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    thanks DanU for correcting me. It's indeed the capicitors that leaked. Did not know what those things are called.. Thanks
    I am already getting a new board but I need to know how I can prevent this from happening again in the future. If there too much voltage going through the board. Should I get a new power supply unit ? I am currently using a 250w unit. How about an Auto Voltage Regulater ? The electricity supplied to my place is not always at a same rate.. Sometimes it could get really low. I can see my ceiling lights dim out. Then sometimes too high.

  15. #15
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    Pardon about the "no reason" crack, it's a habitual thing for me to say... sometimes I say it for no reason... (sorry.) But seriously... did I say transistor? Oh man, my tech teacher would shoot me... I meant capacitor. There was a reason for it leaking... I stuck a 9v battery to a 1.5v capacitor... alone at first... oops. Anyway... yeah, sorry about the mixup between transistor and capacitor. On the radio, I had both so I got confused while looking at the setup while I was typing in the post. Like I told my tech teacher, I'm a C++ programmer, not a hardware expert. One more thing... no, I've never heard of that surge supressor that you have... chances are, it didn't help much.
    Last edited by RavantH; 10-13-2001 at 12:08 AM.

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