Is my motherboard toast?

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itm

itm

itm

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I had a problem with an external powered USB hub yesterday - its power supply was faulty so I replaced it. When I reconnected it , to a USB/Firewire adapter in my Asus P8Z68-VLX motherboard, it still wasn't recognised, so I was fumbling around trying to connect it to the other USB port on the adapter and I felt one of the metal expansion port covers fall out of place, into the PC casing. The machine immediately lost power.
At first I assumed that the power supply had blown, but I've just removed the 24-pin connector from the motherboard, shorted the green/black pins with a paper clip, and re-connected the power. The SATA devices all seemed to power up - suggesting that the power supply is OK?
So now I need to know if my mother board is irreparably damaged (presumably by a short circuit when the expansion port cover fell into the PC case). Can anyone tell me how I can check whether my motherboard is dead?
 
You need to first find that fallen piece and remove it.
With enough luck short caused by it could be triggering protections.
But of course its possible that short damaged something.
 
I've already removed the stray piece. I've also removed the USB/Firewire adapter card that it fell on. The motherboard still doesn't power on, though.
 
itm said:
So now I need to know if my mother board is irreparably damaged (presumably by a short circuit when the expansion port cover fell into the PC case). Can anyone tell me how I can check whether my motherboard is dead?
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Tale a good look at the motherboard and look for a scratch or a component that has come off. Also look for blown capacitors.
 
I've been looking for that sort of thing but there's nothing obvious - here's a photo:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5ELyoVa86wHkF1Un9

I'm pretty sure that the expansion port cover fell onto the back of the USB/Firewire adapter in the expansion slot and probably shorted a couple of connections across the back of it.
 
Are you sure the CPU fan just hasn't failed from the dirt?

Take the motherboard out and give everything a good clean. All you need is a hairdryer ON COLD and a clean paintbrush.
 
Quartz said:
Are you sure the CPU fan just hasn't failed from the dirt?

Take the motherboard out and give everything a good clean. All you need is a hairdryer ON COLD and a clean paintbrush.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't the LED on motherboard come on at least if that was the case?
It would also be a helluva coincidence if the fan had failed from the dirt at the precise moment that the piece of metal fell onto the internal expansion card??
 
There's a power LED near the SATA connections which comes on when the board powers up. It is no longer coming on.
 
So I managed to borrow another power supply, and hooked it up to the motherboard. Same thing - nothing powers up.
I have noticed that with either of the power supplies connected there is a very small red LED which does light up on the motherboard - just next to the 24-pin power connector. It was masked by the cable before. The manual says that this is the DRAM LED. Nothing else lights up though.

Just uncovered a small green LED by the SATA ports which is also illuminated (it was hidden under another component). This is the Standby LED. So the system is in some sort of sleep mode???
 
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You need to take it out the case, clean it and try powering it on the bench with just one stick of RAM. No peripherals or cards attached. If it's still dead then just look for a replacement, fixing motherboards with an electrical fault is not economically viable unless you do it yourself and therefore know exactly what you're doing.
 
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