I think my MoBo has perished - I did something stupid

PCBOOMER

PCBOOMER

PCBOOMER

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Hello,

I built a gaming PC 2-3 months ago & everything was a dream. Or at least I thought until I ran into an issue last night & after doing some research I’ve realised I messed up badly.

I installed my Mobo directly into the metal frame of my PC case. I didn’t realise you’re not supposed to do that. Anyway, I’ve been using my PC almost daily since I built it, but last night it did some things it’s never done before.

It started up fine, I was launching a game, and then boom. The power cut out. Thinking nothing of it, I turned it back on again. At this point I got a black screen with a message saying “Your PC didn’t restart properly, we’ll restart it for you now” or something along those lines. So I waited, but nothing seemed to be happening. After several minutes, I turned it off.

When I turned it back on again, a static red & orange light appeared on my motherboard. I had this issue when I first put my PC together, but it was because I hadn’t correctly seated the RAM. This time, I knew that couldn’t be the issue.

Then, my fans started going into overdrive, it sounded like a jet was about to take off in my office. At this point I was stressed, so I took apart my entire PC and built it back together. I checked every single part & wire in my PC, no visible damage apart from a couple of very small scratches on the baseplate of my CPU cooler. How they got there, I don’t know.

At this point, I was trying to find an explanation to my problem online, and I came across a thread in this forum that mentioned incorrect Mobo installation I.e not using the standoffs during installation which can lead to a short circuit.

I figured this could be the root of the problem.

I’m just wondering if anyone can tell me, is my mobo now FUBAR?

After putting it back together & turning it on, my PC seems to be working again, at least for now. I launched a game just to check it would launch & run normally when it opened which it did. But now I’m conscious that the issue may not be fully solved & I don’t want to risk doing further damage if I can prevent it so I haven’t used it since. But, for some reason the MnK would go from working fine to just cutting out, and I’d then have to restart the PC for them to work again. Not sure why.

I’m using an Asrock B850 Pro-A M WiFi motherboard, with an AMD Ryzen 7 9700x CPU. I made a post on Reddit about my issue and someone replied with a bunch of links to people having issues with the same motherboard, saying it died within a few months of purchase & that Asrock are generally pretty unreliable.

Obviously I realise it’s completely my fault that I didn’t install the mobo correctly. Do I need to replace it? Will it survive now it’s installed correctly or is the damage already done?

Thank you.
 
If you've damaged the motherboard from mounting it directly to the frame it would most likely have shorted things all over and destroyed something with very obvious symptoms and a likely completely dead board, potentially got lucky if the case where the motherboard sits is coated with something which has prevented conductivity.

The most likely explanation for your symptoms from facevalue is that the memory settings aren't stable, or the memory itself has a hardware fault. If there are common known faults causing similar issues with a given motherboard then it could be that.
 
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PCBOOMER said:
Thanks for your reply.

Could you advise on how to go about solving memory issues?
Click to expand...

Worth running Windows Memory Diagnostic (built in tool in 10 and 11) at the very least, something like MemTest86+ is a more comprehensive test but a little more complicated.
 
Run Memtest86+ for a good few hours. That will thoroughly test the memory and should give you some stability confidence. Boot it from USB and just let it run.
 
If it's all running now, I agree that the motherboard probably survived any issues relating to installation and is likely to be ok. Issues from shorting out would tend not to be intermittent and rather more commonly would fail to boot all together. Not always, but typically.
So I would just go through normal troubleshooting steps if the issue comes back. i.e. Isolate the issue by eliminating hardware one at a time.
 
Reseat the RAM then try it again. When reseating, make sure you have the locking tabs open, have three points of contact with your hands (both edges and centre of module), and push down straight and clean until both locking tabs engage by themselves. If you're manually locking the tabs then the DIMMs may not seat properly.

If no change, try one DIMM at a time and run the test again with each DIMM.
 
If you mounted the board straight onto the metal chassis of the case how did it even fit? You wouldn't have been able to line the I/O panel up so surely there must have been standoffs fitted?

Power doesn't cut off for no reason. Even though you said boom, the power shut off, I presume nothing actually went bang? What make and model is the psu?
 
PCBOOMER said:
After putting it back together & turning it on, my PC seems to be working again, at least for now. I launched a game just to check it would launch & run normally when it opened which it did. But now I’m conscious that the issue may not be fully solved & I don’t want to risk doing further damage if I can prevent it so I haven’t used it since. But, for some reason the MnK would go from working fine to just cutting out, and I’d then have to restart the PC for them to work again. Not sure why.
Click to expand...
To be clear, are you saying that the PC now works fully with no problems?
 
Tetras said:
To be clear, are you saying that the PC now works fully with no problems?
Click to expand...
I think so.

I’ve done everything I’ve been advised to do. I’ve updated to my latest bios, I also removed the mobo battery for 10 mins, and cleared the CMOS with a screwdriver.

Seems to have done the trick, I’m just worried something is gonna go wrong again.

Thanks for your help everyone, much appreciated.
 
How on earth would you just plonk motherboard in case and just leave it like that?

With no stand offs it'll just slide around .
Even with stand off as soon you fit things you'll notice it by plugging in cables. And even if you didn't notice it by then as soon a you tilt it vertically it'll slide around.
 
You’re right.

Some of the screws were screwed into the standoffs correctly, some weren’t. I didn’t realise that I might have to rearrange some of the standoffs that didn’t fit the layout of the holes in my mobo. Stupid I know
 
PCBOOMER said:
Some of the screws were screwed into the standoffs correctly, some weren’t. I didn’t realise that I might have to rearrange some of the standoffs that didn’t fit the layout of the holes in my mobo. Stupid I know
Click to expand...
I think there's only one standoff that is wrongly positioned for ATX versus MATX, the rest are the same between ATX/MATX/ITX. So, if everything works now, you're good.
 
PCBOOMER said:
You’re right.

Some of the screws were screwed into the standoffs correctly, some weren’t. I didn’t realise that I might have to rearrange some of the standoffs that didn’t fit the layout of the holes in my mobo. Stupid I know
Click to expand...
Ah, that old chestnut. You're not the first and won't be the last. Your PC will be fine.
 
It sounds to me like, you had standoffs but in the wrong place, maybe. this does happen and as already mentioned you won't be the last. if all is working fine then don't worry. just makes sure xmp is enabled and you are good to go. if after xmp is enabled and you get issues again then you have a bad memory kit and either lower the memory speeds or rma for a replacement :)
 
Few things.

1st what power supply are you using, how old, how is the wiring and was it all connected properly.

2nd, what bios were you on when it happened.

3rd, what memory and are you running Expo.

4th, what cooler and CPU temps.

Any of those things could be an issue.
As could a crack or such damage to the motherboard PCB. I once had an AIO fitting damage a single hair thin copper track on a motherboard.

Memory usually doesn't go boom power off, certainly run mem test though on individual sticks

If you ran bios 3.15 to 3.30 then remove the CPU carefully and inspect it underneath.

The issue is rare, but 3.15 bios has reportedly had around 200 people claiming it blew the CPU, or damaged to the point it failed in a later Bios, and Asrock apparently didn't get it resolved until bios 3.40 if what we see on the likes of Gamers Nexus can be trusted.

It's not a common problem, just popular with Reddit and gets views, yet AMD, Asrock, and YouTube pro"s struggle to replicate it or give any definite answers.

A bang, pop, boom or such and immediate shut down would either be a short with the motherboard, PSU or loose or faulty cable, overheating CPU or GPU, or component over voltage.

I would certainly want to check the CPU, from what Gamer Nexus was saying in his last video, I think it was only one failure in the last four months, he claims just over 200 failures since May 2025 out of over 2 million motherboards, another Youtuber pointed out the majority of failed CPU were from the same batch, Nexus shows a majority on certain boards, but it is a low IQ point as it's the most popular boards that seen the most 9000 series CPUs.

Didn't someone on here with bios 3.15 have an issue with his 7600x in June?

Anyway hope you get it sorted, I would find it difficult to just run the PC unless I found the cause and resolved it.
Using Asrock myself with plans on either the 9900x, considering even the 9950X3D. Yet continually losing confidence because everyone complains about Asrock and no one seems to have an answer or say 100% it's resolved.
 
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