Damaged Pcie slot please help!!!

[2K4KGamer]

So I wanted to move my sound card onto a pcie slot between my 2 gtx 980 tis. As I wanted room for an internal capture card. As I was taking out the second gpu it managed to get half removed while the lock on the pcie slot managed to lock in and the last half of the gpus pcie bar was still stuck in. Managed to get the gpu out but the pcie slot on the mobo has come loose and slightly off the mobo.


Tried turning on the system, Nvidia control panel disappeared and does not open. In device manager the gpu says “device not working properly” with a yellow exclamation mark on the gpu in device manager. Tried uninstalling drivers, reinstalling, updating etc and nothing. Tried windoes updates and nothing. I encountered random freezes which leads to BSOD 2 times after 15 mins being on the desktop. SLI for my second card was also not recognised and the second gpu I had trouble getting out of the pcie slot, one or 2 of the gold “lines” on the pcie lane of the card have stripped off. So half of 1-2 of those gold small bars remain on the pcie lane on the gpu. Not sure if this damages the card or not. First gpu I never removed from the pcie slot and as mentioned above does not work. Currently only have the first gpu in my rig and extremely mad at this mess up and don’t know what to do.


Please help and tell me I can be saved from this mess

Pics of problems - the grey pcie slot is the problem NOT black and pics of taken out second gpu:

https://m.imgur.com/a/lIXslnt


Gpus: GTX 980 Ti

Mobo: Asus maximus viii hero

 

[2K4KGamer]

how about uploading some pics?

mid-air diagnosis over the internet can be difficult at the best of times

Uploading pics now

Pics uploaded check the link in the op

 

[2K4KGamer]

Yeah, that physical slot part got pulled upwards while electrical contact pins and such were "left behind".
Looks like ontact or two (near end of slot) got entirely stripped out of its hole in plastic slot and is now bent against motherboard.
Possibly also couplöe other pins in end of x8 signaling area, basing on second last pic.

That slot shares PCI-e lanes with primary x16 slot, so any messed/shorted together pins could affect main slot.

This probably explains why the first gpu is affected by this. Only half of the pcie lane is loose/comes up but can be pushed back down. But something definitely got damaged hence neither my first or second gpu can be found and everytime i restart my pc, in the device manager neither gpus “are working properly” as mentioned in the op.

I have like just under a month left warranty on the system with the company that built it. Will they be able to fix it or have I just totally screwed up? I can’t even do any work or anything right now because of this. I’ve got couple years of stuff on this pc too.

Also if they were to fix it, what do i simply tell them happened?

 

[2K4KGamer]

Spoiler

the bottom soldered connector (nearest to the retaining bar) looks to be pulled out of the soldered joint? can confirm?

Yes that’s probably the case. Near the lock pin. I don’t even know if the gpus work or not because my pc only detects the first gpu when i had both gpus in the rig in sli. And even the first gpu that it detects says its not working properly and is also “not detected” according to the device manager.

I mentioned above I have warranty left with the company I bought this pc from. But will they even fix the problem? As I know accidental damage they don’t even bother. I will have to call on monday and see. And what do i tell them happened when i do call? To be on the safe side.

Thanks guys

 

[2K4KGamer]

You might be best buying a new motherboard and replacing your current one, as I doubt that fault will be covered under warranty for a prebuilt system. Probably worth speaking to them though

Thing is, if I was to buy a new mobo, who will replace it for me? And how do I even know my second gpu which 1-2 of the gold bars have stripped off in the pic still works?

 

[2K4KGamer]

You could take the graphics cards to a local PC repair shop and ask them to test them for you, any little PC shop worth their salt should be able to swap a motherboard over as well

Are you from the UK by any chance? I’m from London and simply carrying my rig to a pc shop which there are none near me btw, is a no go. I’ll need to find a service/shop which can do both of these things. I’d have to buy the motherboard myself of course. Which mobo do you recommend? Could I possibly get an EATX/more pcie slots mobo fitted than the current mobo I have? I have the Asus Maximus viii hero mobo, with a i7 6700k cpu and 16gb ram.

 

[2K4KGamer]

here's my old gpu for comparison:

Spoiler

you broke it, it's unlikely to be replaced under warranty


ask the company that built it for you to see if they'll help you replace the mobo?


i live in birmingham, so a wee bit too far to help lol. else i'd come do it for free


you'll need another z87 or z97 mobo


eatx still have the same number of pcie slots

So my second gpu could technically still be alive. I have it just sitting on my table getting cold.

I’m currently looking at the asus maximus viii extreme instead of the hero. That mobo has one extra pcie x8/16 slot which would be perfect for a sound card and internal cap card. Problem is, new price is £399 roughly and used - like new on amazon is 100-200. What do I do? :/

At least that could be good news my second gpu could still work according to your gpus pics.

And that mobo “used” will have to be imported from another country. I need a mobo like within the week and installed working :/

 

[2K4KGamer]

the one for £107 seems decent enough
i don't know what case you have, but from the pics it looks like it's big enough to mount an eatx mobo - best to double check first though
if you do get that mobo, and if you do get a shop to install it for you, also ask them to flash the latest bios upgrade for the mobo too...

I have this case: Corsair 780T white full tower case which supports EATX boards according to the specifications online.

What do you think of the condition?

https://imgur.com/gallery/I9UEl1Y

I could order it now and get it asap which is good. Just need to find someone who has years of experience to install and overclock the cpu again. I will ask ************ which is the company who built my current rig. But I doubt they would say yes and sending it out is a hassle. Would rather have someone install and check everything from my home.

 

[2K4KGamer]

yeah i saw that. it's probably okay. at least if you get it and know someone that will build it and test it for you, that way if it's faulty you can send it right back.


correct.


could make a new thread and ask if there's any londoners willing to help. but you're pretty new to the forum, so idk if you'll get any/many replies.
could probably tempt someone with a couple of pints down the pub i guess lol...

Yes the problem is finding someone or a company. Do you know any companies that replace and test motherboards? I’d imagine they wouldn’t need much tools to replace the mobo and test it out. Just a screw driver.

 

[2K4KGamer]

anyone that knows how to build a computer can do it.
can none of your friends help?

Unfortunately they don’t know how to build a pc lol. And I don’t have any friends that live close anyway. I’d rather have a professional do the replacing. I will continue to search online but tomorrow I will call the company that built my pc to see.

So shall I buy that used motherboard now? To have it with me just in case someone else grabs it?

 

[2K4KGamer]

there's only one available, and it's pretty cheap...my gut feeling is yes, just buy it. you can always return it if you change your mind - just check amazon warehouse refund policy first before you click buy though

I just bought the mobo. I’m sure you can return it and they wouldn’t sell a faulty board, if they did sell a faulty board that would be an instant refund anyway.

I found one place in London. Their site is epsilonpc.co.uk

They charge £120 for replacing the mobo and testing everything to ensure everything works. This includes testing the second gpu as well.

I’d have to get a uber/taxi with the rig to their store so they can replace the mobo though. Bad luck since I just recently gave my car back to the dealership too lol.

The board will arrive on the 21st of February. And my second option is call the company which built my pc and see if they can replace everything. But that requires buying packaging for the rig and sending it out. That will take longer most likely as well.

What do you think? I’ll still give the original builders a call tomorrow, as it wouldn’t hurt to see my options.

 

[2K4KGamer]

I'd go with this option

Well then I’ll wait till the mobo arrives then either the same day or Friday go to them. They can’t overclock the cpu or anything though. So how will I be able to get the overclock I have with my current mobo back? I have the overclock bios setting file if that would help, I can just replicate all the options found in the file.

I just hope the gpu is not broken, lets all hope.

I’ll keep this thread updated. Thanks for all of your help btw buddy It’s much appreciated. I was very mad last night when this issue happened. I Felt like smashing everything in my house lol. I can’t do work or anything at the moment and will have to use my laptop temporarily. The most frustrating thing about when your main pc gets damaged is the fact that you have all of your work, programs and important stuff all on that pc. All accessible as well. I have an ultrawide monitor so I really do enjoy doing all of my work on that monitor/pc.

Replacing the mobo wont change the layout of my programs or mess with any of the storage/programs, ram, (hopefully) gpus, cpu etc right? Just so I can have peace of mind, hoping this issue didn’t affect or fry everything connected to the damn mobo.

 

[2K4KGamer]

they can, it just takes a while to find the optimum settings, so they may charge extra.


DIY


you can replicate the settings as the bios layout should be the same, but i don't think you can't load the bios file onto your new mobo as it's a different model. m8 hero (old) vs m8 extreme (new)



it shouldn't be. doesn't look like there's any physical damage on the gpu. only on the mobo.


you can use your main pc, just plug your monitor cable to the mobo's graphics port (ie not your gpu graphics port)


no, shouldn't do.
what will happen, however is that windows will detect a hardware change, and will need reactivation.
when that happens, you can either automatically reactivate it, or call microsoft uk helpline to help with reactivation.

The guy on the phone from epsilonpc.co.uk told me they don’t overclock when I had asked. So I’ll have to do it myself by replicating the options on the bios file I have. The easiest way to do this would be to take a pic of the options and carefully change tge options. Hoping I don’t do another mess up lol.

When windows reactivates will anything change or can I do it automatically and my desktop will be the same? And I wont need to recover windows or anything right? Because I don’t think I have the recovery disc/usb. Also is there a way to make a backup recovery of windows just in case in the future another issue comes up.

And I may use the onboard graphics hoping it doesn’t blue screen or anything just for the next few days.

I’ll add you as a friend, you seem like you know a lot about hardware and software I may need to PM you in the near future if I run into any issues when hopefully I get the pc mobo replaced and fixed.

Edit: I cant seem to find “add as friend” option and I cant message you.

Once you've got everything up and running again - purchase a NAS (Qnap or Synology) or get some cloud storage. Then you can make sure you always have a copy of all of your important files if the very worst happens - good luck with everything matey!

Will do, thank you! I’ll keep this thread updated.

 

[2K4KGamer]

yes


correct, nothing will change.
i've transplanted my computer when my old mobo broke before, just a matter of reactivating windows, that's all


as long as it's all transplanted correctly, then no. nothing else needed except reactivating windows


np, just post in this thread, if it isn't me, then someone else will always help being a computer enthusiast forum and all that lol...



this^ especially if you have work and important stuff you can't afford to lose. always backup, backup, backup

Ok great. I will do a backup and purchase whats mentioned above. I’ll update the thread in due time thanks again for your amazing help buddy honestly.

 

[2K4KGamer]

I’m not sure why you haven’t considered fitting the board yourself, it’s really not as difficult as you think and a substantial saving while learning some new skills?

I would say despite what happened have a bit more confidence and all you really need to do is read/watch how to reapply your AIO cooler, the rest is pretty basic plugging in. Sure someone would talk you through it if they can via discord also... Up to you, beats cabbing your PC about and paying £125 vs about 10 mins to transplant the components yourself.

I thought about that but wouldn’t I also need thermal paste to reapply on the cpu and cooler? To much risk to mess anything up and if there was any error code on the mobo I would have no idea what the cause would be. Or if the pc would not boot etc. But I do understand the possibility that this would be a good chance to gain experience and learn a new skill. Also despite the fact that I’m currently studying to become a game developer So I’m definitely into the whole pc tech/gaming scene. Doing the replacing myself and possibly messing up a core component would cost a lot more than when compared to paying roughly £120 to get all of that done plus testing ensuring everything works.

Cheers for your response though.

 

[2K4KGamer]

@Smffy maybe you can help @2K4KGamer since you're both in ld

They are soldered through so replacing it wouldnt be all that difficult, as well as im pretty sure the entire plastic slot comes off leaving the pins behind. Not tempted to just purchase say a replacement slot and take to a repair company to have it replaced?

If you are to bin it, dibs

Plus yes replacing the mobo is not hard by any means, certainly worth learning.

The CPU, wiring, Cooler etc is complicated and knowing myself I could plug in the wrong wire from the mobo into something lol.

I think people underestimate when things do go wrong and it certainly looks easier than actually doing it. At least that’s what I think.

@Smffy maybe you can help @2K4KGamer since you're both in ldn

Would be great if someone could do the replacing in my own home lol. But I don’t think that’s an option from the research I’ve been doing.

 

[2K4KGamer]

it's pretty easy tbh. there's loads of guides on how to build a computer if you google around.
the difference in your case is that you have to disassemble your current computer first (but that's basically "how to build your computer" in reverse)


there's always a chance for things to go wrong, granted though. although it's nice to DIY a build. i sense that you'll probably want someone to help you in the first instance rather than diving off the deep end right from the start

I’ve been considering since yesterday to do the replacing myself as this is a valuable opportunity to “build a pc” but technically in reverse, having thought about it.

I’ll just bubble wrap the pc and put a bag over the pc and the same for the second gpu separately and get a taxi over to that store mentioned previously lol. If this experience goes wrong then I’ll have to take another option and do it myself. Although it shouldn’t go wrong but it’s always good to have a backup option.

Mobo should be arriving on Thursday. Let’s hope amazon doesn’t delay the delivery :/

Cheers guys again.

 

[2K4KGamer]

Where in London are you ?

Near Central London

 

[2K4KGamer]

Central london is a big place , where abouts in central london ?

West London/Queens Park area. Why? do you have good experience with rigs and are you from London too? If so, are you interested in replacing the mobo for me for a decent price and check all components are working and maybe even overclock my rig as well.

I would consider it, let me know buddy.

 

[2K4KGamer]

@2K4KGamer ahem

I'm not looking for money, and yes i'll happily help you replace the motherboard. And no i'm from Reading but a blast down the M4 on the bike is no bother.

And i'm not showing off, but like most enthusiasts on here i could put the board in with my eyes closed and i've been building pc's since 1992 either as a job or these days as a hobby.

If you want the help , pop me a Trust message.

When I get the board I’ll update the thread. Cheers for offering but the least I would offer in return is a couple of pints haha! Thanks again for the offer