Flaming Foxconn

Burningmace

Burningmace

Burningmace

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Joined
16 Jul 2008
Posts
86
I'm helping a friend with his machine and his motherboard has got a rather odd problem that I've never seen before.

Specs:
Foxconn 6627MA-RS2H
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400
nVidia GeForce 8600GT 512MB
450W PSU
500GB SATA HDD
Some random IDE DVD-RW

I know the spec is kinda crap, but he got it all-inclusive (keyboard, mouse and a 17" LCD screen) for £200 so no complaints there.

Anyhoo, the issue is that after running the system for over 6 months with no problem, for no apparent reason the thing keeps BSOD'ing. Whilst trying to reseat the RAM just in case, he caught his hand on the northbridge heatsink and ended up calling an ambulance. The thing was so hot it took a chunk out of his hand - there was a good size lump of singed flesh stuck to the heatsink when he showed it me. I measured the temperature of the heatsink whilst on and it reaches almost 400 degrees celsius.

Any ideas what could be causing this? Do you think it would be worth him trying to take legal action against Foxconn, or would their legal team crush him like a bug?
 
400 degrees surely the chip should have melted long before then.
the cause of it off hand i would say as its a passive nb cooler there
must not be enough air flow through the case to help cool it down.
the excessive heat most likely caused by your freind overclocking the sysem
without ample cooling.

as for it reaching 400 oC im still a bit puzzled as to how it can get to that temp without blowing the pc up
i would suggest dropping a 40mm fan ontop of the nb heatsink

as for taking action against foxconn he would be better talking to a solicitor about that
if he can prove the nb heatsink reaching those temps is a fault with the mobo foxconn designed and not anything to do with the way he had the system setup then yes he should have a good chance. however it is going to be almost impossible to prove.
 
He's got no idea when it comes to overclocking (he barely knows what it is) so I doubt that's the cause. The machine doesn't POST since the overheat, but when I turn it on it still manages to get that hot. I've had to put the board on a glass surface as not to burn the floor. Every time I turn it on it gets hot enough to drop small bits of liquid solder off the back of the board around the northbridge.
 
it sounds like the power to the NB is way to high or has been shorted/reversed
this would cause it to heat up this hot this fast.
as to how the power could have been shorted/reversed on a mobo im at a loss
if you have another mobo that takes the q6600 cpu i would test that for him to make sure it hasn't been destroyed as well.
 
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If its really hitting 400C you really should contact foxconn its a serious hazard... at that temp tho it should have gone up in smoke (by about 200C) die and never boot again... I've seen them hit 200C before but never 400.

Its not completely outside the realm of possibility tho - I had the PSU malfunction on one of my servers once and the rack was literally too hot to comfortably touch 2 feet from the case - the last temp log for the CPU was over 80C (normally 30).

As for legal action you'd best be talking to a solicitor - but they will probably hide behind some disclaimer about it should be fitted and serviced by a qualified technician - whether that will stand up in court or not is another matter.
 
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I would have thought the fact that it was hot enough to do that to him whilst switched off is reason enough to make a claim. A person is able to install ram in his own PC and no expert is needed - fitting RAM is no more difficult than building a lego castle! I doubt there is a warning saying this could become hazardously hot as it sounds like a fault.

I would suggest you take a video of you recording the temperature with any proof that you can that it is accurate (for example record temperatures of other household items (inside fridge maybe) in the same video) so that you have some evidence to show Foxconn. Then do not power up the mobo again as it may be useful later as proof (if it still switches on by then!).

90%+ of cases settle out of court so I would suggest he write a well worded email to Foxconn, requesting that it be passed on to their in house legal team, describing what has happened. Include as much detail as possible and say that he will be seeking compensation, including any medical fees and compensation for permanent scarring, loss of feeling/nerve damage. You may find they have had this issue before and will be willing to hush it up quickly. I wouldnt specify an amount of the claim in the first email.

Hopefully he will get a reply from their legal or insurance people. If they tell him to get lost it's probably time to get a solicitor involved to show them he means business at which point they can decide how much comp he should be looking for.
 
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He's got a serious burn on his hand near his wrist and a chunk (roughly 0.5cm cubed) missing from his hand. He's on some heavy painkillers.

The board died completely last night before I got a chance to make a video of me taking the temperature. I've advised him to contact Watchdog and the TSA, as well as a solicitor. I get the feeling that either WD or the TSA will ask him to send them the board so that it can be looked at by an independant professional, as that's usually the way they handle this kind of thing.
 
SIS chipset :(

On a more serious note does that board actually support a Quad core chip? There are none listed on the CPU support section.

Who assembled it? I don't think you have any legal grounds if it was purchased as parts.
 
Of course you do, a company is not allowed to sell unsafe products.
Click to expand...

It probably was safe before it was assembled and possibly used with an incompatible CPU. It would be difficult to prove either way if the board is in fact at fault as apposed to another component or the actual assembly.
 
Surely if the Q6600 wasn't compatible with the board it wouldn't run at all? I can't see how it would run fine for 6 months if it weren't compatible. Its got to be a problem with the mobo, though Foxconn could easily suggest that a faulty PSU caused the problem. My advice would be to check the PSU is functioning correctly and that can rule out that argument. Other than that I can't see the CPU, ram, HDDs etc causing the mobo to overheat like that.
 
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