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Probably scratched a mobo tracing with SATA cable

xc11

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I was installing a second SSD and I think the plastic end of a SATA data cable hit the back of my motherboard. I fed the cable through one of the slots in the case and it must have gotten caught on another cable or something. There was some tension and it sprung loose, hitting the back of the motherboard though the backside cutout.

I didn't see where it hit but when examining the back of the board I saw a couple small white marks on an area with a bunch of tracings. It booted fine and appears to be performing normally. I don't know how all of these tracings and connections work exactly. Would a tracing that is actually damaged cause the system not to boot at all or would it just impact a certain part of the computer. For example, could it affect a pcie slot that is not in use and therefore not cause any problems until I use that slot?

Some guidance would be helpful, as I am trying to assess whether or not I did any damage.
 

rtwjunkie

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Chances are good that the only thing that connector did was cut a little but into the coating of the motherboard, like if you cut into the top level of wood furniture that has a layer of finish on it, or car paint has clear coat. Marks on those also leave a little white mark, which is only in that layer. You'll need to look closely to be sure. If that's the case, I believe you'll be fine.

If it had been a screwdriver slipping and gouging the motherboard, I'd be worried.
 

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I find it highly unlikely something was damaged. They're durable things, with layers of protecting goo or whatever is is.

Edit: Coating, yes, that's the word.
 

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if you don't see any copper you are fine
 

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Yeah, these things are delicate, but not deathly fragile. It should be fine.
 

xc11

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thanks, I'll go ahead and stress the whole system just to be sure nothing is amiss. Also, the sata0 connector on the motherboard was wobbly from the first day I bought it new. It works so I haven't complained but it is noticeably leaning forward compared to the sata1 that I plugged the second ssd in.
 

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thanks, I'll go ahead and stress the whole system just to be sure nothing is amiss. Also, the sata0 connector on the motherboard was wobbly from the first day I bought it new. It works so I haven't complained but it is noticeably leaning forward compared to the sata1 that I plugged the second ssd in.

That's cause for an RMA, if you want to.
 

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That's cause for an RMA, if you want to.
not really there is always some slop the sata connector so long as its not lose on the board its self
 

xc11

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not really there is always some slop the sata connector so long as its not lose on the board its self

It feels pretty unstable on the board. It's worse than what I have seen on the previous two mobos i've worked with. I need to readjust it for cable management anyway so I'll see how it holds up when removing and plugging back in.

Mobo appears to be perfectly fine otherwise. Not sure if necessary, but everything was fine in aida and realbench stress test and all numbers are the same in benchmarks. There's nothing in the pcie slots so that's the only thing I can't test. Must have just scraped a bit of the coating like others were saying. Funny thing is that it is a small cutout and almost a third of it is covered with cooler backplate but it hits right on the board anyway, go figure
 

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It feels pretty unstable on the board. It's worse than what I have seen on the previous two mobos i've worked with. I need to readjust it for cable management anyway so I'll see how it holds up when removing and plugging back in.

Mobo appears to be perfectly fine otherwise. Not sure if necessary, but everything was fine in aida and realbench stress test and all numbers are the same in benchmarks. There's nothing in the pcie slots so that's the only thing I can't test. Must have just scraped a bit of the coating like others were saying. Funny thing is that it is a small cutout and almost a third of it is covered with cooler backplate but it hits right on the board anyway, go figure
may be the cable you are using cheap cables are often out of spec
so long as its firmly soldered to the board its fine
 

xc11

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may be the cable you are using cheap cables are often out of spec
so long as its firmly soldered to the board its fine

Perhaps I can ask a hypothetical question out of curiosity. If an I/O bus coming off expansion slots was damaged, do you think the motherboard would work fine as long as the expansion slots were not in use?
 
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