Motherboard fried?

marcus24 · Jan 12, 2014

Last night my PC turned off due to a lightning strike. This morning when I turned it on, the graphics card wasn't being detected by the monitor but it's fan was spinning.

So I used the onboard graphics which were working fine. After logging in, I noticed that the onboard LAN wasn't working. I tried rebooting but it didn't fix it. Also, the computer restarts itself immediately after shutting down.

Is it the graphics card or is my motherboard fried?

My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA 78LMT S2P and the GPU is an AMD HD 6850.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

segalaw19800 · Jan 12, 2014

try resting the bio.

silentbogo · Jan 12, 2014

It's the mobo. I had a similar problem with my old P35 motherboard. One of the circuits got fried during power outage in the area, permanently disabling PCI, USB and integrated NIC. But even with that - it till worked for at least another 5 years.
Random reboots may be caused by faulty PSU or fried caps on the board.
You'll have to replace the motherboard for sure, but at least you can still make NAS or home server out of the old one

Hood · Jan 12, 2014

Yep, reset the CMOS memory using the jumper (and battery removal if nec.), boot up, and check all your BIOS settings - power surges often FUBAR the BIOS, and it probably turned off your onboard LAN and PCIe settings defaulted to onboard video. To prevent this in the future, invest in a UPS (battery backup).

marcus24 · Jan 12, 2014

Hood said:
Yep, reset the CMOS memory using the jumper (and battery removal if nec.), boot up, and check all your BIOS settings - power surges often FUBAR the BIOS, and it probably turned off your onboard LAN and PCIe settings defaulted to onboard video. To prevent this in the future, invest in a UPS (battery backup).

I've already reset the CMOS and configured bios settings again but it didn't help.
Anyway, what UPS would you recommend for a 500w PSU?

Hood · Jan 12, 2014

marcus24 said:
I've already reset the CMOS and configured bios settings again but it didn't help.
Anyway, what UPS would you recommend for a 500w PSU?

Any name brand (Tripp Lite, APC, CyberPower) UPS with 750-1000 VA/400-500 watts - they go for $75 to $125. Did you try re-flashing the BIOS? They get corrupted easily during power surges. If that doesn't help, you might have a damaged board or BIOS chip - is the chip socketed on your board or soldered? Replacement BIOS chips are only $10-$15 from the OEM.

satindemon4u · Jan 12, 2014

I'm gonna go with the mobo being the problem. I am guessing by the above posts you have already decided that

marcus24 · Jan 13, 2014

satindemon4u said:
I'm gonna go with the mobo being the problem. I am guessing by the above posts you have already decided that

Yeah well, I tried the graphics card in another PC, and it's working properly. So, it's definitely a dead PCI E slot and a stuffed LAN port on my motherboard.

rtwjunkie · Jan 13, 2014

Just be sure that if your PSU is active-pfc, that you get a UPS that is active-pfc compliant. Those are not as plentiful as regular UPS's. It will tell you in the description if it is or not.

Sasqui · Jan 13, 2014

Hood said:
Did you try re-flashing the BIOS? They get corrupted easily during power surges.

Absolutely must try that before writing off the board as toast!

marcus24 · Jan 13, 2014

Sasqui said:
Absolutely must try that before writing off the board as toast!

I re-flashed the bios, but it didn't change anything.

Hood · Jan 13, 2014

You board is FUBAR, and that really sucks. I really need a UPS as well, my power surges/flickers fairly often. The one I had wasn't big enough for my system, so I returned it, and still haven't replaced it.

suraswami · Jan 13, 2014

marcus24 said:
Last night my PC turned off due to a lightning strike. This morning when I turned it on, the graphics card wasn't being detected by the monitor but it's fan was spinning.

So I used the onboard graphics which were working fine. After logging in, I noticed that the onboard LAN wasn't working. I tried rebooting but it didn't fix it. Also, the computer restarts itself immediately after shutting down.

Is it the graphics card or is my motherboard fried?

My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA 78LMT S2P and the GPU is an AMD HD 6850.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry to hear about board getting possibly fried.

When you buy a UPS always look for AVR function in it, costs few extra dollors but its a good feature to have.

Are you in US? I have a spare Gigabyte GA 78LMT S2P board sitting in my closet, only about 2 hours of use. If you want I can let it go for reasonable price. Please pm if interested.

eidairaman1 · Jan 14, 2014

i could of said the board was fubar from the moment you said onboard equipment stopped working.

xvi · Jan 14, 2014

Ethernet cable is basically just a big antenna to pick up EM from lightning. A nearby strike could cause a pretty good spike on something like that. If you're expecting lightning nearby, you really should unplug all longer cables whether or not they're for power. We have lightning take out Ethernet ports on switches and radios somewhat often during lightning strikes.

If your PSU has an on/off switch, it should be better to leave power plugged in with the switch off since it will keep your computer case grounded.

marcus24 · Jan 14, 2014

suraswami said:
Sorry to hear about board getting possibly fried.

When you buy a UPS always look for AVR function in it, costs few extra dollors but its a good feature to have.

Are you in US? I have a spare Gigabyte GA 78LMT S2P board sitting in my closet, only about 2 hours of use. If you want I can let it go for reasonable price. Please pm if interested.

Thanks, but I've already ordered a new one. I wanted to upgrade to an ATX motherboard for a long time anyway, because the mobo I had was too small and had only one PCI E slot.

marcus24 · Jan 14, 2014

Hood said:
You board is FUBAR, and that really sucks. I really need a UPS as well, my power surges/flickers fairly often. The one I had wasn't big enough for my system, so I returned it, and still haven't replaced it.

Yeah, I've learned my lesson and I'm definitely going to get a good UPS.

eidairaman1 · Jan 14, 2014

a UPS is just a battery, Best bet is to have a chassis Ground aswell

marcus24 · Jan 14, 2014

eidairaman1 said:
a UPS is just a battery, Best bet is to have a chassis Ground aswell

I think it is already grounded through the PSU, as it has a 3 pin power plug.

eidairaman1 · Jan 14, 2014

marcus24 said:
I think it is already grounded through the PSU, as it has a 3 pin power plug.

never hurts to have a secondary ground

marcus24 · Jan 14, 2014

eidairaman1 said:
never hurts to have a secondary ground

Yeah, you're right. Also, from now on, I'm gonna shut down the computer and unplug all the cords connecting to the computer and the router during a thunderstorm.

Hood · Jan 14, 2014

eidairaman1 said:
a UPS is just a battery, Best bet is to have a chassis Ground aswell

A properly designed UPS is not "just a battery", it conditions the power, has overvolt, undervolt, surge, spike, brownout, and many other filters and protections, for ethernet and cable as well as AC power. The good ones have elaborate software to adjust and monitor every parameter. In a properly grounded house circuit, nothing else should be needed, but extra grounds are okay if you're a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy.

marcus24 · Jan 14, 2014

By the way, would it be okay if I still use this motherboard? or would it toast other components as well?

eidairaman1 · Jan 14, 2014

Hood said:
A properly designed UPS is not "just a battery", it conditions the power, has overvolt, undervolt, surge, spike, brownout, and many other filters and protections, for ethernet and cable as well as AC power. The good ones have elaborate software to adjust and monitor every parameter. In a properly grounded house circuit, nothing else should be needed, but extra grounds are okay if you're a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy.

Unfortunately ive had to tell customers to get a electrician out to their home due to bad grounding of their home being root cause as to why their triple play service would drop out.

Sasqui · Jan 14, 2014

marcus24 said:
By the way, would it be okay if I still use this motherboard? or would it toast other components as well?

You're taking a chance... no way to say for sure. Personally, I'd write it off.

System Name	Geting old
Processor	AMD Phenom II X4 940 Processor BE 3.8 Ghz
Motherboard	MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL.. MS-7388 1.0
Cooling	CORSAIR H50 water cooler
Memory	8 GB of Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 4GB (2 x 2GB)PC2-6400 Enhanced Latency
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon R7 200 Series
Storage	Seagate Barracuda 1 TB
Display(s)	LG FLATRON W2361V 23"
Case	RAIDMAX SMILODON
Audio Device(s)	HD Realtek
Power Supply	Two 1000W ULTRA X3 wired together
Mouse	Logitech G9x Laser
Keyboard	Corsair K65 RGB
Software	Windows 10 pro

System Name	WS#1337
Processor	Ryzen 7 3800X
Motherboard	ASUS X570-PLUS TUF Gaming
Cooling	Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Memory	4x8GB Samsung DDR4 ECC UDIMM
Video Card(s)	Inno3D RTX 3070 Ti iChill
Storage	ADATA Legend 2TB + ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
Display(s)	Samsung U24E590D (4K/UHD)
Case	ghetto CM Cosmos RC-1000
Audio Device(s)	ALC1220
Power Supply	SeaSonic SSR-550FX (80+ GOLD)
Mouse	Logitech G603
Keyboard	Modecom Volcano Blade (Kailh choc LP)
VR HMD	Google dreamview headset(aka fancy cardboard)
Software	Windows 11, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

System Name	DEVIL'S ABYSS
Processor	i7-4790K@4.6 GHz
Motherboard	Asus Z97-Deluxe
Cooling	Corsair H110 (2 x 140mm)(3 x 140mm case fans)
Memory	16GB Adata XPG V2 2400MHz
Video Card(s)	EVGA 780 Ti Classified
Storage	Intel 750 Series 400GB (AIC), Plextor M6e 256GB (M.2), 13 TB storage
Display(s)	Crossover 27QW (27"@ 2560x1440)
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1150
Power Supply	Cooler Master V1000
Mouse	Ttsports Talon Blu
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 version 1803
Benchmark Scores	Passmark CPU score = 13080

System Name	DEVIL'S ABYSS
Processor	i7-4790K@4.6 GHz
Motherboard	Asus Z97-Deluxe
Cooling	Corsair H110 (2 x 140mm)(3 x 140mm case fans)
Memory	16GB Adata XPG V2 2400MHz
Video Card(s)	EVGA 780 Ti Classified
Storage	Intel 750 Series 400GB (AIC), Plextor M6e 256GB (M.2), 13 TB storage
Display(s)	Crossover 27QW (27"@ 2560x1440)
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1150
Power Supply	Cooler Master V1000
Mouse	Ttsports Talon Blu
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 version 1803
Benchmark Scores	Passmark CPU score = 13080

System Name	Desktop
Processor	Intel Core i5 6600k
Motherboard	Asus Z170-E
Cooling	Cooler Master 212 Evo
Memory	16 GB Ballistix DDR4 2400
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1060
Storage	120GB OCZ Vector SSD & 1TB Western Digital Black
Case	Rosewill
Audio Device(s)	N/A
Power Supply	630w Raidmax Hybrid 2 RX-630SS
Mouse	Logitech G402
Keyboard	Rosewill Mechanical
Software	Windows 10

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Processor	Core i7-8700k 4.4Ghz @ 1.18v
Motherboard	ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 6
Cooling	All air: 2x140mm Fractal exhaust; 3x 140mm Cougar Intake; Enermax T40F Black CPU cooler
Memory	2x 16GB Mushkin Redline DDR-4 3200
Video Card(s)	EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Xc
Storage	1x 500 MX500 SSD; 2x 6TB WD Black; 1x 4TB WD Black; 1x400GB VelRptr; 1x 4TB WD Blue storage (eSATA)
Display(s)	HP 27q 27" IPS @ 2560 x 1440
Case	Fractal Design Define R4 Black w/Titanium front -windowed
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Seasonic X-850
Mouse	Coolermaster Sentinel III (large palm grip!)
Keyboard	Logitech G610 Orion mechanical (Cherry Brown switches)
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Start10 & Fences 3.0 installed)

System Name	Senile
Processor	I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard	MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling	Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory	16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage	Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s)	34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (34401440) FREE_SYNC*
Case	Rosewill
Audio Device(s)	Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply	Corsair HX750
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software	Win 10

System Name	---
Processor	FX 8350 @ 4.00 Ghz with 1.28v
Motherboard	Gigabyte 990FX-UD3 v4.0, Hacked Bios F4.x
Cooling	Silenx 4 pipe Tower cooler + 2 x Cougar 120mm fan, 3 x 120mm, 1 x 200 mm Red LED fan
Memory	Kingston HyperX DDR3 1866 16GB + Patriot Memory DDR3 1866 16GB
Video Card(s)	Asus R9 290 OC @ GPU - 1050, MEM - 1300
Storage	Inland 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD for OS, WDC Black - 2TB + 1TB Storage, Inland 480GB SSD - Games
Display(s)	3 x 1080P LCDs - Acer 25" + Acer 23" + HP 23"
Case	AeroCool XPredator X3
Audio Device(s)	Built-in Realtek
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000 Modular
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

System Name	PCGOD
Processor	AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling	Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory	16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s)	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case	AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply	Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64

System Name	Rainbow
Processor	Intel Core i7 8700k
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC
Cooling	Corsair H115i, 2x Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM
Memory	G. Skill TridentZ RGB 4x8GB (F4-3600C16Q-32GTZR)
Video Card(s)	ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity
Storage	2x Samsung 950 Pro 256GB \| 2xHGST Deskstar 4TB 7.2K
Display(s)	Samsung C27HG70
Case	Xigmatek Aquila
Power Supply	Seasonic 760W SS-760XP
Mouse	Razer Deathadder 2013
Keyboard	Corsair Vengeance K95
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	4 trillion points in GmailMark, over 144 FPS 2K Facebook Scrolling (Extreme Quality preset)

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