Skulltrail - Smoked. Literally

[ds_duke]

Hi All,

Firstly, thanks for all the info I got from here recently. There's quite a few very knowledgeable people here, they'd know who they are.....:clap:

I've been checking this and some other forums for a while now, while considering a plunge for a good workstation type of a pc.
No wonder then I got hooked on an Intel's Skulltrail "thing" with promise of 8-core computational bliss.

Basically, as you can see from my sig, I splashed my hard earned and then some...and got myself into Phase 1 of building a 3D/visualisation machine.
All was well after putting all parts together, it booted....installed Vista Ultimate 64...then all latest drivers.

No settings changed in BIOS, no overclock, absolutely nothing apart from AHCI support for SATA HD for obvious reason.
Had it running for couple of hours, just checking things.
Then I decided to update Vista....autoupdate found 66 to do. All done. Had to restart. Done.
Ran some benches, all went fine....had to go to work, so shut it down.
Came back, installed Crysis to see how it looks. Had a warning to install update http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940105 . Done that...
Started Crysis, tried settings and see the cursor is not able to point to buttons to change the settings (???) but if I move the cursor
diagonaly across away from buttons I see I'm able to highlight them.
Select Quit....and then nothing....system shuts down.

Then I hit the power button, and I see the 'smoke at the end of the tunnel'....actually, case... :smoke:
Smoke came out between CPU 0 and MCH, know this for sure, as I was sitting dead (:rolleyes:) in front of it.
Dead? I've pulled it apart, and see no obvious marks on cpus, sockets, mobo. And no, I haven't touched that heatsink on Northbridge, as I'd want to be able to RMA it if needs be.

I am lost for words......I have put together a few rigs until 2 years ago, haven't done any since.
Now, I don't have any other similar PCs to check if it's CPU(s) or whatever.....
If somebody could share a couple of pointers as how to troubleshoot this mess, I'd be very grateful.

Alternatively, I'll just send it back and pretend it was DOA and hope for the best.

:help:
Thanks.

[cadaveca]

If you saw smoke, you best take that bugger back.

[4Qman]

wow a skulltrail board dead. surprising :p:

Take back explain exactly whats happened. demand a new board :up:

[Salad Fingers]

wow a skulltrail board dead. surprising :p:

Take back explain exactly whats happened. demand a new board :up:

+1.

[MarlboroMan]

any pics?

[Ruslan]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131272
This is a better board for a workstation if you don't care about SLI or Crossfire. I built a workstation for CAD based on this board and 2 quad core xeons. Works wonders.

[ds_duke]

Excuse the quality....couldn't find my camera....so had to use the phone....

The noise from the poor excuse for the southbridge heatsink was unbelievable.

Ruslan, SLI - with Skulltrail I was hoping to add 2 Quadro FX cards in the future, maybe.

Think I'll try RMA and see where it goes from there.
I'm not giving up on this one that easy.

[R124]

I'm in the same situation. I've actually been trying to get my Skulltrail system running since late-May.

My first Skulltrail replacement board had a melt down as well (mine happened the first time I turned on the power). In my case a little black square component between CPU01 socket and the northbridge ruptured. After getting that board replaced, I started getting generic system halts when 3D rendering. It was later determined that my two QX9775's cpus were defective somehow...they would idle at 32c and reach only 60c under full load using heatsinks and fans. I've since gotten both cpus replaced as well...and the new ones idle at 60c and 100c using the same heatsinks and fans. Intel then tells me that Liquid Cooling is REQUIRED. Which is odd, right? All those February reviews of this system online show heatsinks and fans like your system.

Tomorrow I'm getting the Coolit Pure St liquid cooling solution. Intel assured me that this would solve all my problems.

Here is the thread I started regarding my problem:
Big Trouble: Rendering with Skulltrail (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3145955#post3145955)

[Loser777]

Sounds like a voltage regulator/MOSFET popped. Shouldn't happen because Skulltrail boards are designed for extreme power consumption, but it's always a possibility.

[loonym]

I'm quite surprised you didn't do a bench build to test for a few days before you did all that work in your case. Best luck.

[mdzcpa]

whoops....once you let out the magic smoke its over.

As noted above, a good bench test is always worth the time...espcially when assembling some expensive kit.

[CyberDruid]

That's a drag. But just RMA and try again. I rarely RMA anything but I did RAM one of the E5420 chips because it was running crazy temps on LC. After that all is well.

[philbrown23]

holy smoking mobo's batman!, every smoking board I ever had was dead, I would try the board if still nothing then cpu's and so on.

[ds_duke]

An update......

@ Loser777 - Well, it was actually a MOSFET - next to CPU 0 socket....as you can see in the pic below.....the 'bastard' couldn't handle the power from PSU, I guess.... :owned:
I noticed the burn mark only after zoomed into pics I took after taking it apart....and the tray had one mark too....
I was so scared it messed up either CPU or memory, when I saw what it was that got burnt....

Finally got the replacement couple of days ago..... :D

One thing I noticed, the fan on the southbridge seems to run much quieter....
Plus, I got the screw that wasn't in the first mobo box, for the heatsink on the southbridge....and a paper note saying it needs to be fixed to hole in the middle of heatsink.....
But this would involve drilling and fitting the standoff underneath....which I'm not doing.... :confused:
Also, the included SLI connector is much shorter than the first one...
I'm wondering if there are newer revisions of this board or ... ???

@ loonym - I'm not that comfortable on having a mobo and all its entrails laying on the desk....fear of dropping something on it while mucking about is too much for me.....
I'd rather spend more time stuffing the case....

I have run several benches on it, with a single E5430 and 4Gb RAM, and it looks good....Temps on the other hand - :eek: ....CPU cores are 43-47c idle and 55-58c under load
- that is Cinebench and Crysis load....which is ok, I guess.... CPU-Z says the proc is being throttled down to 2Ghz when not in much use, which is great...
Memory - 67-70c idle, 100c load!!!! :shocked: That is scary.....
I'm going to install Corsair Dominator Airflow to see what's the diff....
Tricky part is having it aligned with memory (at least top stick) as the other CPU Zalman heatsink is sitting lower.....

Next step, adding other 4Gb of RAM and 2nd CPU......
Then, running some more tests to see what goes on....

And then if all is well and dandy, I'll be joining you in the noble art of folding... :up:

[benbenbingo]

Hi Ds duke
just saw your post, and I have ordered almost exactly same spec as you do, I am so worried that needs to thorugh all that, please let me know what is the best way to do it.


Intel D5400xs skulltrail
5430x2
zalman reserator 1v2 x2
8g corsair 800 fbdimm
1000w antec
3870x2x2
cosmos

[CryptiK]

Hope this board works for you. Between smoking a board and having two defective cpu's, and now having ram running at 100*C (which is an absolutely insane temp for ram btw, I suppose you already know that though hence the suggestion of needing a fan for it), you have had your share of bad luck.

[ds_duke]

Been away for a while....holiday season and all that.....

@ benbenbingo - Just don't panic.... and take it real slow and check everything, and I mean EVERYTHING!!!...
twice or thrice before you set out to do it....otherwise, you will be :bananal::bananal::bananal::bananal:
Also, you might follow the advice of some ppl here about doing the bench build test....might save you some hassle....

@ CryptiK - Well....had some luck I guess, no ruined CPUs or memory when I smoked it the first time....:D
Running a memory (and all 4 sticks of them tightly packed....) without some sort of cooling is a sure way of "choking" your system.....
I've done it with and without (:nono:) Corsair Donimator Airflow thing and I'm def sticking with it.....
Memory is now at 50-55c idle and upto 70-75c under load.....
Maybe will start drilling the side panel as well....for some 120mm fans.....dunno yet. :shrug:

I now have another issue....Windows keep flashing 'Hard disk imminent failure warning'.... WTF is that all about..... :confused:
Had it on for like 4-5 days now....
But I've 'ghosted' my partitions to an external USB drive, just in case....

[TheScavenger]

"Liquid cooling is required.":confused:

That sounds like a little bit of BS :clap:

[benbenbingo]

hello
thank you for reply, my board also finally burst into flame..... don't know what I did.. but it was shocking, and PSU also burst into fire.....
anyway, I will get a new board back tomorrow
its all working now!! thank you

[benbenbingo]

my board couldnt even boot up, so I check everything a thousand times, but only one thing, I think might have caused fire.... you know there are 2 8pins of 12V next to CPU, my PSU only had one, and one 4 pin, anyway I plugged into the 4 to 8 pin, then it didnt boot.....
I thought this might be alright, beucase I have rampage and p5q, I did the same, they worked fine, anyway, so I take out everything, and put it back, then... still the same, then I took the CPU out, that when the whole thing got fire.... socking.. I got a new PSU with 2 8 pins now, going to try again, but I would really need some advice Duke..

skulltrail(new)....burn one 3 days ago...
corsair 800x8G.....original heatsink can not fit 4 of them.....so I custome the new heatsink to go with it
E5430x2.....just read intel..may....not compatible..
zalman reserator 1v2 x2...(those are cool... but they just have nothing to cool yet)
3870x2x2....might just use one
Xigmatek 1000w(new)..... seems not enough for 3870x2x2....

omg... this whole thing just seems so wrong..help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....

[DonInKansas]

I'm not sure if I'd reuse anything I had seen burst into flame....Good luck dude.

[ds_duke]

@ benbenbingo

Oh, man.....:eek: .... i do feel for you....that's a s.h.i.t.e place to be right now....

Don't know if I'm too late in replying now or....:confused:

First, I have 2x E5430 Xeons and they do work....nevermind the Intel.....
Second, I hope you've read the manual.....Do exactly as it says....
You need the PSU with 2 pins for CPUs and you'd also need to plug in the molex connector at the bottom left of
the board - this is for additional power if you use higher-end (read: high power consumption) graphics card - in your case, definitely plug this in.

I don't know if your PSU was faulty or the motherboard. I would look into getting some of the better known
makes - Enermax or Silverstone (<-- as I have, tested it and it is rock solid PSU)

corsair 800x8G.....original heatsink can not fit 4 of them.....so I custome the new heatsink to go with it - you're refering to RAM sticks, i guess....
Make sure you have something to cool the memory - it is running very hot without active cooling, believe me....

zalman reserator 1v2 x2...(those are cool... but they just have nothing to cool yet) - is this what you had connected and tried to cool the CPUs with the first time?
If so, are you sure you had them tested and connected right?

Also, how did the fire start exactly? You say it was when you took out the CPU? I don't understand how this could happen......

As DonInKansas said, it would be a nightmare to re-use stuff from the burnout and be sure it is working ok....
Can you check all used components and test if they work ok before you start assembling again?

[ds_duke]

@benbenbingo

I just realised you've edited your first post - its all working now!! thank you....

Is it ok now? You managed to get it working?