3 P45 DS3, 3 times burned smd cap

[generics_user]

i built a pc for my dad (a hackintosh) and this is the 3rd time the board burned within 1 (!) week
my local store refuses to rma it because they think that i'm retarted and plugged in the wring FP ports everytime the dam board blew up but this time i didn't even connect the panel

this is how the current board looks like:

Burned SMD tantalum (???) cap:




another blown up cap? not sure on this one:



the first 2 times the board died after powering on the system and this time after connecting a Firewire drive to the BACKPANEL (pc shut itself off and burned after trying to switch it on again )

after the second dead board i switched the psu from a corsair vx 450 to a CWT based TT toughpower, the vga card (this one is 1 year old, from my download rig) tot he top slot) and didn't connect the FP ports


i've built around 20 pcs so far but i'm lost right now, maybe you guys know more about this part/its pupose on the gigabyte board/ why it was the same part everytime this thing blew up

PS: another pic so you know the exact location, i also have a multimeter at hand if you want me to make some measurements


i really want know the issue/if there is a way to fix it before i buy another mobo for 100€ which may blow up again

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

[brandinb]

Looks like the part is right near the pci slots. I would guess a defective pci card your installing there. The next board i would try to run out on a wood table on the cardboard box the board comes in. Install only the board cpu cooler memory video cdrom and one hdd. Installe windows and let the machine run overnight doing stress testing to verify the hardware is good. You may have a short circuit when your board is installed in your case. Verify no short circuit or metal interferience. Put masking tape on the bottom of the motherboard where the screws attach. Sometimes the standoffs can short components so cover the bottom of the board with masking tape where the standoffs connect and push the screws throught he tape from the top and this may avoid issues.

Good luck and let me know how it goes. I am always interested in how problems like this are solved. Btw its unlikely you have 3 bad boards so it must be something in your setup.

[zanzabar]

how about u get a board from a reputable brand that isnt $60

[karl_eller]

how about u get a board from a reputable brand that isnt $60

It's a Gigabyte P45-DS3? You can't really get a whole lot more reputable than that. And if he's building it for his dad, he probably doesn't need a high-end $150+ motherboard.

Eller

[generics_user]

Looks like the part is right near the pci slots. I would guess a defective pci card your installing there. The next board i would try to run out on a wood table on the cardboard box the board comes in. Install only the board cpu cooler memory video cdrom and one hdd. Installe windows and let the machine run overnight doing stress testing to verify the hardware is good. You may have a short circuit when your board is installed in your case. Verify no short circuit or metal interferience. Put masking tape on the bottom of the motherboard where the screws attach. Sometimes the standoffs can short components so cover the bottom of the board with masking tape where the standoffs connect and push the screws throught he tape from the top and this may avoid issues.

Good luck and let me know how it goes. I am always interested in how problems like this are solved. Btw its unlikely you have 3 bad boards so it must be something in your setup.

sorry for the late respond, i'm on vacation in portugal right now

there was nothing in the pci slots, only a 8600gt in the top PCIe slot


the standoffs are very small ones from my CM case but i still think that this issue is related to the case, maybe it doesn't provide proper ground to the psu

i made this pst to find a fix for it (a place to order proper replacement caps/which parts i should try to place) as i don't get any warranty for this POS anymore.

my dad's going to get a p5k premium (only none-gigabyte board known to work flawlessly with a vanilly mac os install on pc_efiv8) but i still have a x1900+x1900 crossfire edition around here + a spare e2060 which clocks up to 3.2ghz and some ram ( i can sell this combo for at least 400$ to a friend of mime so it may not be a total loss if i can fix it)


so who knows where to get such smd caps in europe and wich values i need (i don't know which values i need/which parts i should replace)

the board fires up for half a second and turns off by itself after putting it on my open test-ikea-table so it may be fixable


PS: the board is 100€ over here and 100€ are 60 kebab sandwhiches/ 20 schnitzels / 2 semester tickets for public transport