Sammy Down!

[hedge]

Well, today is a sad day. My sammy rig no longer works. Kind of strange though. I cut the back off the PCI-E slot so I could fit a video card on it for GPUGRID and after that there is no life in this thing. It turns on but the diag leds stay red and that is all she wrote.

Any ideas on what I can try before I order a new board (if I can find one )?

[Petra]

Out of curiosity, how did you go about trimming the PCI-e connector? The answer to what may have happened could be in your technique.

BTW, boards can be had here: http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=4675

[Sparky]

Did you by chance slip with the knife and cut a trace? I did on my first board. It caused the same issue as you describe - no POST, diag lights all red. It was a "simple" repair with a soldering iron, just used some very fine sandpaper on the trace to clear off the coating, put a tiny dab of flux on it, and touched it with a tinned iron tip. Boom fixed. Been working great since.

[hedge]

I was just cutting it with a razor blade. I did slip once, but I couldn't see any marks or cuts. maybe I will have another look at it again later. Too bummed to bother with it tonight.

Sparky, was it a very thin cut on the trace?

[Sparky]

Yes, it was. It looked like a small scratch more than anything, but when I looked at it with a magnifying glass I could see that it was actually cut through. But that's why it was so easy to fix because it was barely cut.

[hedge]

Looks like those traces run in pairs. There might actually be two spots cut...

[Petra]

I was just cutting it with a razor blade.

In that case, I must be nuts... I just prepped as much ESD protection as I could muster and went at it by hand with my Dremel and a fine engraving bit.

Then again, I'm rather accustomed to delicate Dremel work (my biggest concern was over ESD).

[D_A]

I really need to get some decent bits for my "Dremel". I have the whole flex shaft arrangement but no little burrs to DO anything with.

[Sparky]

Looks like those traces run in pairs. There might actually be two spots cut...

Well then use a small piece of very fine sandpaper and sand the cut spot so you have bare copper at the cut points. Dab a bit of rosin flux on it. Get your iron good and hot, tin the tip with a tiny bit extra solder, and gently run the tip over the cut spot fairly quick (don't want to overheat the traces). Boom the flux should make it adhere to the traces and not allow it to bridge between traces too easily.

Or, you could buy a new board and try cutting the slot again.

Or, you could send the board to me and I could fix those traces for you and send it back. Except at that point with shipping both ways you might as well buy a new board.

[hedge]

I am going to try to fix the board, but to be safe I ordered another one. If I am able to save this one then I can put together another sammy. If I can't fix it, it will look good on the wall or something, I guess. Cheers!