Scratched mobo traces with a screwdriver

[:D:D]

it's a b650 tomahawk so onli gen 4 . I already tested the parts - I mean, the ssd is working and the gpu is boosting sooo - or is there some other test I could do? maybe crystaldiskmark the disk? :uhm:

Sorry, I thought it might be the X670E, my bad.

If you have all lanes and full speed that's about as good as it gets so 16 lanes @ gen4 for instance for graphics slot. It's possible during training for some lanes to get dropped but everything still works. It may not even affect performance either so might not be noticeable in benches. If you still don't have peace of mind given training has passed then there's checking for WHEA corrections on the PCIe BUS but those can happen for other reasons too.

Bear in mind also that I'm not 100% absolutely sure those are lanes for either M2 or first PCIe slot but look like it is IMO.

 

[y2faulty]

so I did polish them nails and let them cure for the whole night.

what I noticed is right after applying a big drop of nail polish on it two small, linear, parallel, sparkly amber speckles appeared on the scratch.

so copper probably WAS exposed, it simply wasn't visible and the diffraction from the nail polish made it shine or whatever.

Anyway I am writing from that same mobo so... I guess it's fixed.


PROTIP: if u cant' manage to open the pciexpress slot clip because is too hard, the gpu is gynourmous, the cpu cooler is too big and the nvme heatsink is in the way, DON'T try to push it down with a screwdriver.

INSTEAD get some metal wire, bend it in a hook, reach down and hook the clip, then pull sideways parallel to the mobo and down toward the mobo. It still WONT be easy but if the hook slip you won't damage anything cos the wire is soft, bendy and doesn't have enough weight to scrath the mobo or other components, unlike a screwdriver.

:

Spoiler

 

[eidairaman1]

so I did polish them nails and let them cure for the whole night.

what I noticed is right after applying a big drop of nail polish on it two small, linear, parallel, sparkly amber speckles appeared on the scratch.

so copper probably WAS exposed, it simply wasn't visible and the diffraction from the nail polish made it shine or whatever.

Anyway I am writing from that same mobo so... I guess it's fixed.


PROTIP: if u cant' manage to open the pciexpress slot clip because is too hard, the gpu is gynourmous, the cpu cooler is too big and the nvme heatsink is in the way, DON'T try to push it down with a screwdriver.

INSTEAD get some metal wire, bend it in a hook, reach down and hook the clip, then pull sideways parallel to the mobo and down toward the mobo. It still WONT be easy but if the hook slip you won't damage anything cos the wire is soft, bendy and doesn't have enough weight to scrath the mobo or other components, unlike a screwdriver.

:

Spoiler

View attachment 372994

Many people have been killed prodding around using a screw driver in a microwave, a crt tv/monitor or a breaker/fuse panel.

 

[y2faulty]

well I almost got electrocuted with a fork and a toaster

 

[Ruru]

so I did polish them nails and let them cure for the whole night.

what I noticed is right after applying a big drop of nail polish on it two small, linear, parallel, sparkly amber speckles appeared on the scratch.

so copper probably WAS exposed, it simply wasn't visible and the diffraction from the nail polish made it shine or whatever.

Anyway I am writing from that same mobo so... I guess it's fixed.


PROTIP: if u cant' manage to open the pciexpress slot clip because is too hard, the gpu is gynourmous, the cpu cooler is too big and the nvme heatsink is in the way, DON'T try to push it down with a screwdriver.

INSTEAD get some metal wire, bend it in a hook, reach down and hook the clip, then pull sideways parallel to the mobo and down toward the mobo. It still WONT be easy but if the hook slip you won't damage anything cos the wire is soft, bendy and doesn't have enough weight to scrath the mobo or other components, unlike a screwdriver.

:

Spoiler

View attachment 372994

I prefer the flat tip of a pencil myself. Hella tight fit with my aircooler & RTX 3080 since the card has a backplate, so using a finger like normal isn't just possible. A backplateless card wouldn't be so tight fit.

 

[lexluthermiester]

You probably just scratched through the protective resin coating designed to keep air (oxygen) and moisture out. If me, since it appears all is still working, I would put a light coat of clear fingernail polish over it, then go buy a lottery ticket.

This, twice over!

So my idiot ass managed to scratch my 1month old mobo with a screwdriver :facepalm: there is a pretty evident scratch over some traces on the mobo between cpu, ram and the pci-express slot.

I'm currently typing from that same pc. Ran some Prime no problem, ran superposition, furmark and timespy, no problemo apparently.

Did the Silicon Gods save me or could it cause problems in the future?

(best pics I managed to get) :

View attachment 372600

View attachment 372601

Honestly, Bills advice is top notch. However, if you have problems and you're handy with a soldering iron, resoldering those traces to repair them is doable.
BitUndBolts has a number of videos that shows how to do it properly.

Bits und Bolts

Hi everyone. I am happy to see you on my channel and hope you enjoy going back in time. I grew up in a very exciting time of PC computing. The internet was not yet widely used, but it became very common to have PCs in every household. The first PC I did not share with anybody else was an AMD 486...

www.youtube.com

 

[Bones]

so I did polish them nails and let them cure for the whole night.

what I noticed is right after applying a big drop of nail polish on it two small, linear, parallel, sparkly amber speckles appeared on the scratch.

so copper probably WAS exposed, it simply wasn't visible and the diffraction from the nail polish made it shine or whatever.

That's what the nail polish was supposed to fix when you used it and looks like it did.
I'm assuming you used clear nail polish and that's why you can see the amber spots, which sounds like the copper is probrably showing just a tad through the polish.

It's OK to see refraction through the polish since it means the traces are coated again, protecting them from exposure to air which is what the original coating itself was doing.

Anyway I am writing from that same mobo so... I guess it's fixed.

If it's working correctly, it's fixed as in no need to worry further about it.

 

[Vario]

I had this issue with an ASRock Z77E-ITX. I think what happened was the graphic's card metal PCI slot teeth bit the board? I can't remember. It was a really tight ITX case and hard to build in.

I used clear nail polish. It worked great for a few years, eventually sold it. Forgot all about it because it worked so well. Hopefully you have a similar result.

 

[y2faulty]

thx everybody, I think it'll be fine.

I prefer the flat tip of a pencil myself. Hella tight fit with my aircooler & RTX 3080 since the card has a backplate, so using a finger like normal isn't just possible. A backplateless card wouldn't be so tight fit.

tried that too. Problem was it was too big- it contacted the ssd heatsink and couldn't push down.

problem is you shouldn't use a pointy thingy but a pointy thingy is the only thing that can reach the clip.

 

[lexluthermiester]

thx everybody, I think it'll be fine.

tried that too. Problem was it was too big- it contacted the ssd heatsink and couldn't push down.

problem is you shouldn't use a pointy thingy but a pointy thingy is the only thing that can reach the clip.

Get yourself a set of plastic spudgers. Very handy and much less likely to do damage if an accidental slip happens.
Something like the following;
https://www.amazon.com/STREBITO-Spudger-Ultimate-Computer-Electronics/dp/B0BHPC2WB5
https://www.amazon.com/15-Antistatic-Spudger-Set，Suitable-caseCleaning/dp/B0CJBXRMNB
They do come in different colours too, use the search below;
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=plastic+spudger+set

 

[iameatingjam]

When I did something similar, I wasn't lucky enough to have it work afterwards. Ended up selling the mobo for parts or repair and taking a 75% loss. I was just getting so frustrated trying to fit so much stuff on a mini atx board I lost my focus and f'd up. Never buying a mini atx again. Well, not for my main pc anyway. Maybe with a stock cooler and a small sized gpu it wouldn't have been so bad.

 

[Iceni]

I once drilled through an old Soltek board. It was one of the really gaudy early 2000's motherboards. Killed it dead.

I can't remember exactly why I was drilling the back side of a case. It was one of those completely clear 100% acrylic cases that were also popular in the early 2000's. Chances are I was doing something stupid, that lead to something more stupid.

I took it back to the local computer shop so they could laugh at me, and they called Soltek and said they had a DOA board could they send a replacement! It worked out for the shop as I got another board that day and ended up building a second system.

I miss the 2000's sometimes.

 

[y2faulty]

what a delightfully horrible combo.

 

[Ruru]

I once drilled through an old Soltek board. It was one of the really gaudy early 2000's motherboards. Killed it dead.

I can't remember exactly why I was drilling the back side of a case. It was one of those completely clear 100% acrylic cases that were also popular in the early 2000's. Chances are I was doing something stupid, that lead to something more stupid.

I took it back to the local computer shop so they could laugh at me, and they called Soltek and said they had a DOA board could they send a replacement! It worked out for the shop as I got another board that day and ended up building a second system.

I miss the 2000's sometimes.

The case had a standoff in a non-standard place and you thought of drilling a hole for that? My best guess...

 

[lexluthermiester]

I build quite a few systems based on this and similar Acrylic cases BITD! Good grief does that take me back!!

 

[Bones]

Never did a case like that but I've had my share of them - Got one now that's large (Tt Core X5 - Core X5) and even though it's a few years old now I'm still perfectly happy with it.

Keep the screwdrivers away from your board is all I can suggest.

 

[Iceni]

The case had a standoff in a non-standard place and you thought of drilling a hole for that? My best guess...

I suspect it was a FSB modification. I went through most of the socket A chips. Palomino, TB-A, TB-B. Each iteration had a different FSB unlocking method. From a simple pencil line on the chip, to a "repair" with metal conductive paint for repairing car rear de-mists, and motherboard modifications. Things moved fast then. It was most probably a modification to take the FSB from 133/166Mhz and unlock 200Mhz for overclocking potential. As the CPU would have been FSB limited by a laser cut.

 

[Ruru]

I suspect it was a FSB modification. I went through most of the socket A chips. Palomino, TB-A, TB-B. Each iteration had a different FSB unlocking method. From a simple pencil line on the chip, to a "repair" with metal conductive paint for repairing car rear de-mists, and motherboard modifications. Things moved fast then. It was most probably a modification to take the FSB from 133/166Mhz and unlock 200Mhz for overclocking potential. As the CPU would have been FSB limited by a laser cut.

Luckily Thunderbirds needed just the multiplier unlock trick which was easily done with a pencil. Never did any modification with Athlon XP chips.

 

[Bones]

Luckily Thunderbirds needed just the multiplier unlock trick which was easily done with a pencil. Never did any modification with Athlon XP chips.

You never "Mobilized" an XP chip?

Kinda related to the topic, you'd also use nail polish to seal up the modifications you did to change the chip.
Guys, this one is coming to an end so I'm out - The OP's problem has been solved and I'm not seeing much else we can add that's on topic here.

 

[ty_ger]

Not to get too pedantic, but I think there is a bit of misinformation about what that original coating 'was for'. It was said that the coating was there to keep air and moisture off the copper traces, which is a use it fulfills, but isn't what it was for. The original purpose is in the name: solder mask. It was applied during manufacture to mask the bare copper from the following wave soldering and reflow process so that only the unmasked areas would have solder adhesion. This reduces the chances of solder bridging and help the surface tension build in the right areas to make the components float on the liquid solder to their correct positions.

Pedantically, a coating that is added to keep air and moisture out is a conformal coating which is added later. No conformal coating was added, because the solder mask fulfilled its needs, but the solder mask wasn't originally for that purpose. In other words, if the solder mask wasn't able to fulfill the needs of a conformal coating, the solder mask would still be used for its purpose in the solder process.

"That's what its for", well no, not really. That is fortunately one of its attributes, but in absence of that attribute, a different conformal coating would have been added.

 

[eidairaman1]

I suspect it was a FSB modification. I went through most of the socket A chips. Palomino, TB-A, TB-B. Each iteration had a different FSB unlocking method. From a simple pencil line on the chip, to a "repair" with metal conductive paint for repairing car rear de-mists, and motherboard modifications. Things moved fast then. It was most probably a modification to take the FSB from 133/166Mhz and unlock 200Mhz for overclocking potential. As the CPU would have been FSB limited by a laser cut.

Fab51 had the info for doing this

You never "Mobilized" an XP chip?

Kinda related to the topic, you'd also use nail polish to seal up the modifications you did to change the chip.
Guys, this one is coming to an end so I'm out - The OP's problem has been solved and I'm not seeing much else we can add that's on topic here.

You could do an Athlon XP-M-MP