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| | ==Motherboard Testing== | | ==Motherboard Testing== |
| | [[User:Tex|Tex]] 20:37, 26 May 2010 (UTC) | | [[User:Tex|Tex]] 20:37, 26 May 2010 (UTC) |
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| − | {|fontsize="14" border=".05" fontweight="bold" cellpadding=".5" width="100%"
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| − | |align="left" padding=".5"|There are a multitude of items to check in motherboard testing. This is not for the faint of heart. '''Lose hope all yea who enter here'''.
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| − | {|fontsize="12" cellpadding=".5" border=".05" font-weight="bold" cellpadding=".7"
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| − | |-
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| − | |width="25%" align="center"|STEPS
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| − | |width="75%" align="center"|NOTES AND DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS
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| − | |-
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| − | | Check for '''SATA''' ports ||
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| − | *Absence of any SATA ports is reason to recycle a motherboard.
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| − | |-
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| − | | Check For Visible Damage ||
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| − | *Check for blown capacitors. Do a careful visual check. Then do it again. This will save you wasted time further down the road. '''ANY''' domed capacitors warrant recycling the board.
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| − | *Check for damaged sockets or other damage to devices on the motherboard. If it is a socket 775 or socket xxxx check carefully for bent socket pins with a magnifying lens. If there '''ARE''' bent pins recycle the board. It's not worth time repairing the socket.
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| − | *Check for dark areas on the underside of the board where a device (surface mounted) may have over heated. Recycle the board if you find any.
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| − | *Broken or missing memory slot attachment arms are no reason to reject a board as long as the board passes all the other tests.
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| − | |-
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| − | | Is it a '''DELL''' motherboard ? ||
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| − | *Remove the heatsink and, if it is of use on other types of motherboards, save it. Otherwise, recycle the heatsink.
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| − | *Remove the processor and save it for testing later if it qualifies (it is of the minimum speed and processor type).
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| − | *Remove the button battery and save it for testing later.
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| − | *Remove any jumpers and save them.
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| − | *Recycle the motherboard. DELLs require a special chassis and cannot be universally mounted in third party chassis's.
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| − | |-
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| − | | Is it a '''BTX''' format motherboard, a '''multisocket server''' board, or have a '''non-standard ATX''' format? ||
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| − | *Remove the heatsink and, if it is of use on other types of motherboards, save it. Otherwise, recycle the heatsink.
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| − | *Remove the processor and save it for testing later if it qualifies (it is of the minimum speed and processor type).
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| − | *Remove the button battery and save it for testing later.
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| − | *Remove any jumpers and save them.
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| − | *Recycle the motherboard.
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| − | |-
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| − | | Reasons '''NOT''' to reject a motherboard on preliminary inspection ||
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| − | *Missing PS2 ports as long as there are USB ports available.
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| − | *Missing on-board sound (resolved with PCI based sound cards).
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| − | *Missing LAN ports (resolved with PCI based LAN cards)
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| − | *Missing on-board video (resolved by PCI, PCI-e, or AGP slots on the motherboard)
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| − | *Missing PCI slots - as long as there are PS2 or USB, video, and sound ports on the board.
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| − | *Broken or damaged Northbridge, Southbridge, or SUPERIO chip heatsinks can be replaced as can any on-board fans.
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| − | |-
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| − | | Visual inspection passed - what now ?||
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| − | *Place the motherboard on the test jig.
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| − | *Orient the motherboard so the external ports (printer, PS2, USB, etc.) are facing you
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| − | *Motherboards '''GENERALLY''' have a standardized layout as follows:
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| − | *Upper left quadrant contains the memory slots, main power connector, floppy connector, and either one to two IDE connectors (if any...)
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| − | *Upper right quadrant contains SATA connectors, SOUTHBRIDGE chip, RAID connector (if any), front panel header, USB header(s)
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| − | *Lower right quadrant contains AGP/PCIe video slots, PCI slots, button battery (this can actually be in this quadrant or the upper right), PCI extender slot, and audio header
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| − | *Lower left quadrant contains the CPU socket, CPU heatsink, the 12 volt power connector (4 pin Molex), and all the external connectors
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| − | |-
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| − | | Perform another blown caps visual check || This is a time saver, trust me...
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| − | |-
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| − | |Does it already have a CPU installed ?|| This step is not a time waster. The CPU heatsink may be installed, but someone may have removed the CPU prior to submitting the motherboard for testing.
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| − | *If it '''DOES''' have a CPU installed, just test the board with the existing processor.
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| − | *If '''NO''' processor is in the CPU socket, then, duuuh - go get one.
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| − | *Look up the motherboard user manual for the appropriate CPU to use. A library of motherboard manuals is usually kept on the Advanced Testing research laptop. If the manual does not exist, perform an internet search to find one and save it to the appropriate folder on the laptop (this should be obvious when you open up the mobo folder).
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| − | *Start with either the slowest speed CPU we have in stock for this socket type, or one which is recommended in the user manual.
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| − | *If the motherboard eventually passes all tests, then try higher speed processors in the motherboard. This intent, here, is to provide the Freegeek store with a motherboard with the highest speed processor it can handle. This makes it more 'sellable'.
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| − | |-
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| − | |Installing a processor in the CPU socket ||'''BE CAREFUL!''' Processor pins are gold alloy and bend easily. Use the standard practice for inserting CPU's in the motherboard socket as recommended in the user manual.
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| − | *If you bend a pin or pins, you can use a 0.5 mm mechanical pencil and magnifying lens to right the bent pins. If you snap off any of the processor pins, recycle the processor. Each pin is required for proper functioning of the CPU. If you bend the pins on a processor that '''HAS''' no pins, then you are obviously from a different universe than the one we, at Freegeek, are used to. Don't expect help there.
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| − | |-
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| − | |Install '''THERMAL''' grease on the processor||Use only enough thermal grease on the top surface of the processor to provide a thin film coating. Yes, I said '''TOP''' surface...putting grease on the pins of the processor generates a large quantity of laughter and endless chastisement from your co-workers. The thermal grease film provides a more efficient transfer of heat from the processor to the heatsink. Applying too much thermal grease defeats the purpose and, instead, becomes a thermal '''barrier''' that traps heat in the CPU causing premature failure.
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| − | |-
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| − | |Install the heatsink ||
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| − | *Make sure the heatsink is clean - use the air compressor to blow out the dirt if it isn't
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| − | *Visually verify all parts are present and they work
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| − | *Some motherboards have 4 pin heatsink power connectors. It is best to '''USE''' 4 pin heatsinks in this case.
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| − | |-
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| − | |Install memory||Refer to the user manual for appropriate memory.
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| − | *If a UM is not available, start with DDR 400 MHz 1GB memory stick.
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| − | *If DDR2, use 1 GB 667 MHz memory stick.
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| − | *For each reboot, place the memory stick in a different memory slot until all slots have been verified as functional.
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| − | |Install video||If on-board video is present, use this video port.
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| − | *If no on-board video present, select a '''TESTED and VERIFIED''' video card appropriate to the type of on-board video slot present
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| − | *Connect the video cable - use an adapter if needed.
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| − | *If motherboard has a dual SLI video option, verify the small selector card in the middle of the two video card slots is inserted indicating '''Single Video Card Use'''.
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| − | |-
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| − | |Install PS2 mouse and keyboard connectors||
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| − | *If one or the other is missing from the external connectors, use USB mice or keyboards
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| − | |-
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| − | |Install IDE devices||
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| − | *If there is only one IDE connector on the motherboard, connect the IDE hard drive.
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| − | *If there are 2 IDE Connectors, connect the hard drive to IDE1 and the CDROM reader to IDE2.
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| − | *Before connecting the cables, visually verify the pins of the connector(s) are straight.
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| − | |Install the power connectors||Make sure the power switch on the power supply is in the '''off''' position before connecting any power connectors.There are, potentially, 3 types of power connectors to be connected.
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| − | *20 pin Molex connectors (main power)
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| − | *24 pin Molex connectors (main power) - These connectors are actually a 20 pin connector with a 4 pin add-on
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| − | *4 pin Molex connector (+12V power)
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| − | *Install the main power connector first, then the 4 pin connector. It is very easy to forget the 4 pin connector and if you do the motherboard will not boot.
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| − | |Install a button battery||Button batteries are necessary for retaining BIOS settings when power is absent.
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| − | *Battery orientation is motherboard manufacturer independant.
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| − | |Clear the CMOS chip||On the motherboard, usually in the upper right quadrant and near the button battery, there will be 3 posts with a jumper on 2 of them marked CLRRTC or CMOS. On some of the newer motherboards there will be a momentary pushbutton on the motherboard marked CMOS. These perform the same function.
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| − | *If there are the 3 posts present, move the jumper from pins 1 & 2 to pins 2 & 3. Wait 10 seconds. Then return the jumper to pins 1 & 2.
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| − | *If there is a momentary pushbutton, push and hold the button for 10 seconds, then release.
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| − | *This clears all user supplied BIOS settings and returns all settings to the factory default.
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| − | |-
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| − | |Set the audio header jumpers|| Find the audio front panel header and put jumpers on pins 1&2 and 5&6
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| − | |Power up the motherboard|| The following is the power-up procedure:
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| − | *Follow the instructions in the user manual (this is the long version)
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| − | *Short version - find the front panel header post group. Take a screwdriver and momentarily short the 2 pins labeled '''PWR'''
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| − | *If there is no label indicating the power posts, they are usually the two on the sides of the header group immediately following the key post (missing post).
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| − | |}
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| − | [[Category:Hardware Testing]]
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| − | [[Category:Howto]]
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| − | [[Category:Advanced Testing]]
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