Fried motherboard with new NIC?!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim Lister
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T

Tim Lister

A friend of mine reported that he'd managed to fry his motherboard
whilst installing a new NIC! Is this possible or is it more likely that
he's put a static charge through his equipment or had a similar mishap?
He claims that all he did was install the NIC, then when he tried to
power up, nothing happened! Subsequent investigation led him to conclude
that the motherboard had died & he's convinced that his new NIC was to
blame but this seems unlikely to me. Is it at all feasible & if so, what
are the dangers involved? The only trouble that I've ever had with
ethernet cards are dodgy sockets that required wiggling of the cable to
get the connection up! Thanks for your opinions in advance!
 
Tim said:
A friend of mine reported that he'd managed to fry his motherboard
whilst installing a new NIC! Is this possible or is it more likely that
he's put a static charge through his equipment or had a similar mishap?
He claims that all he did was install the NIC, then when he tried to
power up, nothing happened! Subsequent investigation led him to conclude
that the motherboard had died & he's convinced that his new NIC was to
blame but this seems unlikely to me. Is it at all feasible & if so, what
are the dangers involved? The only trouble that I've ever had with
ethernet cards are dodgy sockets that required wiggling of the cable to
get the connection up! Thanks for your opinions in advance!
Click to expand...


Seems likely that static is to blame. I have never had a card that I have
installed kill my motherboard. Maybe someone has, but this seems unlikely
to me.

Eli
 
Did your friend realize that with the new P4 power supply/ motherboard
design, even when the case's front power switch is off there is power going
to the motherboard! And so if you have the unit off but plugged in, you can
fry the motherboard by inderting and removing components from the
motherboard?

--
DaveW



"Tim Lister"
 
"Tim Lister"
A friend of mine reported that he'd managed to fry his motherboard
whilst installing a new NIC!
Click to expand...

Did he turn the power supply off at the rear of the PC (or unplug from the
wall?) If not, then he probably shorted the standy 5v. Gotta remember that
the PCI slots always have power (for Wake on Lan, etc.) if the PSU is on and
plugged in, even if the PC is turned off.
 
Noozer said:
Did he turn the power supply off at the rear of the PC (or unplug from the
wall?) If not, then he probably shorted the standy 5v. Gotta remember that
the PCI slots always have power (for Wake on Lan, etc.) if the PSU is on and
plugged in, even if the PC is turned off.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice! I had no idea that there was power to the PCI
bus, even with the PC switched off but still plugged in so thanks for
the heads up about that! I don't know whether this may've had anything
to do with my friends mishap but it's certainly useful to know for the
future!
 
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