Burnt out south bridge on P4P800S !!!!

2636 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by jonss, Aug 23, 2005

rosglo

Discussion Starter · Aug 22, 2005

Hello folks,

A newbie need your help!

Asus P4P800S with Intel 2.8 Prescott, 512 DDR 400, 80GB Seagate SATA, basic agp 4x, XP, 56k modem card

I built up the computer myself and it has been running perfectly for 8 months. No hardware changes in that time. Booted up the computer, got "Bad checksum error" message. Put in the Asus cd, it found psp800.rom and reflashed. Re-started the computer and the monitor didn't come up. Pressed reset, rebooted, monitor cam up with "Bad checksum error" message. Reflashed. Restarted computer and the monitor didn't start up again. Sudden electrical smell from the p.s. Obviously all caused by a faulty power supply! Purchased a new power supply, install, boot up. No monitor and that nasty smell again. Another dead power supply! Use flashlight to examine mothernoard and find a hole burnt through the South bridge controller!

I'm thinking either the south bridge was faulty or something controlled by the south bridge is sinking a lot of current! So what are my options? Obviously need another power supply and another motherboard. Should I go for another P4P800S ? Anyone recommend another socket 478/agp/ddr400/sata motherboard?

How should I proceed without burning out a whole lot more equipment? How can I test the things controlled by the south bridge without doing more damage? Looked for wiring faults? Can't find any shorts. Check cards. No visible signs of damage on the agp card, the sata hd or the modem. There isn't anything else.

Did a local search on "south bridge" but nothing similar reported

All advice gratefully received.

Ross.

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rosglo

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 23, 2005

UPDATE - Burnt out south bridge on P4P800S

Hello again,

I took the first (original) power supply to work this morning and it tests out ok. Will remove and check the second tonight. Seems likely that will be ok as well and the damage is limited to the MB. All the questions I asked before still stand!
Should I go for another P4P800S ?
Anyone recommend another socket 478/agp/ddr400/sata motherboard?
How should I proceed without burning out any more equipment?
How can I test the things controlled by the south bridge without doing more damage?

Thanks again,

Ross.

rosglo said:
Hello folks,

A newbie need your help!

Asus P4P800S with Intel 2.8 Prescott, 512 DDR 400, 80GB Seagate SATA, basic agp 4x, XP, 56k modem card

I built up the computer myself and it has been running perfectly for 8 months. No hardware changes in that time. Booted up the computer, got "Bad checksum error" message. Put in the Asus cd, it found psp800.rom and reflashed. Re-started the computer and the monitor didn't come up. Pressed reset, rebooted, monitor cam up with "Bad checksum error" message. Reflashed. Restarted computer and the monitor didn't start up again. Sudden electrical smell from the p.s. Obviously all caused by a faulty power supply! Purchased a new power supply, install, boot up. No monitor and that nasty smell again. Another dead power supply! Use flashlight to examine mothernoard and find a hole burnt through the South bridge controller!

I'm thinking either the south bridge was faulty or something controlled by the south bridge is sinking a lot of current! So what are my options? Obviously need another power supply and another motherboard. Should I go for another P4P800S ? Anyone recommend another socket 478/agp/ddr400/sata motherboard?

How should I proceed without burning out a whole lot more equipment? How can I test the things controlled by the south bridge without doing more damage? Looked for wiring faults? Can't find any shorts. Check cards. No visible signs of damage on the agp card, the sata hd or the modem. There isn't anything else.

Did a local search on "south bridge" but nothing similar reported

All advice gratefully received.

Ross.

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Andrew S.

· #3 · Aug 23, 2005

Ross thats a very difficult question to answer. Everyone has a personal preference usually influenced by budget and general usage. There is nothing wrong with socket 478s plenty of people still use them.
Just because your first P4P800S blew up doesn't mean all of them will show similar results.
If you do replace the board with another one of the same model there is a good chance you will be able to retain all your operating system files, thus avoiding a re-install.

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jonss

· #4 · Aug 23, 2005

I'd buy another asus, not for any other reason than I've found mine to be ultra reliable. One other aspect I like is asus being one of the primary developement partners of intel. I have had msi and gigabyte which were good boards but both failed after the warranty period expired. My asus mb has worked flawlessly for well over 12 months and I'm impressed. Socket 478 mb's are cheap as chips now so it is a good time to buy. Mine is the p4p 800e-deluxe.

Jon

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