Sabertooth 990FX seems to have melted CPU connection

Citizen86

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So over this weekend I smelled a foul burning plastic smell. It was almost like tar, and I couldn't pinpoint it, so I thought it might be coming from outside. I sniffed around my PC but couldn't really identify it.

Today I was doing some overclocking and stress testing, and I noticed that if the PC crashed then a few times it would show the CPU light that there was an error on boot (Sabertooth feature). The CPU also seemed to be running a little hotter...

So I pulled off my new Antec Kuhler 920, looked around, and I found the reason for the smell:









Question is, the PC still boots, and seems to be running alright. I'm not sure about RMA'ing anything, the motherboard was purchased used so I'm not sure about the warranty on that. The PSU is new and definitely under warranty, but I'm not sure if it would be covered if it was the motherboard that charred it. It's a Corsair TX750M.

Anyone been in a similar situation? Suggestions?

Edit: Actually, the strange part is, the CPU connection is RIGHT next to the VRM heatsink, which gets up to 60 or 70C under a Prime95 load. But the part that got burned is the complete opposite side that is nearest the VRM heatsink.
 
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Seems to me like you have a short circuit of sorts i would test the psu with a power supply tester ensure you are getting the right voltages coming from it. What you can also do is jump the psu using a paper clip connecting the green and a black wire of choice leave it on for a while and see if the 8 pin gets hot check the voltages with a voltmeter periodically that way if all is well you know its not the power supply and it would only leave one other variable. Was an overclock in place while this happened? trying to figure out if the overclock could be where this all started
 
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Wow......weird.

So the 8 pin socket itself is OK? It's the PSU connector that's charred?

It may be that there was/is some mis-alignment in the plug and when you plugged it in it wasn't seated properly and shorted? Or there's a short in the wiring inside the 8 pin and the extra power draw for the OC " blowed it up".

Corsair will likely honor your warranty......
Asus warranties motherboards, not owners, so if the board is less than three years old, you can try. BUT, given the massive number of threads about this kind of situation and ASUS, they will label this "Customer Induced Damage" or "physical damage" and you won't get shit from them.:mad:
 
hmm, this looks a PSU overvolting issue. Call the PSU manufacture. If its dead, try to have them cover the mobo too
 
Thanks for the quick replies, guys.

To answer a few questions, I can't really say if the socket is okay, there is a little plastic in there for sure... but I can still plug the cord in, and it still boots up.

I'm not sure how old the board is, but I believe that this particular board came with a 5 year warranty, so it should still definitely be covered.

@magoo, That's sort of what I expected, Corsair to be able to replace the PSU, but I wasn't expecting much from Asus. I'm glad I got a good deal on the mobo being used, so it's not a huge hit if they don't want to replace it.

@Pilskin679, that's the strange thing, they both are still working, but obviously neither part is instilling confidence in me.

@Beefcake, thanks for the suggestions, although I don't have PSU tester and/or voltmeter, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to pinpoint the issue quite that well...

I got a few suggestions on another forum to replace both, so I suppose I'll be going over to Fry's *groan* to pick up some replacement parts, and hopefully get RMA's on these parts and then have spares or sell them off.

The unfortunate part is I work at home and this is my work computer now, I could use my laptop like I have been doing for the last couple years, but my desktop is all set up nicely now...
 
I guess you can still use it for work for now, but I wouldn't leave it powered on and unattended.

How hard were you overclocking when that happened? Do you remember what you had your voltages set to?
 
It was no mighty overclock. For daily use the CPU was at 1.406 or 1.412, I think it was only at 4.4Ghz this weekend. Only like a 0.3 increase in the CPU volts.

The NB I've only ever increased by more than 0.01, so I doubt that was getting too much voltage.

The VRM area does get toasty, like up to 60 or 70C, which is right next to the CPU power socket, but like I said, it's pretty strange if it was a straight up overheating issue, since the part that was melted was on the complete opposite side, and it's also the side that has a 140mm fan right above it.

On another forum, one person suggested that it looks like it had been sparking. Again, if that's the case, it could have been either the PSU or the motherboard's socket that didn't have a good connection.
 
Well, I thought I would try plugging in the other 8-pin CPU plug, since it's a modular connection... and it doesn't fit. I assume because of the melted plastic on the inside.

So I am definitely going to RMA the motherboard, and most likely the PSU as well since it has a melted connector.

I went by Fry's and they only had lower end 970 and 990 boards. *sigh*

At least I have my laptop I can work off of.
 
I've had this happen on two Asus boards with no real reason I could figure out. Doesn't seem to matter if it was overclocked or not. One was the EPS and the other was the 24 pin. Different PSU's each time as well.
 
That's crazy! I feel a little bad if it was a mobo issue getting Corsair to replace the PSU for me. But I've also been a loyal customer, I own a bunch of Corsair stuff, and I do have a burnt connector, so I guess there isn't much to do there...

Did you get them to RMA your boards?
 
Glad I could help man sry for the loss i know what its like having a pc that's down i think all of us in here know your pain lol
 
Has anyone been through an RMA Request with Asus? I filled out the form, and it said they received it, but I didn't get a confirmation email, a confirmation number, nothing. My RMA request with Corsair already went through and I have a packing label to ship it.

Not sure if I should try to get on chat with them or just wait it out a bit longer. It doesn't need to be 12-24 hour response, but since I didn't receive any type of confirmation, I also don't feel like waiting for a week or two to possibly never hear from them
 
I have not had to contact Asus before, but I've heard it's best to call them. You could try the chat method too though.
 
Has anyone been through an RMA Request with Asus? I filled out the form, and it said they received it, but I didn't get a confirmation email, a confirmation number, nothing. My RMA request with Corsair already went through and I have a packing label to ship it.

Not sure if I should try to get on chat with them or just wait it out a bit longer. It doesn't need to be 12-24 hour response, but since I didn't receive any type of confirmation, I also don't feel like waiting for a week or two to possibly never hear from them

I tried to RMA an X79 board with them last year for dead onboard sound. It took approximately 2 weeks for them to approve my RMA, and then they sat on the board for about 6 weeks before shipping it back to me tossed in an inside out motherboard box with a handful of packing peanuts, no ESD bag, and a mostly blank sheet of paper that showed the RMA number but no mention of any work being done. Nothing was corrected, I eventually sold the board as-is for cheap.
 
I tried to RMA an X79 board with them last year for dead onboard sound. It took approximately 2 weeks for them to approve my RMA, and then they sat on the board for about 6 weeks before shipping it back to me tossed in an inside out motherboard box with a handful of packing peanuts, no ESD bag, and a mostly blank sheet of paper that showed the RMA number but no mention of any work being done. Nothing was corrected, I eventually sold the board as-is for cheap.

Sounds wonderful!

I guess I will give them a call, I'm not super hopeful about getting a replacement or a fix on it though....
 
The only time ive seen the power connector melt was a long long time ago i had a water cooled barton xp 2500+ in a koolance case that sprung a slight leak from the CPU block. water dripped down onto my 20 pin atx connector. It melted the plastic and corroded the connectors. i had to reset the power connecter a dozen times, but it continued to work fine after that.
 
That looks like a bad connection.
Because the connection isnt fully made, there is less metal contact area for all the current to flow through, causing it to heat up, a bit like a light bulb.
With enough current flowing for long enough it can cause a lot of heat.

I had the same thing happen with a modular PSUs connections on the PSU with the graphics cards power connectors, they werent pushed all the way in.
The plastic connector melted a little and the metal contact was partially eroded.
Luckily it cleaned up ok and still inserted properly.
 
That looks like a bad connection.
Because the connection isnt fully made, there is less metal contact area for all the current to flow through, causing it to heat up, a bit like a light bulb.
With enough current flowing for long enough it can cause a lot of heat.

I had the same thing happen with a modular PSUs connections on the PSU with the graphics cards power connectors, they werent pushed all the way in.
The plastic connector melted a little and the metal contact was partially eroded.
Luckily it cleaned up ok and still inserted properly.

That's good to know. I guess it's possible, but I thought I had it pushed in all the way, it was a pretty solid connection. It was even more solid with the melted plastic... I had to really wrestle the plug out of the socket.
 
Its the metal to metal contact that needs to be robust.
If the metal is still all there and it still clicks in place, it might be ok.

But if the plastic connector has warped enough, it might not push the metal contacts together enough.
If so, it either wont work or will overheat again.
Be sure to completely clean up the metal contacts, any burnt plastic on them can reduce the contact area.
Careful not to remove any metal when cleaning.

Its possible that a metal contact is mis-shapen, warped, broken or isnt inserted in the block well.
If the contact isnt all the way into the block, it may not make good enough contact when the block is clipped in place.
 
It still makes contact, since it can boot up. The exposed metal on the connector looks corroded or burnt though.

In any case, there is now melted plastic in the socket. So only the burnt connection works. I really don't feel comfortable keeping that around, I would rather it didn't burn/spark/go up in flames in the future
 
I did end up calling ASUS on Friday. The RMA request did NOT go through on their website, despite the website saying "Thanks, we received your request".

I spoke to a native English speaker, although as soon as I told him what had happened, he said "that is physical damage, and not covered under the warranty". Great. I think I said something about not being sure if it was a short in the power supply or the board... I also mentioned that I had already went out and purchased their most expensive AM3+ board.

He talked to his supervisor, and he said I could send it in, they would inspect it, but if they say it is "physical damage" they would send it back unrepaired. Sweet. I'm not sure why they wouldn't be able to desolder the connector and solder on a new one, but I guess that would mean it was my fault, so if there was any chance they would agree to repair it, I assume the charge for the part, the labor, and shipping it back would probably not be worth it.

Guess I'm eating this cost. I don't have much faith in them repairing it, I'm not even sure if I should spend the $20+ shipping it to them.
 
Well, are you any good with a soldering iron? I'd just do the job myself at this point.
 
If you're oc'ing a 8 thred CPU to 4.6GHz+ and using lots of Prime95, I'd recommend using a motherboard with more than one EPS 12V connector. Some of the AMD CPUs ( like the Intel ones) can pull over 250W from the EPS 12V when stressed over 45GHz, putting a single EPS 12V outside spec. Prolonged usage like that will break the connector down.

-Rja
 
If you're oc'ing a 8 thred CPU to 4.6GHz+ and using lots of Prime95, I'd recommend using a motherboard with more than one EPS 12V connector. Some of the AMD CPUs ( like the Intel ones) can pull over 250W from the EPS 12V when stressed over 45GHz, putting a single EPS 12V outside spec. Prolonged usage like that will break the connector down.

-Rja

So, basically only the Crosshair V?

Although I'm sure you have a point about the spec on the EPS 12v connector, the Sabertooth is advertised as being an overclocking and "TUF" board.

And besides that, the volts weren't very high, and I didn't run Prime95 for extended periods of time, never more than 20 or 30 minutes.

Is this a common occurrence on Sabertooth boards? I'm not the only one that uses it to overclock FX-8350's
 
Im sure this is not a normal occurrence i have not read about it in any of the reviews also many persons setups i have seen were able to achieve 5.0 without the use of the EPS 12v connector
 
Im sure this is not a normal occurrence i have not read about it in any of the reviews also many persons setups i have seen were able to achieve 5.0 without the use of the EPS 12v connector

Yes, I also thought so... which is why I asked if it was a common issue.

Anyways, since I have almost no faith that Asus would do anything other than look at it and ship it back to me, I have a friend who is going to try to desolder an 8-pin connection from an old mobo and send it to me. I might as well give it a try... it won't be doing much good anyways.

Sorry Jorona, but I have a friend who might be interested in using it :)
 
Yes, I also thought so... which is why I asked if it was a common issue.

Anyways, since I have almost no faith that Asus would do anything other than look at it and ship it back to me, I have a friend who is going to try to desolder an 8-pin connection from an old mobo and send it to me. I might as well give it a try... it won't be doing much good anyways.

Sorry Jorona, but I have a friend who might be interested in using it :)

DAMN!

I might have acouple bucks roaming around...
 
DAMN!

I might have acouple bucks roaming around...

Haha, actually my friend said he couldn't desolder the connector from the board. I guess I could look around locally for one, or I could chance sending it in to Asus.... Even if it wa the board that shorted though, I don't know if they could (or would) pinpoint it to the board and issue a repair... Sigh.

I feel like I'm just complaining now, so I suppose I should let the thread die
 
happens all the time, usually the 24 pin though

clean the mobo socket, especially the pins, and solder a new plug on the PSU if it checks out OK, then pull your overclock back a notch

soldering on modern mobos is a bitch, lead free solder and many layers in the board
 
This is now the 3rd time I have seen someone complain about this happening, and the common factor has been a Corsair TX750M..Now I suppose that could just be a freak occurrence, but something makes me wonder..

Note: I am an avid Corsair fan and have used many of their PSUs..However I now love Seasonic moar! (they make Corsair's good units anyway):p
 
happens all the time, usually the 24 pin though

clean the mobo socket, especially the pins, and solder a new plug on the PSU if it checks out OK, then pull your overclock back a notch

soldering on modern mobos is a bitch, lead free solder and many layers in the board

That's sort of what I was worried about with the soldering. I tried getting some of the plastic out, I got a few pieces out, but it needs some more work, the plug still isn't fitting in 100%.

How would you suggest cleaning the plug? Alcohol? I'm not sure what would fit in the tiny socket around the plug, a Q-tip definitely wouldn't.

This is now the 3rd time I have seen someone complain about this happening, and the common factor has been a Corsair TX750M..Now I suppose that could just be a freak occurrence, but something makes me wonder..

Note: I am an avid Corsair fan and have used many of their PSUs..However I now love Seasonic moar! (they make Corsair's good units anyway):p

I own a lot of Corsair products, I generally really like their products. I'm thinking of giving them a call tomorrow now that I have their support number (not sure if you can find this easily on their site without getting an approved RMA), but I'll see what they say about the situation. Maybe they'll take a look at the motherboard as well.
 
I use a tiny little pointed file in these situations.

Corsair is a stand up outfit, certainly much more so than ASUS, they may send you a new cable.

Be advised though, you have found the current limit of your equipment...throttle it back when you get it running.
 
It's not common per se - but it can happen. The connectors lose their spring tension as they get hot - this can happen over time. Once a connector has poor contact, the current through adjacent pins increases, and that leads to burnout. Any 4 core 8 thread CPU stressed past 4.5GHz needs an aux connector if it's going to be loaded at over 200w. Just because someone hits 5GHz, does not mean to say the connector will last like that for 6 months.

I have dealt with cases where pople with two EPS conectors only plug in one, or worse still chose to use just a 4-pin connector. Just giving you guys the info to save it from hapening again to you - up to you if you take it onboard or not.

-Raja
 
It's not common per se - but it can happen. The connectors lose their spring tension as they get hot - this can happen over time. Once a connector has poor contact, the current through adjacent pins increases, and that leads to burnout. Any 4 core 8 thread CPU stressed past 4.5GHz needs an aux connector if it's going to be loaded at over 200w. Just because someone hits 5GHz, does not mean to say the connector will last like that for 6 months.

I have dealt with cases where pople with two EPS conectors only plug in one, or worse still chose to use just a 4-pin connector. Just giving you guys the info to save it from hapening again to you - up to you if you take it onboard or not.

-Raja

I'm not sure I follow... I mean, I can understand the second EPS connector being used to help stabilize high overclocks, but I don't see this as being a common feature, even on high end motherboards. As far as I can tell from a quick perusal of 990FX boards on Newegg, the ONLY board that has a second EPS connector is the Crosshair V.

I know that others have stable overclocks on a daily basis with boards other than the Crosshair V, so I'm not sure if that is the only solution....

I'm not discounting the possibility that the motherboard was pushed a little too hard, but it seems like it might have been something else, since I really didn't have a major overclock. Like I had said, I think I had it at only 4.4Ghz, with a slight bump in Vcore. Seems like a quality board like the Sabertooth should have been able to handle that.
 
You don't have to follow what I said 100%. Look up EPS 12V specs and then think about current draw.I'm not getting into anything else with you other than to make you aware of why it can happen.

The board would not power up if any of the connected VRM ciruicts were faulty. EPS 12V on our boards is usually isolated to VCC and at most some of the secondary CPU rails. Any of those develop a fault to pull excess current like that and the board stops POSTing generally. That's why I'm fairly convinced this is contact breakdown due to general over-current. I'm ot going to get into how you did or did not run the board. I'm just making you aware of why this can happen. Most of these boards were made before the latest 8 thread CPUs were released. At the time of their conception, the AMD CPUs were toppng out at 4.2GHz for most people. Upwards of that has been a facet of the latest gen. My advice stands if youre going to be stress testing them that way.

Last post from me regarding the info, hope it helps ya.


Anecdotal info, as someone mentioned ATX 12V meltdowns - those are usually when someone runs multiple GPUs and does not plug in the Aux PCIe power connectors. Upwards of two GPUs in a board can go over how much current the ATX 12V line can supply via the connector, moreso if the GPUs are overclocked. Same thing happens there, connector breaks down.

-Raja
 
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I did end up calling ASUS on Friday. The RMA request did NOT go through on their website, despite the website saying "Thanks, we received your request".

I spoke to a native English speaker, although as soon as I told him what had happened, he said "that is physical damage, and not covered under the warranty". Great. I think I said something about not being sure if it was a short in the power supply or the board... I also mentioned that I had already went out and purchased their most expensive AM3+ board.

He talked to his supervisor, and he said I could send it in, they would inspect it, but if they say it is "physical damage" they would send it back unrepaired. Sweet. I'm not sure why they wouldn't be able to desolder the connector and solder on a new one, but I guess that would mean it was my fault, so if there was any chance they would agree to repair it, I assume the charge for the part, the labor, and shipping it back would probably not be worth it.

Guess I'm eating this cost. I don't have much faith in them repairing it, I'm not even sure if I should spend the $20+ shipping it to them.

Your reply from ASUS is exactly as I would expect......any "physical damage" and you're hosed.....
I don't get the "spring tension" explanation and the connector coming loose? That doesn't make any sense, but certainly overclocks and higher wattage draw could be an issue.....

That being said, as you stated, these boards are supposed to be for overclocking.

Too bad. ASUS is missing opportunities to step up and help their customers all over this forum.

If I was you I'd just chalk it up to an experience. Corsair will no doubt help you out on the PSU end. ASUS, not so much.
 
I don't get the "spring tension" explanation and the connector coming loose? That doesn't make any sense, but certainly overclocks and higher wattage draw could be an issue.....

The female sockets tend to stop gripping the male pins as well when they have been heated up and cooled down a few times (hardening of metal when it is heated up is a known thing), and this can cascade to a big failure for the remaining contacts. If contact were ideal, the current would be shared and the temps of each assoicated pin closely aligned as they all share the same power plane (copper is a very good conductor).
 
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Its threads and responses like these that make me very hesitant on my purchases now. I was already to go and upgrade my 2 year old Asrock 990FX extreme 4 board to a Sabretooth so I could overclock better. Than I see this thread and the official responses and think, "I cannot afford to throw away $200 if this board is going to die and take my $130 power supply with it".

I have had the 945, 1090T, FX8120 and now the FX8350 in my board without worry. I do not want to buy a board that is supposed to be better just to be worried that it is going to burn up or catch on fire when I am not at home. So, with that said, I am really not sure what to upgrade to now.
 
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