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Venomous X Compatibility Issue (and solution!)

F

FaRKle0079

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 11, 2005
Messages
2,686
So I just got a shiny new Venomous X in for testing and ran into a little issue. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the Ven X to POST on my ASUS P6T6 WS. All I got was error code "FF" on the GP card and a flashing "CPU DIAG" led light. Now I know the CPU is fine, and I also know that error code "FF" isn't documented by ASUS.

After reinstalling the Ven X many times I finally decided to toss on my old COGAGE TRUE Spirit to see if that still worked. Like a charm, it worked on the first try. I tried searching Google for anybody that might be having similar issues with the Ven X and came up dry.

I noticed these two coolers touch the motherboard in the same areas on top, so I decided to examine the backplates. I noticed the thread posts on the TRUE Spirit's had rubber washers around the base. This was to prevent any shorting where the base of the thread posts touched the bottom of the motherboard. Examining the bottom of my P6T6 I found out that where the base of the thread posts touched the motherboard there actually were motherboard traces. Contrary to the TRUE Spirit's backplate, the Ven X's backplate has an exposed metal base at each thread post. I tried putting a rubber washer on each thread post to cover up the exposed base. Once I reinstalled the Ven X and hit the power button the computer booted up just fine. So it turns out this exposed metal was causing a short of some kind and inibiting my computer from booting up.

Hope this helps someone else out there!

Below are some pictures of the Ven X's backplate and my fix on it.
IMG_1434.jpg

IMG_1435.jpg
 
Thanks for posting that. Filing this one away 300 [H]ardpoints for finding the problem and solution, 500 [H]ardpoints for letting us know.

Going now to look at the Intel spec on the "keep out" area for traces around the heatsink mounting holes (not that it would help in the situation but curious as to if the lack of washers should be blamed on the HS manuf or Asus for putting traces where there should be none.)

Heatsink manuf fault, I think.
http://download.intel.com/design/processor/designex/320837.pdf (page 48 and 49)

hole is 4.03mm diameter
surrounded by a 6mm diameter using the same center point no route no component area ( so rougly a 1mm / .039 in. "buffer" area around the hole for no traces and thats pretty small. )

The oblong silver metal "pads" on that heatsink look larger than 6mm. But hard to tell. No matter, your solution clearly indicates an issue some engineer somewhere should have considered and dealt with. Even a thin fibre washer would have been sufficient.
 
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That's interesting, I'll keep an eye on this thread if I run into the same issues. I just installed the veno X on the maximus Gene and haven't ran into any issues yet except for Fan error =/.
 
haha I hope I dont get this error seeing how I just bought this from the OP.
 
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