Fixing a MSI z270 with no CPU connection

[treeburgers]

Hi,

I got an old MSI Z270 gaming pro from a buddy. It's been dead for a while, the CPU debug led is on and there seems to be no connection to the cpu. It's as cold as when it was mounted even after the system has been on for some time. I can't get a boot or a picture (Which makes sense considering the cpu...)

I found 3 bend pins when i recieved which i have tried to straighten. Spend a lot of time to perfect them and i see no flaws on any pins now. But i still can't get a boot and the debug LED is still on. Only booting with necessary components but still no luck.

It's an old board so RMA is not an option. It's not crucial for me to fix it, but i find it a fun challenge. Because of that i am reaching out in here, hoping that you guys might be able to help me with any possible fixes!

[Haro]

Would be appreciated if we can know the full specs. 

2 minutes ago, treeburgers said:

Spend a lot of time to perfect them

Picture?

[treeburgers]

9 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

Would be appreciated if we can know the full specs. 

Picture?

Here you go!

[Haro]

Just now, treeburgers said:

Here you go!

Specs?

[treeburgers]

Msi z270 gaming pro
I5-7500
atm just trying with 8gb DDR4 2666

Removed all other components until i figure the cpu thing

[Haro]

3 minutes ago, treeburgers said:

Msi z270 gaming pro
I5-7500
atm just trying with 8gb DDR4 2666

That's not the "essentials". 

Other than the case.  Everything is necessary. 

3 minutes ago, treeburgers said:

Removed all other components until i figure the cpu thing

Clear the cmos. 

And as said above. Use everything. 

[treeburgers]

2 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

That's not the "essentials". 

Other than the case.  Everything is necessary. 

Clear the cmos. 

And as said above. Use everything. 

cmos clear has been tried aswell as taking out the battery for some minutes.

Added a gtx 1070 to it aswell to run a full setup.

Specs on the setup now:
Msi z270 gaming pro
I5-7500
2x8gb DDR4 2666
gtx 1070 founders edition
Corsair CX750m
 

[Haro]

4 minutes ago, treeburgers said:

Specs on the setup now:
Msi z270 gaming pro
I5-7500
2x8gb DDR4 2666
gtx 1070 founders edition
Corsair CX750m

Try without the GPU. 

Try with the igpu. Reseat everything.

It could very well be a dead motherboard as well. 

[svmlegacy]

31 minutes ago, treeburgers said:

Hi,

I got an old MSI Z270 gaming pro from a buddy. It's been dead for a while, the CPU debug led is on and there seems to be no connection to the cpu. It's as cold as when it was mounted even after the system has been on for some time. I can't get a boot or a picture (Which makes sense considering the cpu...)

I found 3 bend pins when i recieved which i have tried to straighten. Spend a lot of time to perfect them and i see no flaws on any pins now. But i still can't get a boot and the debug LED is still on. Only booting with necessary components but still no luck.

It's an old board so RMA is not an option. It's not crucial for me to fix it, but i find it a fun challenge. Because of that i am reaching out in here, hoping that you guys might be able to help me with any possible fixes!

10/10 for providing accurate and useful pictures, OP.

 

Anyways, please follow the instructions in this post to the very letter:

 

[Windows7ge]

Did you connect your own CPU & PSU or did your friend supply those too?

[treeburgers]

26 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Did you connect your own CPU & PSU or did your friend supply those too?

All parts are mine and verified that they all work before using them here.
 

26 minutes ago, svmlegacy said:

10/10 for providing accurate and useful pictures, OP.

 

Anyways, please follow the instructions in this post to the very letter:

 

Thanks man! Did run through that one before posting here.

29 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

Try without the GPU. 

Try with the igpu. Reseat everything.

It could very well be a dead motherboard as well. 

Tried with ram and cpu only, no response. Have disassembled everything to check for any wrong connections, metals touching or likewise. Nothing though.

At the moment i suspect a dead motherboard as the cpu does not change temp at all. Tried quickly firing it with no cooler to see if the cpu would heat up. No change though. So i assume that the connection is dead there. Not gonna try if it's overly complicated to fix, was just hoping to revive a board that hasn't been used much

[Windows7ge]

9 minutes ago, treeburgers said:

All parts are mine and verified that they all work before using them here.

If that's the case I would probably pull the whole thing out of the chassis (if it's in one) and start probing with a multi-meter. See if the 12V from the CPU 8-pin connector is going where it needs to go. Inspect everything in the CPU area for burn marks, smell, chipped components, or gouges in the PCB.

 

In what fashion did it stop working for him? What was he doing at the time? Did he smell anything burning? See any sparks?

[svmlegacy]

2 hours ago, treeburgers said:

All parts are mine and verified that they all work before using them here.
 

Thanks man! Did run through that one before posting here.

Tried with ram and cpu only, no response. Have disassembled everything to check for any wrong connections, metals touching or likewise. Nothing though.

At the moment i suspect a dead motherboard as the cpu does not change temp at all. Tried quickly firing it with no cooler to see if the cpu would heat up. No change though. So i assume that the connection is dead there. Not gonna try if it's overly complicated to fix, was just hoping to revive a board that hasn't been used much

Can you highlight which pins were bent? I can likely look up their purpose. If you have a DVOM, it may be also possible to check if the VRM's are coming online.

[treeburgers]

On 7/13/2020 at 9:32 PM, Windows7ge said:

If that's the case I would probably pull the whole thing out of the chassis (if it's in one) and start probing with a multi-meter. See if the 12V from the CPU 8-pin connector is going where it needs to go. Inspect everything in the CPU area for burn marks, smell, chipped components, or gouges in the PCB.

 

In what fashion did it stop working for him? What was he doing at the time? Did he smell anything burning? See any sparks?

Thanks for all the great feedback so far! Really appreciate you guys for taking your time to help me out.

I just ordered a multi-meter as i did not have one in hand. So will be able to test that. 
Regarding noises, smelles etc my buddy said he didn't register a thing. He couldn't get a post one day and it has been dead ever since. Can't find any of that very familiar electric smoke smell anywhere, so i would be surprised if anything has burned. I can't say for sure though. All capacitors and VRMs seems fine aswell. He did suggest a loose capacitor but they no soldering has broken as far as i can tell. My little experience in electrical engineering has taught me that they would show some sign of having burned if they for whatever reason broke.

PCB looks fine all along the board. Tried tracing most lines out from the cpu socket.

On 7/13/2020 at 11:30 PM, svmlegacy said:

Can you highlight which pins were bent? I can likely look up their purpose. If you have a DVOM, it may be also possible to check if the VRM's are coming online.

I honestly can't pinpoint the exact pins anymore as they are quite straight now all of them.The ones i found were mostly located around the area where the PCB leads over to the RAM slots. This is the best i can do, though i do remember the ones in the small circle was bent

[Windows7ge]

This might suggest a power surge or brownout occurred overnight. It could have damaged something necessary for the CPU to receive power.

 

If the CPU is cold I'd be inclined to believe the CPU VRMs aren't getting power either. You can check if they're getting warn by just letting the system idle for a while. If the heatsink stays ~cold then we need to go further up the pipeline.

[svmlegacy]

2 hours ago, treeburgers said:

PCB looks fine all along the board. Tried tracing most lines out from the cpu socket.

I honestly can't pinpoint the exact pins anymore as they are quite straight now all of them.The ones i found were mostly located around the area where the PCB leads over to the RAM slots. This is the best i can do, though i do remember the ones in the small circle was bent

Well, I can say that the small circle pins are related to the DMI bus, how the CPU talks to the chipset. All low current signalling, with VSS mixed around it, so any pins contacting each other would likely just ground them out. I doubt that it caused any permanent damage to the chipset mobo. Easily a coincidence.