Did I break my motherboard?

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I'm a beginner Builder but I was building my computer with a foldable screwdriver and the screwdriver bent in on its self. The screwdriver hit the motherboard and took off a small silver piece. What does this piece do and did I break my b450 Tomahawk Max motherboard? Should I return it and get a new one or what.... the images show which piece came off.

[kelvinhall05]

Likely a small SMD resistor. It might work but I'd replace it just in case.

[Dedayog]

Yeah, we can't know the damage level.  I'd replace it personally, but worth trying out at least to see how it performs.

 

Please use REGULAR tools when putting a PC together.  They're literally meant to be completed with a single regular screwdriver, nothing fancy.  No bendy this, no super socket wrench from iFixit bullshit that.

 

They're tough but not indestructible.

[NelizMastr]

Returning the board and asking for a replacement isn't really legal unless you pay for the new board in full  keep that in mind.

 

Your best bet is to replace the resistor.

[NelizMastr]

Just now, Hakemon said:

Literally no one is going to care or see it, if they had to ask if their motherboard was dead and didn't know it was a resistor, I REALLY and HIGHLY doubt OP can solder an SMD component.  So let's be realistic here and not live in a fantasy world.

Promoting fraud is peferable? Who's living in a fantasy world here? Lol.

[Archer42]

Keep in mind - there are no useless components on the board.

You removed seemingly smd resistor (or other small smd component - hard to tell). This will almost certainly result in something not working. Can be anything - from some port to something critical like cpu power. Will have to replace it, which might be a bit of a pain since you'll also have to know the value of the component.

 

Also yeah, breaking something and then returning it is generally bad...

[Archer42]

5 minutes ago, Hakemon said:

The resistor cost the manufacturer pennies, and will cost them nothing to repair.

So stealing is fine if you steal a couple of pennies? No, not really.

 

Also this is not how it works. Will take a good amount of time to troubleshoot without knowing what the issue is and nobody is going to bother. Most likely will just end up in e-waste since for manufacturer it'll often be cheaper to make new one than to repair this. Unless repair happens on some local service center level.

[mariushm]

Based on the location, it looks like it is a component near the VRM controller, the chip that controls how 12v from the power supply is converted to the voltages used by cpu (0.6v...1.4v) could affect one of the video out connectors (hdmi, displayport)  or some usb connectors. 

 

edit : checked pictures of the board. 

 

Due to where the part is located, i would recommend returning the motherboard, because that vrm circuit is very complex and the broken part could cause the pc to be unstable, or in extreme scenarios the controller could misbehave and hurt your processor.

 

In some countries, you have 7-10 working days to return something without having to provide a reason... if you can do that, take advantage of it. 

Otherwise, go ahead and say that the motherboard is rebooting randomly or something like that as a reason for the return, or say you want to upgrade to a B550 model.

 

Yeah, it sucks, it's fraud, but it's a drop in the ocean, and you're not gonna bankrupt msi or the store selling you the part.

 

 

 

 

if it's cream/white component, it was a surface mount capacitor.

if it's black, it's a surface mount ferrite bead or inductor... these filter the signal going to connectors or to some chips (ex usb controller) 

if it's brownish/black/gray  with or without a number (if it's too small there's no number) it's a resistor. 

 

It's a high probability the component was in series meaning there's a wire in motherboard going from one component (the cpu for example) to another (the video out connector, or usb connector or something)  and the part was on the wire   [source ] ----- wire ---- [ component ] ------ [ connector]  

As the signals moved through the surface mount component,  and now the component is no longer in circuit, that bit after the component probably won't work right or at all. 

 

For example, HDMI connector may need 6 or 8 wires with signals to go into it, but because the part is gone, or 5 or 7 wires carry the signal into the hdmi connector.  So, your monitor may not be able to decode the signal from the HDMI connector. 

If you don't have integrated graphics, then you won't be affected, because there's no signals going through those wires. 

 

Just the same, if the wire was carrying some signals to some usb ports, then you could have problems detecting a device plugged into the usb connector for example, or the motherboard may get upset if it detects a device, sends commands to it, but replies never reach the motherboard because the reply was supposed to come through that wire that's now interrupted.

(you could in theory solve this issue by disabling those usb ports from bios and you'd have a working pc, but nothing would happen when you try to use those specific usb ports in the back)

 

 

[NelizMastr]

1 hour ago, Hakemon said:

  The resistor cost the manufacturer pennies, and will cost them nothing to repair.  You're asking OP to spend another huge wad of cash they may or may not even have.  It's really not that big of a deal you think, so yes you're living in a fantasy world where you think the cost of one little wee bit SMD resistor should be the cost of a full motherboard when the manufacturer will spend nothing on fixing it.  They have the bed of nails that'll diagnose it fairly fast, and get it back in circulation in no time.

Still fraud, as you're asking for a free replacement of something you broke. It's illegal, regardless of whether it costs nothing or a million.

 

Accidents happen, it's not up to the store to pay for that. You break something, it's your problem. It's not fantasy, it's the harsh truth of the real world. 

 

Not that I expect someone with an AMD FX to understand the real world  

[Kilrah]

1 hour ago, Hakemon said:

and will cost them nothing to repair. 

It would cost them more to repair than the cost of the board so wouldn't even happen, it'd just be thrown away.

[SansVarnic]

3 hours ago, Hakemon said:

Literally no one is going to care or see it, if they had to ask if their motherboard was dead and didn't know it was a resistor, I REALLY and HIGHLY doubt OP can solder an SMD component.  So let's be realistic here and not live in a fantasy world.

3 hours ago, Archer42 said:

Keep in mind - there are no useless components on the board.

You removed seemingly smd resistor (or other small smd component - hard to tell). This will almost certainly result in something not working. Can be anything - from some port to something critical like cpu power. Will have to replace it, which might be a bit of a pain since you'll also have to know the value of the component.

 

Also yeah, breaking something and then returning it is generally bad...

3 hours ago, Archer42 said:

So stealing is fine if you steal a couple of pennies? No, not really.

 

Also this is not how it works. Will take a good amount of time to troubleshoot without knowing what the issue is and nobody is going to bother. Most likely will just end up in e-waste since for manufacturer it'll often be cheaper to make new one than to repair this. Unless repair happens on some local service center level.

This is promoting fraud, granted its pennies but the idea and even suggesting this Violates the Communities Standards.

$0.02 or $1000 is still fraud.

Do not continue to do this in this forum as we do not accept this behavior, if you do, you may find yourself disciplined.

 

 

@0000001000100111001100 If you attempt to RMA this make sure to be truthful, they will be able to tell if you're lying. Trust me it's better to be upfront than attempt fraud, they may even fix it for you for being upront. I was honest with a company this once and they straight up replaced the board and sent me a new one.

 

 

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Solution was found and marked by OP.