Broken Resistor on A7N8X repairable?

[acousticlemur]

hey i pulled my ASUS A7N8X out of the colset the other day to put in my friends computer for him. and i either hit the resistor next to the CPU with a screwdriver putting the heat sink on or somthing, not too sure. but it is broken for sure.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/acousticlemur/My%20Computer/P1010006.jpg


i talked to a guy at a local computer store and he said he should be able to fix it with a dif resistor. is this possible? i mean it's not a bog deal, it doenst work now any way. but is it worth trying? i tried to RMA it but it is too old. what do you guy's think?:respect:

[Dippyskoodlez]

Do you have the old one? Re soldering it shouldnt be too hard to handle, for someone with a bit of experience.

Important thing will be the correct replacement.

Btw nice picture.

[Sasqui]

You can undoubtedly replace it - the problem is knowing what the original pert is/was (Cap or Resitor) and the rating.

I practiced some micro-surface mount soldering (I was going to hard mod a 9500Pro), and had success, but I'd leave it to someone who has experience and tools. If the guys charges you more than say $40, I'd get a new mobo or find someone who would do it for less. To answer - yes, it's very possible.

[WarEagleAU]

Easily possible. Best thing would be to have the original part that popped off. It looks like the diode (resistor) just popped off at the solder joints. IF you had a solder gun and a tad of 965 Kester Flux, then you could, (line up the polarity, its very important, check the silk screen for it) place the part down, dab a little flux, touch the solder gun to the solder, then do the other end. Its a very simple fix. Also, if you knew the ohms, amps, wattage, and all that other good info from it, then you could go to a local electronics place that sells this stuff, buy the diode(resistor) and replace it. SO yes, as Sasqui said, its very replaceable and its also very easy and simple to do.

[acousticlemur]

thanks, and does any one know of a web site that would have the info i need to figure out the rating for the resistor?

[Dippyskoodlez]

Might consider giving asus a call or e-mail, since its such an old motherboard.. nvidia may not have quite the stranglehold on things..

or perhaps someone with an a7n8x with the tools could maybe measure it.

[Lazzer408]

It's not a resistor it's an inductor hence the "L" in the silkscreen callout L32. Inductors like these are mainly for interference supression in a data line or RF interference leaking from that trace pathway. You CAN safely bypass it (short it) and the worst thing you might experience is instability in which case you can call ASUS and ask them the value for the L32 callout on that model. You'll have to trust me on this after all I'm an electronics designer by hobby and a friend to the forum. :toast:

Edit - Just to test it take an ohm meter to the one just above it (white one L33) and I bet you read 0 ohms! :) Take another picture back just a bit if you can. I want to be sure of the callouts.

[acousticlemur]

ok, ill take the pic here in a few. thanks for the info. i can fix broken traces, but when it comes to stuff like this i am clueless.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/acousticlemur/My%20Computer/P1010002.jpg

[acousticlemur]

i would really like to fix it cause it performs as good if not better than my 939 A8V Deluxe. i just need to figure out exactly what it is before i go and try to fix it.

[Lazzer408]

http://img.techpowerup.org/070203/P1010002edit.jpg

Yes it is an inductor. You can try jumping it with a small lenght of wire or just use solder to bridge the connection. This will get it going but like I said there MIGHT be an instability problem it the inductor was used to lower noise in a digital path. Send a full sized picture of the board and mark the location so I can get a better idea what area/circuit it's used in. Go ahead and jump it though. You won't hurt it.

[acousticlemur]

here is a full size pic and one a bit closer to the CPU socket...


http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/acousticlemur/My%20Computer/P1010004.jpg


http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g97/acousticlemur/My%20Computer/P1010005-1.jpg

[Lazzer408]

Tough call. It's either on power feeds from the supply to the left or on data lines to the northbridge. Sensitive area. No problems jumping it though like I said. Can't hurt anything. Post back how it worked.

[acousticlemur]

i will, i dont have any tools here to try it. but i know a guy at a computer store here in town that said he would do it for free. so when i get it done i will let ya know how it works out. thanks for the help. i just wanted a "second opinion" basically, and i got it, so thanks. if it diesnt work i think i will just turn it into a nice shiny wall clock, with some torn apart hard drives for a dial!

[acousticlemur]

yeah i just looked at the back of it and followed the trace and it goes to the northbridge.

[Lazzer408]

i will, i dont have any tools here to try it. but i know a guy at a computer store here in town that said he would do it for free. so when i get it done i will let ya know how it works out. thanks for the help. i just wanted a "second opinion" basically, and i got it, so thanks. if it diesnt work i think i will just turn it into a nice shiny wall clock, with some torn apart hard drives for a dial!

That works! :D