Intel ICH5 chipset burnt, how come?

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November 1st, 2004, 06:22 AM
onemilimeter

Intel ICH5 chipset burnt, how come?

My friend's newly bought Gigabyte m/board can not work anymore as we found out that the Intel ICH5 Chipset on the board was damaged/burnt (a tiny hole and burnt mark on the IC).

How the board got damaged:

He tried to transfer photos from digital camera to PC via USB interface. He setup the file transfer as follows:
1) Like usual, PC was ON.
2) Digital camera was turned OFF.
3) USB cable was connected to the USB port (at front panel of the PC).
4) Another end of USB cable was connected to the digital camera.
5) Press the 'POWER' button on the camera.

When 1 ~ 4 was performed, everything was FINE. However, when (5) was carried out, he told me that he heard 'IC cracking' sound and got some 'IC-burnt' smell. After that, he found a hole (tiny hole) on top of a chipset (i.e. Intel FW82801EB).

Pls advise why this happened. We think the incident happened because of a short-circuit between the Vbus and GND. But how both lines were shorted? For your information, he managed to transfer photos to PC couple times before this incident.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruslan

Fuse? It is a small chip (rectangular),component, soldered on the PCB for preventing damage to USB or Keyboard chips because of overloading... Usually marked on PCB as "F1, F2, F3" and so on, have black colour (originally) or be painted in green colour (sometimes) and should be having zero resistance, if good. Could be burnt, if someone shorted "+5V" line of the USB connector to the "ground" line... could be shorted inside the camera's tiny USB connector, for example...

I got the quoted message from this forum. What actually happened at the digital camera when the POWER button was pressed? I'm interested in the comment by Ruslan "could be shorted insides the camera's tiny USB connector"? How would the tiny connector contribute to this incident? Because the connection was not setup properly (e.g. the connector was not pushed deep enough into the camera USB port?)?

After the incident, I tested the camera and cable with my computer. And, I had no problem to transfer photos to my PC, meaning the camera and the cable were still OK. Really weird. And really hope someone could explain.
November 1st, 2004, 09:27 AM
hudsonsmith

Welcome to windrivers onemillimeter. The behaviour you described should not occur. If the board is newly purchased, your friend should return it as defective.
November 1st, 2004, 11:25 AM
onemilimeter

Quote:

Originally Posted by hudsonsmith

Welcome to windrivers onemillimeter. The behaviour you described should not occur. If the board is newly purchased, your friend should return it as defective.

It's purchased 3 months ago. In our country, if the board has problem after 7 days it's purchased, the board will not be entitled for 1-to-1 replacement. I have sent the board to supplier but it will take some time before I would get it back.

I wish to understand the 'mechanisme' why the chipset was damaged. I am worried to use USB peripherals now. I'm afraid it will happen again. I wonder anyone out there has such experience before. Pls do share if you have.

By the way, I wish to confirm that if the ICH5 chipset is damaged, can the system reboot?
November 1st, 2004, 11:36 AM
Ferrit

Its entirely possible if the camera wasnt used on that particular front port before that the actual front port was wired wrong and only burnt when something IE: the camera was detected on that port
November 1st, 2004, 12:02 PM
onemilimeter

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferrit

Its entirely possible if the camera wasnt used on that particular front port before that the actual front port was wired wrong and only burnt when something IE: the camera was detected on that port

I always used the same front USB port (pretty sure). I used the front USB port to interface handy drive, printer and camera before (incident).

By the way, why did you say 'only burnt when something, i.e. the camera was detected on that port'?
November 1st, 2004, 12:09 PM
Ferrit

detecting a device
November 1st, 2004, 10:20 PM
Ruslan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferrit

Its entirely possible if the camera wasnt used on that particular front port before that the actual front port was wired wrong and only burnt when something IE: the camera was detected on that port

I was thinking about the same... That's why I don't trust much front USB connectors... :)

It could be just a coincidence,though, what it happened while USB device was connected...

Check the rest of components (and first of all, the power supply - inside!)... if it is not under warranty, of course... Check for any "burn" signs and for popped capacitors... If it is branded of brand-new power supply (few months), that may be not nesessary,though...

Check out also camera's USB connector - if there is no any pin bent...
November 1st, 2004, 10:41 PM
onemilimeter

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferrit

detecting a device

Would you pls advise the mechanisme behind the 'detecting a device' that might damage the chipset?
November 1st, 2004, 11:36 PM
onemilimeter

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruslan

I was thinking about the same... That's why I don't trust much front USB connectors...

After reading your comment, I suspected that it could be the reason. So, I checked the wires/connectors of the front USB ports. I found out that the wires (there are TWO pairs, one for each port), which extended from front USB ports, were labelled properly (e.g. +5v, G, D+, D-) and the pin configuration of BOTH front USB ports are matched. We installed the connectors from front USB ports by referring to the m/board user manual. So, the chance to connect wrongly should be very low.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruslan

It could be just a coincidence,though, what it happened while USB device was connected...

After connecting the USB cable to PC (ON) and to digital camera (OFF), nothing happened. But when the POWER button of the digital camera was pressed, he heard the 'ic-cracking' sound and felt 'ic-burnt' smell. What actually happened at digital camera side when POWER button was pressed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruslan

Check the rest of components (and first of all, the power supply - inside!)... if it is not under warranty, of course... Check for any "burn" signs and for popped capacitors... If it is branded of brand-new power supply (few months), that may be not nesessary,though...

The power supply (PS) is not branded one (branded PS is expensive in our country) but it's two fans and considered a popular brand in our country as many computer retailers sell it. The PS is still under warranty. I have checked the output voltages of the PS and all seemed to be OK.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruslan

Check out also camera's USB connector - if there is no any pin bent...

The camera, after the 'disaster', has been tested in many other PCs and so far it works fine with other PCs.
November 2nd, 2004, 07:56 PM
Ruslan

So, it could be just only coincidence - if chipset was having hidden defects, and connecting USB device just only added "few extra drops to overflow the cup"...

I use my camera exactly the same way,by the way, and you never know what can happen next second... AFAIK, power button on the camera is not connected to USB (at least, not directly)...
But no one will give you warranty it will not happen again... It is very hard to judge without actually seeing all the parts... :sad:
November 8th, 2004, 09:54 AM
Garak

sounds like usb header back to front and 5v's when into the ground to me.. Gigabyte are notorious for using non-standard USB pinouts....
November 9th, 2004, 04:09 AM
MobilePCPhysician

Most boards pinout 5v, d-, d+, G. As Garak stated, that board may have a different pinout.
December 6th, 2004, 10:21 PM
MAKMAN

Quote:

Originally Posted by MobilePCPhysician

Most boards pinout 5v, d-, d+, G. As Garak stated, that board may have a different pinout.

Hi,
I recently bought Gigabyte MB GA-8IPE1000 Pro-G, installed my old parts on it (VGA, HDD and Modem) and bought Intel P4 3GHZ 1MB cache and Dual channel RAM 400 and a new Floppy drive. When I started the PC everything went fine but after 4 minutes I had the same problem as my friend had and the ICH5 was burnt. I took the CPU for check in the supplier shop the CPU was in good state. The supplier gave me another new mainboard, I installed everything carefully and even replaced the whole case with the power supply. (didn't replace or test the RAM neither the Floppy which are the only new parts on the new PC). The ICH5 was also burnt again, though I didn't connect any device to any port. The supplier went crazy and tested the CPU again on another different board and no sign of trouble , then he promised to check the RAM on another PC.

Could this problem be a reason of damaged floppy drive or RAM. I couldn't really explain it.
December 13th, 2004, 07:55 AM
alman

Same thing here

I have had 3 of these chips burn out in 1 week. There does not appear to be any good reason for this. They were all Dell Optiplex GX270's factory options, nothing else added. One was on a replaced motherboard (it had done this and was replaced by Dell)

I also found the same situation on another forum from back in September.

I'm thinking Intel has a problem with these chips.
December 13th, 2004, 10:09 PM
MAKMAN

Hi Alman

I finally decided to replace the power supply and avoided the connection of the front USB on the case to the mainboard expecting that the front USB on the case could have short circuit. So the 3rd board is now working nice until now.
December 14th, 2004, 11:18 AM
alman

Well, chalk one more up - 4 in total now. Good thing we have 3 yr. gold support from Dell. The 3rd one hasn't been replaced yet, but they are sending a new CPU power supply and board.

I still think the chips are bad. There are no other marks anywhere else.
December 14th, 2004, 03:06 PM
alman

Just to let you know I have found the same thing in another forum

http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=1404712
December 14th, 2004, 10:17 PM
MAKMAN

By the way, the supplier phoned me last night asking me about the type of VGA and other cards I had on my PC when the chip is burnt because another customer had the same problem and the chip ICH5 was burnt on the his board.
March 11th, 2005, 01:44 AM
LucianoMichael

Same thing! 2 motherboards in one day! "Burned Up!"

I HAVE BEEN BUILDING PC'S WITH GIGABYTE MOTHERBOARDS FOR SOME TIME NOW, I HAVE ALWAYS USED SOCKET 478 WITH NO PROBLEMS..... LAST WEEK I DECIDED TO BUILD (2) NEW PC'S ONE FOR ME AND MY FATHER WITH SOCKET LGA775 P4....... NEEDLESS TO SAY I KNOW HOW TO CONNECT USB CONNECTIONS ON GIGABYTE MOTHERBOARDS. THE FIRST ONE I BUILT RAN JUST GREAT!, HOWEVER AFTER I GOT EVERYTHING INSTALLED I WANTED TO TEST MY DIGITAL CAMERA TO LIST SOME THINGS ON EBAY, AS SOON AS I HIT THE CAMERA "ON" BUTTON "IT WAS FRIED! BURNED UP IN A SPLIT SECOND." THE CAMERA WAS ALSO CONNECTED THROUGH THE FRONT USB... THE MOTHERBOARDS I WAS USING WERE "GA-8IPE775-G" WELL REMEMBER I HAD ANOTHER ONE SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME FOR MY FATHERS PC THAT I WAS BUILDING, AFTER CHECKING AND TESTING EVERYTHING, I INSTALLED HIS MOTHERBOARD WITH ALL NEW COMPONETS AND LOADED JUST THE BASICS W/WINDOWS XP, IT ALSO RAN FINE I CHECKED ALL SETTINGS IN BIOS AND THEY ALSO WERE OK, NOHTING WAS WRONG IT RAN GREAT!!! FOR ABOUT 2 HRS, I DECIDED TO GIVE THE CAMERA ANOTHER TRY I PLUGGED IT UP TO THE FRONT USB, AND UPLOADED THE PICTURES IT RAN FOR HOURS JUST FINE AND I HAD NO-PROBLEMS. I WAS SURFING THE WEB FOR ABOUT 4HRS AND THEN "ZILCH" IT WAS ALSO "FRIED" I WAS NOT USING ANYTHING THE CAMERA WAS OFF AND NOTING WAS CONNECTED. THERE WAS ONLY ONE COMPONET THAT I HAD INSTALLED ON BOTH COMPUTERS AND THAT WAS MY VIDEO CARD. IT IS A CHAINTECH nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "SA5200-256" MABEY THIS IS THE PROBLEM? "I DON'T KNOW. I HAVE RETURNED THE MOTHERBOARDS AS DOA TO NEWEGG.COM AS I BOUGHT THEM AS REFURBISHED. I NOW DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO....... I AM AFRAID TO BUY MORE GIGABYTE MOTHERBOARDS OF THIS TYPE. THIS IS A HUGE WASTE OF TIME I HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING COMPATIBILITY PROBLEMS, CHIPSET SPECS, ECT. I DONT WANT TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN! IF ANYONE KNOWS WHAT THE EXACT PROBLEM IS WITH THIS PLEASE LET ME KNOW MY EMAIL IS [email protected], THANK YOU!
March 11th, 2005, 09:03 AM
Ferrit

Wow thats a lot of capital letters
:drink:
March 11th, 2005, 11:58 AM
MobilePCPhysician

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferrit

Wow thats a lot of capital letters
:drink:

And we just got supply of commas back to nornal. :cool:
March 11th, 2005, 12:50 PM
Ferrit

And we just got supply of commas back to nornal.
hehehehehe
March 16th, 2005, 06:27 AM
GRK

alman, we've also had problems with the Dell Optiplex GX270 burning out the USB chip on the motherboard. I wondered if Dell has made any comments to you? Like you we've clocked up 4 fatalities.
March 22nd, 2005, 09:45 AM
mapleleaf

chipset ICH5

It became known issue recently that Intels ICH5 chipsets is burning out while connecting USB device. Mainly ASUS P4P 800 boards are known to suffer this problem.
May 4th, 2005, 05:48 AM
chaaz0

ICH5 chip burnt - is it the camera???

Hello, I'm new to the forum as I only got here because I did a websearch on causes of the computer crashing while using the front USB port.

What a coincidence!!!!!!!!

I too am using a Dell 270 machine and was doing EXACTLY what the first writer described; EXACTLY

My rig smoked immediately.

I am very suspicious tht the camera might be causing a momentary short-to-ground while powering it up with the USB cable connected.

BTW, since I am suggesting it may be a camera issue, I should mention that I was using an HP Photosmart M305 camera.

Could the other users on this thread be possibly using the same brand camera?

I will be calling HP today to find out if this is a known issue with their cameras.

More to follow.

feel free to e-mail me at:

[email protected]

or

[email protected]

kind regards,

chuck
May 6th, 2005, 06:22 PM
spydermanpat

Hi People..... I agree with everyone that stated that there is a problem with the chip. Seems like all the different scenerios trace back to the chipset. I used to do Warranty Admin. for Mack Trucks until I got sick from a virus and the way it works is.......the squeeky wheel gets the oil. If you can't get any help from the supplier, go directly to the manufacturer. They know that they have a problem, but they usually don't make a big display of it, because they take care of one problem at a time.....$$$$$$$$$$ it's all about the buck. If they have some kind of recall, they loose millions. Be persistant and you can get something out of it.