Intel ICH5 chipset burnt, how come?

**onemilimeter** · November 1st, 2004, 06:22 AM

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.

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.

**hudsonsmith** · November 1st, 2004, 09:27 AM

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

**onemilimeter** · November 1st, 2004, 11:25 AM

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?

**Ferrit** · November 1st, 2004, 11:36 AM

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

**onemilimeter** · November 1st, 2004, 12:02 PM

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'?

**Ferrit** · November 1st, 2004, 12:09 PM

detecting a device

**Ruslan** · November 1st, 2004, 10:20 PM

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...

**onemilimeter** · November 1st, 2004, 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by Ferrit

detecting a device

Would you pls advise the mechanisme behind the 'detecting a device' that might damage the chipset?

**onemilimeter** · November 1st, 2004, 11:36 PM

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.

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?

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.

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.

**Ruslan** · November 2nd, 2004, 07:56 PM

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...

**Garak** · November 8th, 2004, 09:54 AM

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....

**MobilePCPhysician** · November 9th, 2004, 04:09 AM

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

**MAKMAN** · December 6th, 2004, 10:21 PM

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.

**alman** · December 13th, 2004, 07:55 AM

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.

**MAKMAN** · December 13th, 2004, 10:09 PM

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.