Well poo! My 13 year old PC is dying!!

[Dullard du Jour]

I knew it was on its last leg, no more good nerves left, and getting ready for that ever lasting dirt dive. I had sensed its impending doom and had built the computer I am typing this on. My trustworthy, 13 year old Gigabyte X58A-UHD has finally had the memory controller go belly up. All it will see is one 3 gig stick of Corsair DDR3. This board has 6 slots and the memory must be populated in 3 slot configurations, starting with the even number slots. So, it is slots 2,4, and 6. If you try using only the odd slots the board won't post at all.

I have done the standard memory stick "swap and roll" trick in hopes I had one or two bad memory sticks that were hosing up (that is a technical term) the memory bus. But alas, no such luck. At the BIOS level it only shows memory in slots 4 and 6, and that is with all memory sticks installed. When I have memory in only the even slots it still shows only slot 4 and 6 as populated. The board is history. Only thing that sort of irks me is the CPU is an Intel Bloomfield 950 that is still good but, the LGA is that cursed 1366 and is virtually unavailable except for very questionable purchases. I think I will just go for a new Asrock board and build another computer. I have always had at least two computers on hand, one for daily business and one for fun. The fun computer is the one I experiment on and don't care if it is down for a period of time.

OK...I am finished wailing about my sorrows. On the brighter side of matters I do get to build another computer.

[rene]

FWIW do try to reseat the CPU. There are a lot of pins per memory-channel and if the CPU gets a little dislodged by e.g. uneven cooler pressure one or more channels can very well "die". While you're in there check for bend pins.

[Dullard du Jour]

Will check the seating. Never really gave it much thought though as the Intel processors are firmly and securely held in place with the gate and latching mechanism. One never knows so I will take a good look at that. Thanks!

[151tom]

I use old computers the one I'm on now is 16 years old (2007) and I've had to remove memory sticks from the slots and reinstall them several times to get them to work.

Over the years for some unknown reason onnectors and sockets and memory sockets can become oxidized and no longer function.

Removing whatever is plugged into a connector or socket requires unplugging and reinserting to clean off the oxidation.

Worth a try imo.

[Dullard du Jour]

Over the years for some unknown reason onnectors and sockets and memory sockets can become oxidized and no longer function.

Removing whatever is plugged into a connector or socket requires unplugging and reinserting to clean off the oxidation.

Worth a try imo.

That is where I am heading next on this little adventure. I use a cleaner called Deoxit Fader F5 on electronics / contacts / rotary switches and it works wonders.

Deoxit F5

I noticed the motherboard is rather dust so I am going to do a good housekeeping and cleaning of components and give it one more try. If the memory is not seen then....off on a buying spree for a new motherboard and cpu.

[151tom]

Over the years for some unknown reason onnectors and sockets and memory sockets can become oxidized and no longer function.

Removing whatever is plugged into a connector or socket requires unplugging and reinserting to clean off the oxidation.

Worth a try imo.

That is where I am heading next on this little adventure. I use a cleaner called Deoxit Fader F5 on electronics / contacts / rotary switches and it works wonders.

Deoxit F5

I noticed the motherboard is rather dust so I am going to do a good housekeeping and cleaning of components and give it one more try. If the memory is not seen then....off on a buying spree for a new motherboard and cpu.

Careful with the Deoxit it can be harsh on the contacts.

A rubber pencil eraser works well on the memory stick contacts and alcohol in the slots may help with the contacts of the memory slots and be sure to blow them dry with light blasts of compressed air canned air or a hair dryer.

[Dullard du Jour]

Well, much to my surprise the motherboard now sees all 6 memory slots. I cleaned all the memory slots with Deoxit F5, the board edge of the memory cards, busted the dust from the back of the motherboard and front of the motherboard. Re-seated the CMOS/RTC battery as well which forced me to go into BIOS and set it back up...which of course made it difficult for Win 7 on the next boot. Four or five boots later Win 7 breathes again, all memory is seen and PC runs as it should. I am sort of disappointed in the resurrection of this PC as I was really wanting to build another PC. The days of Win7 on this PC are numbered anyway, I want to use it to have a safe place to "play" with Linux on. Soon I will put a copy of Vera on it and begin a new learning cycle whilst still having my other PC with Vanessa as the always reliable PC for daily use.

I am surprised to read the comment about F5 being harsh. It has been used for years in the electronics world and never a complaint to my knowledge. It and its companion sprays are known to fix problems...not cause problems. The RC hobby uses it on some of the cheaper linear servos that has a contact strip/metal setup for actuating the servos. Never an issue and in fact has saved us from having to purchase new servos. The F5 cleans the contacts up really nice.

[151tom]

I retired from the electronics repair industry and we used all sorts of chemical cleaners and they work well however some of the cleaners can destroy some of the protective surfaces on the copper traces of the circuit boards.

Glad it's working again.

[ajgreeny]

A tip I heard and used once only was to very gently rub a rubber pencil-eraser across the brass contacts of a ram memory stick. It worked for me that one time but please don't assume it's always the same for all hardware at all times.

[151tom]

A tip I heard and used once only was to very gently rub a rubber pencil-eraser across the brass contacts of a ram memory stick. It worked for me that one time but please don't assume it's always the same for all hardware at all times.

Yep I've used that method and it does work most of the time however not always just depends on how oxidized the contacts are.

I use coffee filters and 90% alcohol.

Believe it or not Everclear is a great cleaner however caution is advised.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everclear

https://areterecovery.com/everclear/

[Dullard du Jour]

I have used coffee filters before as well. In my case, I had %99.9 pure iso alcohol that we used for electronics and fiber optic components. That stuff is wicked flammable and I was always careful with it. I never did trust it and pretty much made sure no one around me was smoking are creating static electricity.

I understand what you are saying about removing some surface protection, I guess in my job that was never much of an issue. From time to time if we had a high amp draw across a shelf of equipment it was usually the contacts in the power supply. Pull the supply out and clean the edge contacts and that would restore the power footprint we were looking for. I think the stuff was made by MG but am not sure. I came in a pen type applicator with a felt tip.

Years ago, in the military, we used something called tri-chlor. Evil, cancer causing stuff. I avoided it as much as possible and you could only use it outdoors and upwind or if inside it had to be a well ventilated room. The stuff would get you high and then give you a headache that would make you want to throw yourself into traffic. Eventually I think it got "outlawed" and disappeared and we were told to never any mention it again.

[Dullard du Jour]

A tip I heard and used once only was to very gently rub a rubber pencil-eraser across the brass contacts of a ram memory stick. It worked for me that one time but please don't assume it's always the same for all hardware at all times.

Yep I've used that method and it does work most of the time however not always just depends on how oxidized the contacts are.

I use coffee filters and 90% alcohol.

Believe it or not Everclear is a great cleaner however caution is advised.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everclear

https://areterecovery.com/everclear/

The board seems to be gobbling up posts and your post about cleaning O'scopes is now missing. I looked at that article about cleaning O'scopes and I would have never thought that would have been done. Obviously it worked fine, but man, what a surprise. I have seen where overclockers have cooled their boards in pure water and even oil...I am too much of a coward to do that!

[Petermint]

What about just taking the motherboard down to the local river, scrub it with sand, then lay out in the sun? Works for old clothes when treking.

I have used plain cheap methylated spirits. Worked for computers after a roof blew off in a heavy rain storm. With a bit of luck on an old board, you can break a pin then you get the excuse to upgrade to a new build.

Now to find a thin light notebook with great battery life and an Intel Core i9-13900KS.