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scratch on my motherboard (prime b560m a)

mahmhr
Level 8
I find some scratch on back of my motherboard, how much is it serious.
right now, I don't have a CPU to test the motherboard.
sorry for my English.
here is the photo with higher resolution.
https://ibb.co/4VtryjF
1,763 Views
13 REPLIES 13

DragDay7
Level 9
I wouldn't use it before making sure those traces aren't shorted (unless they are by design). You should give it to someone trusted before you power it up - I don't think warranty will cover such damage, but that's not a difficult thing to fix if that scratch really shorted something.

DragDay7 wrote:
I wouldn't use it before making sure those traces aren't shorted (unless they are by design). You should give it to someone trusted before you power it up - I don't think warranty will cover such damage, but that's not a difficult thing to fix if that scratch really shorted something.


do you think the damage is serious (I mean the scratch is deep enough)? I don't know how this happened; I just accidently find it.

DragDay7
Level 9
It's not but there's risk you will damage other components without checking it properly.

DragDay7 wrote:
It's not but there's risk you will damage other components without checking it properly.


thank you for your response.
unfortunately, I don't have/know anyone to do that,
I don't know how to check it without a CPU, like is that even possible to check the motherboard without a CPU.
is it safe to turn on the motherboard without CPU? (Other than CPU, everything else plugged in (gpu, ram, SSD, psu ...)
I want to buy a CPU and now I don't even dare to buy and plugged in to this motherboard because I fear that the motherboard could damage the CPU!!?

Nate152
Moderator
Hi mahmhr,

The traces look ok to me, it doesn't look like you broke the traces, just scraped the top layer off, you can see the gold is still there. You could inspect them with a magnifying glass to get a better idea.

Finger nail polish works good to cover them back up, some sort of epoxy or even a strip of electrical tape would work.

I wouldn't be afraid to try it, it will be fine, I bet the motherboard still works.

DragDay7
Level 9
There's a huge chance everything is fine, but also a slight risk it's not - especially with thin traces (google has examples of bricked devices because of a short from scratch). I can't tell by looking at the photo and I wouldn't advice to power it up like that. After all it's your property we're talking about - no one will take the blame if it gets worse. Once you turn it on there's no going back* so make sure you looked enough into it before trying anything.

*many times I wish I was aware of that myself before I broke something xD

DragDay7 wrote:
There's a huge chance everything is fine, but also a slight risk it's not - especially with thin traces (google has examples of bricked devices because of a short from scratch). I can't tell by looking at the photo and I wouldn't advice to power it up like that. After all it's your property we're talking about - no one will take the blame if it gets worse. Once you turn it on there's no going back* so make sure you looked enough into it before trying anything.

*many times I wish I was aware of that myself before I broke something xD


I understand what you are saying and really appreciate your concern, but how can I test the motherboard in this situation (without CPU)? what can I do with it?
I can't even trust my eyes because I don't even know what am I looking at? when I use my phone's camera (64mp) with x10 zoomed, the trace doesn't look like its cut off but it's more like smashed (or pressed, crushed I don't know what's the right word, if that even make sense).
and between the two trace I don't know if its look like just a scratch or what?
should I unplug everything else on my motherboard, is it possible that the motherboard damage anything that attached to motherboard like gpu, ...
here is another photo:
https://ibb.co/6v0pD4G

DragDay7
Level 9
This photo is great and I see nothing to worry about. Some part of resin missing, that's it.

DragDay7 wrote:
This photo is great and I see nothing to worry about. Some part of resin missing, that's it.


thanks for your responds.
so, do you think it's safe to plugged the CPU (I want to buy one in couple of days) into the motherboard and turn the system on?
sorry if its look like I am repeating my question, CPU prices here in my country is crazy high. I just want to make sure that the motherboard is OK and it's not going to damage other component (CPU, gpu or anything else).