Diagnosing a PCIe card - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: System Error Message
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2016, 04:44:23 am
content: Im trying to diagnose a PCIe based soundcard that doesnt work. it used to work but than started freezing the system. There is no problem with the sound bit of the card rather the digital bit of it.How would one go about looking for the issue? Could it be bad electrolytic capacitors (i cant see any problems in terms of looks), corrupted storage/flash? Corrupted RAM chip?The only issue it causes is that it freezes during boot into windows. When i uninstall the drivers there arent any problems but than i cant use the card. This didnt use to happen so it is unlikely a driver issue.

author: singapol
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2016, 05:52:17 am
content: Quote from: System Error Message on June 23, 2016, 04:44:23 amIf it has smt (surface mounted vs through hole)) electrolytic caps (these are no.1 culprits) but you need an ESR meter as a capacitance reading from a multimeter will indicate only capacitance. Buy a MESR-100 V2 (version2) which is cheap n good.ESR meter will be useful for future troubleshooting of other equipment.

author: System Error Message
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2016, 06:30:43 am
content: I think it is surface and through hole. Good thing i incidently bought SMD tools too before even beginning to try this. It was worth the extra cost of randomness.Some components are through hole while some are surface mount. The card is an auzentech HTHD and with close inspection it seems the card uses through hole traditional electrolytic capacitors. It uses a dual layer PCB. When i bought the card it said refurbished so it could be the capacitors as perhaps they may have used cheap ones to fix it?From what i can see on the board it has aluminium electrolytic capacitors, the typical electrolytic capacitors, nihicon capacitors (for the audio part), ceramic capacitorsWhat other components could be the problem?There are also so many tiny capacitors, looking at the board there are so many components labeled as C...

author: MosherIV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2016, 09:56:14 am
content: Hi"How would one go about looking for the issue? Could it be bad electrolytic capacitors (i cant see any problems in terms of looks), corrupted storage/flash? Corrupted RAM chip?"I doubt it will be the capacitors!Does the PC boots OK without the sound card ?Are there any other PCIe cards in the PC ?Can you try the sound card in another PC ?(Does it install and work OK)If so, then the problem is on your PC. It is either the drivers or the PCIe slot (or may even be the whole PCIe system).Try the sound card in another PCIe slot. If you still have the same locking up problem, uninstall the driver.You WILL have to delete the driver files for the sound card from the \Windows32 directory, search for how to do this.The Windows un-install driver does not delete the driver, just disables it!Re-install the driver.If that does not work, then Either the card is broken or your PCIe in your PC is broken.

author: System Error Message
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2016, 10:16:50 am
content: PC boots fine but it is when booting the OS that it freezes at loading desktop, tested with more than 1 PC. I even have hooked it up externally (such as with an eGPU config).Pretty sure its not the PCIe port since it happens on another computer. I am also sure this is not a driver problem because if i hook this up like with an eGPU using expresscard i would first power it on before connecting so not quite sure if problem is drivers or something else.The symptom is a bit funny, first time loading the OS it freezes at loading desktop. After rebooting PC it boots fine into the OS without changing the drivers. So im pretty sure that this is a hardware problem with the card and not a driver issue.

author: MosherIV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2016, 11:13:46 am
content: You said :"it used to work but than started freezing the system."What happened around the time it stopped working?Was there a Windows update by any chance?It may be that the problem is a Windows system and driver compatibility problem.Can you roll back the system?If the problem is electrical :How much is the sound card worth?A PCIe protocol analyser is £100sA PCIe capable scope to look at electrical signals is £100,000sIt might be cheaper to just buy another sound card (get another model, there may be a driver incompatibility issue with your current one).

author: System Error Message
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2016, 11:39:32 am
content: It is definitely not a driver issue because it freezes on linux boot too. Im sure its a hardware issue because the problem happened gradually, not with windows updates or any driver changes. The card was refurbished and when i was using it as an external card if the problem was drivers it would've frozen the laptop when i connected it but it didnt. I would turn on the card before connecting it but when it is inside the PC it boots with the rest of the PC.I will do more testing later after i move.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 24, 2016, 07:15:55 am
content: 1 picture of the card2 you said computer turns on fine after reset? does the sound work ok then? this would be reset/power/thermal related (in no particular order)3 do a finger test:-ground yourself to discharge any static, touching inside of computer case is fine-grab the card between your fingers and squeeze main chip to the board (appears to be bga)-turn on computer-repeat for all chips on the cardnext would be oscilloscope on power rails

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 26, 2016, 12:18:40 am
content: Does the controller chip have a heatsink or not? I looked it up and it shows some with and some without. Maybe there's a thermal issue that was fixed in a newer revision?