Blown mosfet on old Asus P4S800-MX motherboard. Repairable? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: nhexus
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 07:52:05 pm
content: Hi everyone,I received an Asus P4S800-MX motherboard for free, but I've noticed it has a blown mosfet near the RAM DIMM. (https://imgur.com/gallery/uFpQ4)On the mosfet itself it says "apw205n gg200", which turns up no results when googling.Would it be feasible to replace the blown mosfet?Edit: the motherboard doesn't post, but a green pwr led lights up, and the cpu fan spins.Thanks a lot in advance.

author: Armadillo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 08:13:33 pm
content: its APM2054ND.Replace it, watch the symptoms and conclude later.

author: nhexus
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 08:17:03 pm
content: Wow, thanks a bunch!!

author: Armadillo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 08:22:21 pm
content: Watch the footprint;it's in TO252.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 09:16:21 pm
content: SiS661 + Socket 478 Pentium 4this is literary the WORST combo you could imagine, its not even worth thinking about fixingThere is a reason people were throwing away old P4 computers 10 years ago.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 09:22:31 pm
content: Well if you have the rest of the parts that go in it and it will work for what you want then it might be worth trying to fix, but I certainly wouldn't invest much money in it. Keep in mind if the mosfet blew, it may well have blown anything that circuit supplied power to as it was probably a buck converter. Yeah the P4's were not great overall, but I've been repairing some 8088, 386 and 486 hardware lately and the process can be interesting and some of the hardware is reasonably valuable because most of it has been scrapped. Worked on a Z80 based CP/M desktop PC a few months ago that sold for $250 to a collector. Will a P4 motherboard ever be collectible? Who knows, I never thought PC/XT/AT stuff would when I was throwing it out 20 years ago. Now I see ratty looking monochrome monitors selling actually selling for $80+, back in the 90s you couldn't even give those away.

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 09:24:53 pm
content: Component to the right also appears to have a heat bubble in the package, if so will need replacing along with any cause such as failing caps.

author: nhexus
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 09:56:33 pm
content: Hmm, thanks guys. I think I'll buy a better board off ebay, I want to make a P4 machine for nostalgic purposes. Thanks again!

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 10:47:01 pm
content: buy one with Intel chipset if it really has to be P4. P4 was the worst intel arch ever, very sensitive to memory bw/latency, intel made fastest memory controllers, Sis made the worst, Sis was ~10% slower. 2x cheaper AMD on nforce was somewhere in the middle. I pride myself on never owning or selling Pentium 4 systems.Holy crap, that was 15 years ago

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 10:50:41 pm
content: Just the thought of "RDRAM" makes me cringe all these years later. I forget which chipsets used it but the stuff was ridiculous. Overpriced, proprietary and never came close to the claimed performance advantage it was supposed to have. Probably hard to find anymore too.Have fun with the build though, I have an old 486 I get out now and then to play old games on, it was the system I dreamed of having when I was younger but I didn't have $6k to spend on a computer. Waited until it was hopelessly obsolete and got one for freeIt's just as powerful as it was the day it was made.

author: Armadillo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 11:20:01 pm
content: Older OS are dirt cheap or free though not supported but are well usable. I am still having the "parallel port" to run my CNC with window XP. Older OS like window 97 is still used for example in Tektronix TLA700 series logic analysers, as example. I always heard some Americans say "to save it from landfill" something like this... along the line.... so hey.. what's up with older PC / motherboards.?

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2017, 11:58:13 pm
content: "To save it from the landfill" to people means potential collectors item, practical use, sentimental value, scrap value, turn a profit when resold or repaired, make a good youtube video, can't be sourced elsewhere cheaper, easily repaired or some how valuable to someone. Otherwise it's off to the landfill.Edit:Landfill may include a sorting and recycling program.The saying implies you are doing something better for the environment by keeping it alive and out of the trash, it's not always the case.

author: Armadillo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2017, 12:14:28 am
content: I think the Americans meant, to save the Greens, the environments against pollution the carbon footprints, or simply the "Mother Earth", much to our understanding and Green mark practices in my country..... not on monetary terms.Cheers.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2017, 12:49:07 am
content: It means to preserve something so someone else can use it. By far the most efficient form of recycling is reuse, I would much rather give something to somebody who wants to play with it than simply throw it away or scrap it. When you recycle something for raw materials, you are throwing away all the effort that went into building it, and not all materials can be recycled effectively.

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2017, 02:43:52 am
content: Quote from: james_s on March 02, 2017, 12:49:07 amSo that would fall under practical use, gotcha.Just make sure they keep it, pass it on or recycle it correctly when done, otherwise you might have just thrown it in the streets for landfill.The compound energy conservation and environment impact from recycling for material immediately instead of 40-60 years later when someones widow pulls it off the shelf and bins it would be an interesting case study.

author: nhexus
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 02, 2017, 01:17:25 pm
content: So would an ASRock P4i65GV motherboard be a better choice? I found a local seller who has this board in new condition. It has the Intel 865GV chipset.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2017, 02:25:03 pm
content: thats the question you have to ask yourselfand seller? you want to pay for this garbage?seriously go on your country copy of craiglist/olx/gumtree and find someone throwing whole working computer away.People give P4 for free even in my VERY poor part of EU

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2017, 04:40:03 pm
content: The general rule with this sort of thing is if you're looking for it there will be none to be found. Once you pay for one there will be free ones all over. It's been a while since I've seen someone giving away something as old as a P4, most of them are already gone and the core2 generation is what is showing up for recycling.As long as the price is low I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you're having fun then who cares if it costs some money? There are many more pointless ways to piss away money on entertainment.

author: Armadillo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2017, 09:52:49 pm
content: One of my friend, had recently bought 10 macintosh from Russia for the price of peanuts. I am not an apple man so I can't appreciate what he is doing, but I can see that he is enjoying it and repairing those dust filled 1984 Machintosh. Surely, he knows what he is doing and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, nothing more true than that.For whatever reasons, you want that P4, search the internet and embrace yourself the wealth of knowledge with P4 and find the beauty with it ........ and the reasons for it and be strongly readied to stand by it.