The Robot, Desk and Warrior Expeditions

I don't think that blue ring was residue that seeped out of the middle of the MSI motherboard, but some aftermarket plastic, or gel cushion that I may have put there because I lost a piece of mounting hardware that protected it when the screw inserted through it.  The stock piece would have also coated around the screw between the motherboard layers.  Since the screw itself was not shielded from the motherboard, that could be it's problem?  And then again, the MSI being a cheaper motherboard could be?

I assembled the new Gigabyte motherboard and most components.  The problem is that this board is short one PCI port.  And it was either inserting the SATA RAID controller, or the Wi-Fi card?  The PCI port is 32-bit and that's why it's slowly being phased out (apparently).  What the motherboard also has are PCI Express slots, which are the modern 64-bit and I'll have to get a replacement Wi-Fi card.  That earns me another trip to my local Micro Center store.

Meanwhile, the bent desk that I built a roller platform for is in disarray.  There's cables all over it waiting to be routed through it's new channels.  The Robot needs to get working so that I can route and layer them correctly.  It will probably depend on what enters and exits the channels and where?

I'm hoping to complete my Buckeye Trail project for the Warrior Expedition.  To recap, I'm GPS mapping all relevant VFW's, American Legion's and Amvets posts.  The idea is that with my knowledge of the trail, I could create a map informing Warrior Expeditions hikers where to seek support from.  I think that the hiker needs to know what areas are more conspicuous.  And I know these hikers.  They want every mile they can justify those days days... and I won't be able to deliver.  But if I can get them enough foresight, it could make things better for both hiker and veterans support.

Post Mortum - The Robot's MSI Motherboard

Corrosion found on one of the mounts for The Robot's pieces of mounting hardware for the CPU's cooling coil on the other side of its MSI motherboard. The coil is a Zalman RDH902B.  IT's copper and circular, so I refer to it as "the ferris wheel."

The corrosion appears to be a blue gel like substance. I did not put it there and I'm thinking that it has come from the center layer of the motherboard. Looks like it ozed out and molded to the round plastic nut. I had to grip it with a pair of pliers in order to turn it, so those scratch marks are caused by me.

There is no scorching on the CPU.

New Motherboard Acquired

When I replaced my MSI motherboard last time with the extended warranty, I didn't get another extended warranty at Micro Center.  That means that I had to purchase a new motherboard out of pocket.  A new Gigabyte H270-HD3 motherboard was acquired for The Robot.  So far, everything checks out as being compatible with it's existing hardware.  And The Robot's had a Gigabyte motherboard in the past and I know that company to be good.

If anything in the MSI motherboard went bad, it's probably from one of the mounts for the CPU coil cooler?  I lost a rubber ring that inserts into one of the mounting holes.  Since then, I tightened to the motherboard itself.  It wasn't overly torqued, but that could have been the problem.  The other problem is that at $54, could be that this MSI motherboard was cheap had dubious reliability to begin with?

Sea Foam & Blown Motherboard

I poured a 16oz can of Sea Form in the gas tank of my 2008 Chevy HHR LS prior to 193,437 miles on the odometer to clean the fuel injectors.  It's due for routine maintenance soon.  I have the oil and parts, except for the air filter.  I got them from my local Walmart and I always forget that they never carry it.

Earlier, I purchased the remaining 3 - 6ft USB 2.0 extension cables.  I got back to the desk and found an extra chassis power button and wires.  So, I inserted them around power header cables on The Robot's motherboard.  I can now confirm that the motherboard is bad.  It is a cheap board and this is the second BT150 PC Mate by MSI that I have replaced in this chassis, probably within the last 12 months.  Replacing the motherboard will probably mean that I have to reinstall the operating system and every application on it.  Those three will probably 10 man hours. to complete.

Log 2016121601

I got The Robots new motherboard replaced today, but have yet to install it. There isn't any scorching on the CPU, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any problems with it.  Scorching marks would indicate that my heats ink wasn't making proper contact, which could ultimately cause the CPU to overheat and no longer work. But the clerk at the computer store told me that the chances for a new one to have those internal problems is very low.

The motherboard is an MSi and it only has two jumpers for the PWR LED. This is where the chassis power light's wires mount to the motherboard. My chassis has two wires in a three jumper harness where the middle port is empty. If I want to get it working, I'm going have to squeeze out one of the wires and it's metal connector and slide it in to that middle port.

Log 2016121502

I purchased a power supply tester today. There's nothing wrong with its power supply unit, in fact it powered the old motherboard. It got it to turn on today... somehow (???). Tomorrow, I plan to extract the new motherboard and perform a "post mortem."

Log 2016121401

The Robot's new motherboard, memory, CPU and Blu-Ray optical drive was installed today.  The hardware end of it took about 4 hours to assemble.  There are jumpers on the motherboard that have to be set just right.  The CPU has to get enough thermal paste in order to interface correctly with the heat sink.  Should it be too much, the paste could squeeze over the top of the CPU and get into it's contacts,  And then there's the chassis (the computer's case) where all the zip ties redirecting a mess of cables away from it's 11 cooling fans had to be cut, then reassembled and redirected.  It's always a delicate procedure because everything in the chassis has to get stripped almost all the down.

The power LED light couldn't be connected to the motherboard.  The motherboard uses 2 jumpers for that and the chassis has 2 wires, but it's plugged into a 3 jumper harness.  I'm hoping that I can get a converter for it soon.  The old mother board had a digital display that I could see through The Robot's transparent door.  It read the CPU temperature, but also it sent me error codes if the computer wouldn't boot up.  I regret that the new motherboard doesn't have this, but I might be able to get something aftermarket for it?

Right now, I'm working on the software end of things.  To my surprise, Windows is actually working.  But it's doing that with the previous 32-bit version.  The Robot was upgraded today to a 64-bit system, so Windows has to be reinstalled after I make a back-up of my personal documents, map repository, TV shows and movies.  It's a big transfer.

When I installed the Blu-Ray drive, I removed a DVD-RW drive so it could take it's place.  So far, the Blu-Ray isn't working, but that's because I forgot to connect power to it.  I then took the DVD-RW drive and tried to connect it to my external kit and connect it to my laptop.  It's getting power as I can open and close the drawer, but the IDE data connection isn't reading and I haven't got a sound from the operating system indicating that it knows it's there, but won't install the device's driver.

What The Robot got today was what I'd refer to as a "re-build."  Some people can field strip Chevy's.  I do computers.

Log 2016121101

I reseated all four of RAM DIMM's in their sockets on The Robot's motherboard.  It didn't do anything to fix available RAM as shown in the Control Panel.  My motherboard is 8 years old.  It's probably was on the market 9 - 10 years ago.  When it was, it was designed for Windows XP.  The manufacturer never updated it's drivers.  My operating system is much more advanced than XP.  I've notice that there are items that the device manager detects, but can't get a driver for.  It leads me to believe that it's time to replace the motherboard, CPU and memory.  If I go out and purchase it tomorrow, the upgrades are looking to be $426.36 out the door with a 74.99 rebate.

Log 2016110701

I just discovered that the driver is missing for The Robot's math co-processor and another component. Along with not being able to get sound out of my connected TV, the lack of a math co-processor might be the cause of my Google Earth crashing problems when working with the North Country Trail Association's GIS data?

The problem is that my motherboard went on the market about 9 years ago and they don't make Windows 10 drivers for it.  That means I need a new motherboard, RAM and CPU.