Hmm, it's hard to say exactly. Since the "sparking" began straight away, my initial hypothesis would be that the heatsink caused a short in the PCB. It could also have been a power surge, but that is unlikely.

By the looks of the burn on the back of the board, it loks like something metalic touched up against the board shorting it.

Thanks, but I'm not sure, seeing how I didnt use any metallic tools in the process. The only thing that might have happened is when I sat it down on the case as I washed the thermal paste off my hands.

Edited by - Apples on 10/28/2005 10:04:36 PM

Thermal paste causing a short? I suppose that it is theoretically possible... *Makes mental note to be careful when using thermal paste*

Think that might have come off wrong, I was stating that setting it on the case might have caused the short, not the thermal paste, but... you never know right? I really hope someone has a solid answer or some experience with this so I can know what I did wrong and not **** up again. Seeing how I just bought a 7800GTX OC for my current computer and it gets to 80'C on load, and an aftermarket cooler might not be such a bad idea, of coarse I’m not willing to risk it unless I know what I F'ed up on.

Edited by - Apples on 10/28/2005 10:08:36 PM

Was it Arctic Silver? That heatsink compound is slightly conductive.

Nope, it was the generic POS that vantec stuffed in the box with their copper chipset and VGA coolers. It is labled simply as "VANTEC THERMAL PASTE"

Edited by - Apples on 10/29/2005 1:35:12 AM

Unfortunantly, without the card in hand, it is a little more difficult to know for sure. I have delt with circut boards that have shored out, in A/C systems, due to water getting on them, metal touching them including a skinned wire, and a cracked soilder line on the board. So, unless you can take the card to a repair shop to look at, it would be difficult to verify the exact cause.

Do you have another card to use in the mean time? Also, if you have a multi meter, use the Ohms setting and test the power leads one at a time. Connect 1 probe to one lead and then to the metal of the fan unit, if no reading,then test the other. It should not give a reading. If it does, it is shorted out and is what caused the problem.

The board would still need to be taken to some one who can check it out to see if it is still usable.

incorrectly applied thermal paste can indeed cause this problem and combined with an improperly fitted gpu cooler will cause exactly this problem to happen. i shorted out a Ti a few years ago doing exactly this, and I've seen all too numerous returns in the past with these same characteristics. bet you won't do it again!

check the copper base of the Vantec you will probably see where it contacted, to cause the short, been there and done that, some of the after market fans ( as great as they are ) are sometimes a little too oversized and will make contact with the PCB if your not carefull.....this is my best guess and I'm sticking to it


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