# motherboard repair, voltage regulator?



## 4W4K3

it seems whenever the rails are low (3.3, 5, 12 etc) EVERYONE always says "get a new PSU" well for me this has done nothing. i've tried 3 PSU's and ALL have low readings on the 12v rail on my motherboard. i test them in other machines, and they are right on the money. OBVIOUSLY it's my motherboard, and i want to fix it.

it's an NF7-S v2.0, and i've got aftermarket cooling all over it, heat is not a problem. i've doen the pencil mod for the NB but removed it since it didn't help my voltages.

does anyone know how  to find the problem on my board? anyone have graphs of my board or something that will tell me where all the parts are on it in depth? i want to trace this problem down to somethign but i dont know where to start!!??

thanks.


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## The_Other_One

If I'm not mistaking, the rails are for the watts, NOT the volts...  So yeah, that probably is a mobo problem.

Have you tried checking the volts with a volt on meeter and see if it's just being read wrong?


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## 4W4K3

sry i didnt mean rails, i guess the word would be "readings"?

where do i check on my motherboard for the 12v reading? i have checked from the PSU and everything is fine...


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## The_Other_One

I don't think anything on the mobo actually runs at 12v.  I beleive it's just your drives.  So you could just take a molex connecter and test using that...  Though, I don't know what all the volts are on trhe board...  *shrugs*


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## 4W4K3

i've checked through the molex connector, it reads 5v and 3.3v ok.

in BIOS it reads as low as 10.8v sometimes, but usually never crashes, it's jsut a bad reading. i know its messed up however because i can't overclock AT ALL. used to run @ 2.6GHz or more, now i cant even do 2.1GHz

i guess im stuck with a broken PC till i upgrade and i can't even get a job. applied at like 5 places and never got a call from anyone. blah...i hate my life right now! have all the time in the world but can't even use it productively


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## The_Other_One

Something seriously wrong or you don't know which connection I'm talking about because it's suppose to be 5 and 12  http://www.computerhope.com/pictures/power/molex.jpg

Eh, I'm not really sure what else to say...  I think you've narrowed it down about as far as I could...  I'd say just be careful if you're going to keep using it.  Assuming some regulator is going out, there's always the chance it could give out completely and cause some problems


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## 4W4K3

lol i know what a molex is, but thanks for the picture.

yes Google seems to turn up nothing as well, but thank you very much for the help. i should have never pushed my board past 260FSB i guess...my fault.

EDIT: yes they do read 5 and 12. my fault again. its reading right on as 5.06v and 12.06v. board reads differently though


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## The_Other_One

I forgot to ask but does it show differently in the bios and windows?  Somtimes windows programs won't show the correct readings


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## 4W4K3

yah a little. usually BIOS is actually LOWER than Windows. for the most part i trust BIOS, it doesnt have the huge dips (like formr 11.8 to 10.2) that Windows reports osmetimes.


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## Praetor

> it seems whenever the rails are low (3.3, 5, 12 etc) EVERYONE always says "get a new PSU" well for me this has done nothing. i've tried 3 PSU's and ALL have low readings on the 12v rail on my motherboard. i test them in other machines, and they are right on the money. OBVIOUSLY it's my motherboard, and i want to fix it.


How about "Adjust the rheos"? (i.e., do u have a PSU that supports that)



> If I'm not mistaking, the rails are for the watts, NOT the volts... So yeah, that probably is a mobo problem.


In the context he's saying them in, it's "volts"


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