Troubleshooting a Scratched Motherboard: My Journey to PC Recovery

Hello, fellow tech enthusiasts!

Today, I want to share an experience I recently faced while maintaining my PC—an endeavor that turned into quite the ordeal. I embarked on a cleaning mission using a can of compressed air to rid my system of dust. However, my efforts took a concerning turn when the can released a bit of fluid that briefly impacted my motherboard (mobo).

While dealing with this, I encountered difficulties detaching my GPU due to the size of my CPU cooler. In an attempt to release the PCIE latch, I mistakenly scratched the surface of the motherboard with a screwdriver. This incident left me worried that I may have damaged some critical traces on the board.

Unfortunately, after reassembling everything, my PC refused to boot up. The screen remained black, and it repeatedly tried to restart without even reaching the BIOS. This was quite different from a previous issue I encountered, which was easily resolved by properly securing the RAM—this time, it felt different.

For those curious, here’s a link to the photo of the scratch that got me worried. Did I inadvertently ruin my motherboard?

I appreciate any advice or insights you might have on this matter.

Updates on My Situation

After reviewing the situation, I posted additional images and details about my setup. For reference, my motherboard is an Aorus Elite Z390, and I’m using an Intel i7 9700K CPU. The status LED on the motherboard lit up red, which led me to some troubleshooting steps outlined in the manual.

Despite my efforts—including resetting the CMOS, reseating the GPU, SSD, sound card, and RAM (even trying different slots)—I had yet to find a resolution. The challenge was compounded by my CPU cooler’s size, preventing easy access to the CPU pins without replacing thermal paste, which I didn’t have on hand.

Throughout my search for solutions, I came across suggestions that the scratched traces might lead to shorts between components. Unfortunately, I lacked both the skills and tools for any DIY repairs involving soldering.

In the end, I decided to purchase a new motherboard while planning to reseat everything on the old one before potentially trying the new one. One thought was to boot the system with just the motherboard and power supply connected—would that help?