Member Avatar for orbsters

Hello All. First off, glad to find this forum, it's very comprehensive.

I have a ASUS A7V8X LA Kelut GL6E VIA KM400A VIA VT8237 motherboard, it's amost four years old now. About two years ago the NIC card stopped working, so I bought a new ethernet card and that took care of that problem.

Recently, the onboard sound has stopped playing the right channel. To workaround this, I simply plug my small desktop speakers into the headphone jack on the front of my PC.

Bottom line: Everthing is working great, but I am wondering if I should buy a new Asus (mentioned above) or just not worry that these two modules are malfunctioning. All other devices and diagnostic checks of the mother board show everthing is working fine.

What is your opinion?

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Brief, practical checklist and notes to isolate whether the faults are harmless (keep the board) or indicate deeper hardware trouble.

As described a physical impact and as implied software can masquerade as hardware, run a few targeted tests before replacing the motherboard.

  • Confirm the fault is really the audio codec: test with a known-good stereo headset or another speaker set; swap left/right speaker cables or swap speakers on the amp to see if the missing channel follows the speaker (confirms source vs. speaker).
  • Check the OS mixer/balance and any sound enhancements; then boot from a Linux live USB to test audio outside the installed OS (try a live image like Ubuntu to eliminate driver/Windows configuration as the cause: ).
  • Verify the front-panel audio header wiring: older boards and cases used AC97 vs. HD Audio pinouts and a mismatch or shorted cable can kill one channel (see AC97 vs HD Audio specs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC%2797).
  • Power off and visually inspect the area around the audio codec, NIC and AGP slot for bulging or leaking electrolytic capacitors, burn marks or displaced components. If capacitors look bad it’s a common failure mode on older boards (see capacitor problems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague).
  • If comfortable with soldering, check the jack and front-panel header for cold solder joints or broken traces; use a multimeter (powered off) for continuity checks. Otherwise skip repairs and use a workaround.

If only the audio channel is affected and the rest of the board is stable, the cheapest path is a low-cost USB audio adapter or inexpensive PCI sound card. If multiple components show physical damage, factor replacement cost vs. rebuilding — and always power down and discharge before touching the board; stop immediately if you smell burning or see visible damage.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

Are you sure the motherboard actually broken?

I was sure my MSI motherboard was broken, i had no sound, no video and no onboard NIC but all i needed to do was get the newest chipset drivers

Member Avatar for orbsters

Yes, I am sure the modules for each device are broken. My only concern would be an arc created by a loose connection in the module...but because there are no wires or loose connections, just something broken or dead in the module, I just don't have the sense that anything is emergent, especially since the NIC card has been replaced for nearly 3 years. Getting sound through my head phone jack for the speakers actually works better than the speaker jack did. I use to get lots of popping each time I shutdown and booted up. Now the speakers are as quiet as a mouse....no static sounds at all.

Personally. I think I damaged the onboard NIC card when installing an AGP vid-card way back when. I remember a quick jolt upwards. The card hit onboard NIC module right above the AGP slot. Probably knocked it for a loop.

Member Avatar for jbennet

oh well if you were going to get a new motherboard here are some things to beware:

1) if your copy of XP is an OEM one (came with your PC or you baught it for cheap) it is legally tied to the hardware and changing the motherboard would render the licence invalid

2) if you change the motherboard you will most likely have to ring up MS to activate it and explain that you are not a pirate. Every time you activate XP it remembers that systems hardware profile.

Member Avatar for orbsters

I think that the motherboard is fine, and those two modules are not going to effect anything on the board. Those two are so minor compared to other device problems---of which I have none.

Thanks for your input. I wish you the best of success at your forum. I have a new one too.
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