Hello all! 

I am in possession of an MSI 990FXA-GD80 V2 mainboard with quite a history. The TLDR is that this board used to be my daily driver in my first computer, which was a gift to me; I stopped using it eight years ago because it had stability issues, and I recall at one point my father and I had realized the board was more stable on its side for some reason. Anyways, I've decided I want to see if I can fix it for use in a recycling project to make a server computer and avoid E-waste. 

The main issue with the mainboard is that it completely refuses to turn on. To add to that, the mainboard has the MSI "Easy Buttons," which have green LEDs under the plastic caps, which notably still glow when the mainboard is connected to AC and the PSU power switch is flicked to the on position. So the board accepts power and even reacts to the MB power button being pressed, which gives power to all other components, including fans and lights throughout the system. However, the board immediately shuts off within one second or less. 

The last time this motherboard was used, I am not sure how functional it was, but I remember the system being somewhat unstable. I'll also add that the system used an FX-9370 (which I either sold or lost in storage somewhere), had 16GB of DDR3 2133 (which I gave away, no idea if it was having issues), and was running dual MSI HD7870s (both are now seemingly non-functional). 

After taking a break from inspecting this motherboard, I discovered that a chip (LM324DG PJNB24) had some corrosion on one of its pins. Moreover, I noticed that some pads below this area in what is apparently called an SMD bank were corroded. I'd also like to add that it seems like some of these SMD chips are either missing or the pads there are very damaged. I have observed other pads and they look similar, aside for the damage, so I am not sure if there are missing components or just damage. Additionally, on the left side of the motherboard where long traces run, I noticed some scratching that damaged the outer coating (paint?), revealing the copper traces. Luckily there appears to be no corrosion here, but this could be an issue. 

Another important part of this mainboard's history is that I sold it a couple years ago to some guy in Oklahoma, long story short, the guy decided he didn't want it after purchasing, despite knowing it may not function, so I'm still stuck with it. I'm not sure if he caused more damage to this board, but it does look like thermal compound ended up in places it shouldn't have been, notably around the CPU socket (and all over the plastic), and as far down as below PCI\_E4 near two pads. 

I'm not sure if the MSI 990FXA-GD80 V2 has a bad history or not, as I've not really dug into it, but from what I know these boards were meant to be pretty reliable. That said, it's only inevitable that tech dies.

I am fully aware that this board is an old POS, but I'd like to see if I can bring it back to life to give it a second chance and prevent it from becoming E-waste. It has quite the history and at the very least it is ending up on my wall. 

I've also provided pictures of the board.

I'd also like to note that after testing this mainboard in my old system, the motherboard I swapped it with, an MSI 890FXA-GD70, is now having its own issues, so I'm beginning to question the reliability of the power supply and the integrity of the CPU I tested it with, which was a Phenom X6 1100T. I'll likely be posting about my MSI 890FXA-GD70 soon as well, as that board deserves its own post.

Trying to Diagnose/Fix an MSI 990FXA-GD80 V2