K7S5A eating my IDE cables

[DJ]

I have had approx 6 cables stop working since using this board.
Any ideas why?

DJ

[Marshmallowman]

the secondary ide channel is dodgy?
RMA the board before its to late, the cables will work in other boards
Don't ask just insist the board is faulty ....because it is!!!
I have been there, exchange it now. don't ask questions just do it!!!!

[Brian Ellis]

What do you mean by "stop working"? Do they overheat and the insulation melts or what? The most likely explanation, if not, is that there is a faulty solder joint between the connector and the board (or at t'other end). When you plug a cable in, the pressure will bring the connector tag into contact with the conductor pad on the board and scrape it clean for it to work until the metal-to-metal contact oxidises, when it will stop working. It will be reliable only if an intermetallic compound layer is formed in proximity to each metal part, bridged by the solder alloy.

If this is so and the board is new, return it under guarantee. If not, then a repair is possible but is a skilled job, only to be undertaken by someone who knows what soldering small items to a multilayer board is all about - not for the fainthearted.

Another possibility is barrel-cracking of the plating in the hole through which a connector pin passes (assuming it is a through-hole component and not a surface-mount one). If it were this, only a return would offer reliability, as diagnosis of the faulty hole would be very difficult, if not impossible, without complex equipment.

[DJ]

The first time it happened it was the secondary channel cable. All other times it was on a Promise Ultra 100 TX2 controller. The cables look perfectly fine but just dont work.

DJ