Uh oh... I scratched my Asus A8V-E Deluxe motherboard while trying to replace the noisy northbridge fan. I've been running for a while now and haven't run into any ominous problems. Does it look like I damaged anything important? It doesn't seem to be a very deep scratch, but I'm not very familiar with circuitry. Should I try to repair it or just leave it alone?

Links to pictures:
Pic 1
Pic 2

Thanks for your help!

It doesn't look like you even touched any tracings so you're good. It's a little hard to tell though. Can you take another photo with some better lighting? I tried color correcting the photo but it's too grainy and low-res to work with.

Thanks for the reply! Here are two much better photos:
Pic 1
Pic 2

Well, I don't know a whole ton about circuitry either, but it doesn't look like you cut any wires so I think you should be OK.

O.o He definitly cut into a wire a rather wide trace at that...2 of them. It doesn't look like it severed anything though.......I woul just run it and if its stable awesome then all is cool. If yur system is highly unstable.....um see what asus can do.

I don't think you've severed any tracings, but I would cover that scratch quick before it corrodes.

Thanks for posting the higher-res photos for us.

It looks like he only scratched the thin epoxy layer - the board looks like it's fine and I don't think he severed any tracings.

Chuckinator, If you're worried about it to to an electronics supply shop and paint over the scratch with some silver conductive paint (just to be sure, to fill in any gaps in the copper that may exist but not visible in the photo), and then to prevent corrosion paint over it with either a VERY thin layer of epoxy-resin or clear nail polish (don't worry, no one will think you're gay )

Whether it looks bad or not is pretty much secondary to whether or not it still works or not. Does it? I'm assuming Yes. If so, some superficial scratches are negligible. From the pics, it looks like you did do some damage, but it's more like someone keying your fender than slashing your tires.

Overall, as long as it's working OK, I'd say leave it as is. Realistically there's not all that much you can do to repair it, and as I stated before the damage such as it is appears to be pretty negligible. Be careful next time -- J.W.

Thank you guys for all for your advice. Yes, everything is working fine so I probably shouldn't touch it.

Like I said it doesn't look like he severed anythign and it should be fine.

One last question - Is it necessary to cover the scratches with nail polish or epoxy to prevent corrosion, even if I don't try to repair it with conductive paint? That seems like a simple thing I could do to prevent any more damage to the board.

Read very carefully and slowly the first sentence of the 2nd paragraph of JW's post.

If your board is working OK now - leave it, by the time any corrosion does set in you'll be ready to upgrade anyway

Ok, ok, I won't touch it. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't some huge risk that corrosion would kill the board since some of the replies mentioned that the scratch could corrode. I'm probably just being too cautious. Once again, thanks for everyone's advice!

It costs pennies to protect it. Who knows - you may still be running that machine as a firewall 15 years from now!

Ive made much worse scratches than that and did nothing, and I have been running them for years, I even cut several traces and soldered them up with no problems. If this happens again simply get a continuity tester and check each side with it.