Board Received; PROBLEM

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637]

I just received the Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite Rev 1.3 and I noticed the following things;

1. No CMOS battery

2. Some oily texture yet doesn't stick to my fingers on the back of the board

3. White dots on the mbios chip and another one on top top.

Is this normal? The official seal wasn't there either

[u/x_Hitoshi]

If you bought it as new, return it and request a new one

[u/Gedgeteer]

I have not seen a mobo with a seal in years.

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637 → u/Gedgeteer]

They're saying that due to restrictions on airports from china, they had to remove CMOS batteries.

Can that be true?

[u/R11CWN → u/Tricky-Apartment6637]

It is true. Those tiny cell batteries are now considered hazardous materials.

Removing the battery makes it cheaper and faster to ship motherboards.

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637 → u/R11CWN]

Okay that's somewhat of a logical relief to know but regardless, not adding while sending it to me is just an ass thing to do.

What about the glue like stains on the back though? And the dots on the mbios chip? The guy said they're from gigabyte's soldering residue.

Also, of you look at the CMOS section closely, I'm not sure if I'm paranoid but I feel like the battery was forced out and damaged the holder

[u/Gedgeteer → u/Tricky-Apartment6637]

I don't know about that. While I am used to not seeing seals on mobos at the same time all my 4 mobos in the past few years have had a battery included.

If you feel something is off just send it back.

[u/RUPlayersSuck → u/Gedgeteer]

Same here. Had an Aorus B850M delivered about a month ago...battery included. Though obviously I don't know where it was shipped from, so maybe different regs / restrictions?

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637 → u/Gedgeteer]

Agreed, but the problem is that I'm in a hell hole of a third world country where returns either require you to have governmental power or use black magic for them to agree on ever accepting a replacement/refund/compensation

[u/MachineCarl]

Did you buy it from AliExpress?? Since you said about china and them removing their CR2032 batteries.

Unless stated otherwise (like on their chinese X99 boards), expect to recieve used stuff from them. If it works, they don't care.

Though, to be fair, some years ago bought a Gigabyte Z87 board from Ali and got it in better shape than that. Arrived on a styrofoam box with the I/O shield and the BIOS updated to the latest version so I could use a Haswell chip on it.

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637 → u/MachineCarl]

No, I did not order from any Chinese website or even AliExpress, which is also Chinese.

I ordered it locally from a reseller who brings in shipments from china and has a licence from the official company to resell them in my country.

[u/Blunt_N7]

No seal no deal send that thing back asap .

[u/R11CWN → u/Blunt_N7]

Anti-static bag on motherboards tends not to have a seal these days, and often boxes are not sealed either when packaged.

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637 → u/R11CWN]

Oh okay, I guess that's normal too then.

But the residue and the missing CMOS, I'm getting very high vibes of this being used, even though the sticker on the heatsink is fresh

[u/Sonkalino]

There's nothing wrong with the things you listed. The first one is a bit weird, but if it's noted in the manual that you need to buy a cr2032 it's fine. The other two is normal, flux from soldering, and the dot on the chip is normal.

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637 → u/Sonkalino]

The guy told me that since these are shipped from china, it is required for them to remove any form of batteries in all sorts of products. Further more, I'm not fully sure but the pin looks slightly bent in the CMOS holder, it's in the photo aswell, could you confirm?

Also, the residue feels more like glue than just flux, unless it's meant to feel like that to the touch.

[u/Sonkalino → u/Tricky-Apartment6637]

The battery holder looks fine, it's not a precision thing either. If it holds the battery and connects to the terminals, it's good. It's hard to tell from a picture what exactly the residue is. Flux is common. If it is flux, a soft brush and some isopropyl alcohol should get it off no problem, but it does nothing if it remains.

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637 → u/Sonkalino]

Understood, but it raises the question of it being used after being shipped and I'm not getting too much peace of mind with the CMOS not being included with it even if it was removed out of necessity

[u/KeenJelly]

You ordered it for cheap off some Chinese website. You get what you pay for.

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637 → u/KeenJelly]

I did not order from "some" Chinese website.

I ordered it locally from a reseller who brings in shipments from china and has a licence from the official company to resell them in my country.

And I paid 122.50$ for this -_-

[u/Odium81]

It can sometimes happen that there's some flux type residue on the back. QC thingy. See if you can clean it a bit with a soft cloth.

[u/Tricky-Apartment6637 → u/Odium81]

Should I remove it if I am to receive a call from their HQ before returning it?

Or should I call it off and have it tested in a nearby store before causing a haphazard?

[u/ZenZennia]

That is not new for sure.