Controls
Backplane
Distributes power and data between the controller's plug-in boards.
The backplane carries the power and data bus that connects the CPU board, memory, I/O boards, and communication cards. It has no active processing of its own, but every board's connection depends on the condition of its slots and traces.
Backplane failures are less common than failures of the boards plugged into it, but they are harder to diagnose because a damaged slot can make a perfectly good board appear faulty.
Bent connector pins from repeated board swaps and dust buildup around the connectors are the most common causes of backplane trouble in the field.
Related components
Common questions
- What does the Backplane do?
- Distributes power and data between the controller's plug-in boards.
- How does the Backplane fail?
- Common failure modes: Bent or broken connector pins in a card slot, Cracked solder joints from thermal cycling, Intermittent bus errors affecting multiple boards at once, Dust or debris bridging adjacent connector pins.