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| Thread ID: 81137 | 2007-07-17 23:53:00 | Capacitors, 2nd opinion pse... | bazmeister (3216) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 569869 | 2007-07-18 10:07:00 | Jaycar stocked (electrically) suitable capacitors the last time this was raised here. RS Components also stock a good range and you can even choose the physical size to suit. The only problem is you have to buy a minimum of 5 or 10 for some sizes. They are top quality though, so a midrange value that is within 30% of the originals will probably be OK. As for labour, if you deliver the MB to a competent tech they should be able to change all the caps necesssary inside of an hour, it is not difficult with the correct desoldering equipment. They may even have the necessary caps in stock. Personally speaking I'd go for a new MB though. Cost will be much the same and you'll have a new board with guarantee, provided you can find one compatible with all your older bits of course. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 569870 | 2007-07-18 10:53:00 | My local guru has advised me that I have a "bulging" capacitor and as such my unit is in peril. Can you see the faulty capacitor to read its value and voltage rating? I have some capacitors lying around here, and may be able to help. |
rumpty (2863) | ||
| 569871 | 2007-07-18 11:21:00 | replaceing the caps is not alwasy a straight forward job. some of the newer solder can be a pain to unsolder and resoldering parts that have connections on both sides of the bard can be tricky. also if its an ECS board then it may not be worth the hassle. |
tweak'e (69) | ||
| 569872 | 2007-07-18 11:35:00 | Rumpty, are your spare caps low ESR? Standard type aren't suitable. | PaulD (232) | ||
| 569873 | 2007-07-18 14:32:00 | i've seen this problem on many older pc's especially ECS boards....the 'purple death' one mentioned was the K7VTA3......very nasty run of bad caps on that one.....anyway.....yes if you have a bulging cap it may indeed continue to work for quite a while but it WILL die ......seen this jsut the other day lady had old pc co pc with two bulging caps and one that had completey blown up !!! literally..there were bits of it all over the board. I told her it's not worth fixing. A computer of your vintage is probably worth about $150 if you are lucky (hers was a slot 1 300Mhz if I recall so worth even less ). and you may only be putting a bandage on a failing system. Where one cap fails often others will. however to upgrade to a new motherboard you are gonna need a new motherboard/cpu/ram and almost certainly powersupply unit also as the pc co only usually ran 200-250watt at most and that's just not enuf to run a modern board not to mention that the older psu's didn't have the four pin plug needed also on modern boards. to replace the caps may indeed cost you more than the pc is worth especially if you have to pay someone to remove the board then solder new caps in - if they can find some suitable ones- and then refit the board. | drcspy (146) | ||
| 569874 | 2007-07-18 14:34:00 | oh yep and if you change the mobo/cpu/ram then you are going to at least have to run a 'repair install' of windoze..... | drcspy (146) | ||
| 569875 | 2007-07-18 20:27:00 | Like I said, wait until it isn't working and then you can decide on an upgrade. | pctek (84) | ||
| 569876 | 2007-07-18 21:25:00 | If it is bulging then it will eventually crack and start leaking. Also it will overheat and start going flakey anyway. We had a bunch of boards replaced at work due to a faulty batch of caps. If they do leak it wll stuff your MB up so if you wait you will be in for anew board cost most likely. However most places would probably carge you more than it costs for a new board just to replace the caps. I would weigh up what you want to do. Just keep going till it fails and buy a new MB and anything else you may need (give it is 6 years old), replace it now, or get the caps fixed (not much point really given the age). PC's that are powerfull are cheap as on trademe if you are careful. |
Big John (551) | ||
| 569877 | 2007-07-19 02:08:00 | Thanks again - I'm really appreciative of all the advice. This will probably supply the excuse to convince my controller of finance (wife) to permit me to get some new toys... It's the same drama with old cars, do I put a new gearbox in our just get rid of it......in this case I don't think the expense and ponsing around would be worth it. I'm pleased I asked for the 2nd opinion, I've been round too long to accept the first thing that techy people tell me, especially if they have a vested interest. |
bazmeister (3216) | ||
| 569878 | 2007-07-19 16:01:00 | Two years ago I replaced the faulty capacitors on both my Soltek 75KAV mobos, using components from JayCar in Auckland. Now they too have shown slight bulging and leaking so their quality too is suspect, in spite of JayCar's assurances. I did both my power supplies as well. RS Components may be a better bet. Replacing the caps is not that hard. What you need is good light, good soldering skills, a magnifying headband and use the "rocking technique" to remove the caps. First board took me 3 hours to do, the second about an hour. Very satisfying to extend the life of hardware that worked perfectly but for the crap caps. |
braindead (1685) | ||
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