Motherboard capacitor kicked bucket

[zamrg]

The capacitor on my Gigabyte GA 7DXR Socket A motherboard recently blew and I was told that it's easier (and cheaper) to replace the capacitor rather than purchase a new motheboard, especially when it comes to Socket A motherboards. I'm getting a new 10V 1200UF capacitor from RS Components and was wondering if someone could advise me on how to fit it.

Is their a specific way or direction in which the capacitor needs to be soldered onto the motherboard?

(photos removed)

 

[cyberarmy]

It's the positive and negative you need to watch out. But I can't remember which one is positive and which is negative.

I think other ppl can tell you which is which, but I strongly advice you to change other capacitors which were swollen (soon to blow up) together.

 

[Thestealth]

+1 cyberarmy

zamrg, i've replaced busted caps on my mobo's already and you must take care when connecting the + and -. You can check out the polarity by looking at the other caps. I don't know where to get caps locally though. I normally get mine from badcaps.net.

 

[bdt]

You see the 'gold' stripe down the one side? That's the negative side of that electrolytic capacitor.

Friend cyberarmy is right to caution about changing all of 'em while you're at it. Yes, it's a lot more (possibly board killing work if you're not careful) work to do it but these caps gradually lose their capacitance over time as they dry out which means they change the circuit they're in - you don't want that. Also, sommer get it all done in one go!

 

[zamrg]

hey guys

thanks very much for the support

Since my knowledge on how this works is very limited, I just replaced the one capacitor which had blown. It was previously sitting on a piece of rubber, so we put the new one in on top of the rubber, made sure the polarity was right and soldered it onto the board. I gave the board power and connected the power switch from my case, but none of the fans even started spinning. A yellow led on the motherboard came on but nothing else functioned. Does this mean that a separate component has blown or that the board is totally fried?

I guess it might be worth looking into buying a new server pc as I'm struggling to get hold of a new Socket A motherboard.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

@ zamrg

Compare the cost of sending in that board for repairs vs a new board with CPU etc. If it's less than 1/4 of the price, go with it, otherwise, just buy a new board.

Quite possibly some other capacitor is defective - or something else's faulty as well.

If you want to use that for a server, I'd say rather go with a new board.

 

[sn3rd]

AFAIK, caps do NOT generally leak. The caps that leak are those that use an inferior electrolytic solution. This causes them to expand beyond the confines of their packaging. This even affects well-known and trusted brands and is often not something you can prevent. When replacing caps, it is better to replace them all. The others may have been from a bad batch too, or there could slight variances in their values

 

[sn3rd]

Also, did not perhaps fry something else while soldering? Remember, motherboards are multi-layer boards, and when you removed the old cap, if you weren't very careful about removing ALL the old solder, something could early have shorted. Of course, Librarian is right too... could just be some other defective component.
P.S. RS Components is a RIP when it comes to easy-to-source stuff (regular capacitors,resistors, etc). Rather go to Communica

 

[Gnome]

If you kept the solder on the board for too long or you used those electric current type soldering irons the board probably got damaged. Also are you sure the capacitor you put in is the right type, voltage and farad rating?

 

[zamrg]

ye, I made 100% sure the capacitor was the correct one and that I got the polarity right when placing it. I'm guessing that something else is also bust, hence why nothing works. I made the easier decision and bought a cheapish new server pc today. I'm debating whether using XP or VISTA as the base OS, and then running a stream of virtual machines for other requirements. I don't need a specific server OS which is why I specifically mentioned XP and Vista. I've never used Vista before as I've never had any problems with XP, and my previous computers have never supported it.

 

[talon]

One of the primary reasons for leaking caps is due to problems with the power supply, often caused by overheating eg fans get dirt inside, stop turning PSU overheats. Voltages supplied to M/B are to high/low.

 

[Freakazo v2.1]

And to add to the post above another common degrasion in capacitor lifespan is the quality of the output of the power supply (more bigger charge discharges for the caps)

 

[DragonLogos]

Had fix a few motherboards, psu, monitors etc with bad caps - there might be something else up, take the board out, try and start it with only the psu and monitor connected - try clearing the CMOS - try it on 100 bus speed - can't remember if that board has the little square power connection as well - any shorts or solder splashes will cause the board to shut down or not to start