Leaking Motherboard Capacitors

21 Jan 2005 1:52 PM

Mooreslaw

Greetings. Just read an article that states Abit is facing a class
action suit for delivering motherboards with capacitors that may fail.
Does anyone know if the MSI Neo series is affected?

Thanks.

12 Feb 2005 2:35 AM

Mike M.

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 13:52:18 GMT, Mooreslaw <spamblock@rr.moc> wrotF:

>Greetings. Just read an article that states Abit is facing a class
>action suit for delivering motherboards with capacitors that may fail.
>Does anyone know if the MSI Neo series is affected?
>
>Thanks.

My 3 year old EPoX 8KHA+ died in December of multiple burst caps. EPoX
USA's official policy is that it's out of warranty, tough luck.

23 Feb 2005 3:16 PM

spockroc

Hey All,

I just recently ran into this. I was given a coupel of computers to
reload the OS. Before this the computers kept locking up
intermittently, getting worse and worse as time passed.
I did not check the caps at first. I tried a few different reloads.

I kept having the same problem as the person who gave them to me.
I did some searching and stumbled across the articles.
I looked on the motherboards and sure enough bad caps.

My next question is this: Has reading this tried to fix them
yourself?
If so was it succesful?

I am interested in reading how some of you fixed this problem.

Thanks.
Jerry

23 Feb 2005 3:55 PM

Noozer

Show quote Hide quote

"spockroc" <spock***@hotmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:421c9e4b$1_5@alt.athenanews.com...
> Hey All,
>
> I just recently ran into this. I was given a coupel of computers to
> reload the OS. Before this the computers kept locking up
> intermittently, getting worse and worse as time passed.
> I did not check the caps at first. I tried a few different reloads.
>
> I kept having the same problem as the person who gave them to me.
> I did some searching and stumbled across the articles.
> I looked on the motherboards and sure enough bad caps.
>
> My next question is this: Has reading this tried to fix them
> yourself?
> If so was it succesful?

I have removed and replaced failed capacitors. It usually works, but not
every time. The hardest part for me was locating new parts.

23 Feb 2005 3:58 PM

kony

On 23 Feb 2005 10:16:27 -0500,
spock***@hotmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (spockroc) wrote:

Show quoteHide quote

>Hey All,
>
>I just recently ran into this. I was given a coupel of computers to
>reload the OS. Before this the computers kept locking up
>intermittently, getting worse and worse as time passed.
>I did not check the caps at first. I tried a few different reloads.
>
>I kept having the same problem as the person who gave them to me.
>I did some searching and stumbled across the articles.
>I looked on the motherboards and sure enough bad caps.
>
>My next question is this: Has reading this tried to fix them
>yourself?
>If so was it succesful?
>

Yes I've replaced tons of caps... If/when that is the only
problem, and the board still somewhat-works (only instable
or had just failed to POST) the fix is successful.

23 Feb 2005 4:10 PM

Zotin Khuma

Show quote Hide quote

"spockroc" <spock***@hotmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:421c9e4b$1_5@alt.athenanews.com...
> Hey All,
>
> I just recently ran into this. I was given a coupel of computers to
> reload the OS. Before this the computers kept locking up
> intermittently, getting worse and worse as time passed.
> I did not check the caps at first. I tried a few different reloads.
>
> I kept having the same problem as the person who gave them to me.
> I did some searching and stumbled across the articles.
> I looked on the motherboards and sure enough bad caps.
>
> My next question is this: Has reading this tried to fix them
> yourself?
> If so was it succesful?
>
> I am interested in reading how some of you fixed this problem.
>

I posted my experience with two mobos some time ago. The
subject was "Encounter with bad caps". Both mobos fired up
on the first try as also did two others later, and all have been
running stably ever since, even though I did not have the exact
replacement parts.

23 Feb 2005 6:19 PM

Rudy Kazuti

How can you tell if caps are bad by looking at them? Or do you check them
with a meter?
Show quoteHide quote

"spockroc" <spock***@hotmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:421c9e4b$1_5@alt.athenanews.com...
> Hey All,
>
> I just recently ran into this. I was given a coupel of computers to
> reload the OS. Before this the computers kept locking up
> intermittently, getting worse and worse as time passed.
> I did not check the caps at first. I tried a few different reloads.
>
> I kept having the same problem as the person who gave them to me.
> I did some searching and stumbled across the articles.
> I looked on the motherboards and sure enough bad caps.
>
> My next question is this: Has reading this tried to fix them
> yourself?
> If so was it succesful?
>
> I am interested in reading how some of you fixed this problem.
>
> Thanks.
> Jerry
>

23 Feb 2005 8:39 PM

Kev

"Rudy Kazuti" <rudyk***@comcast.net> wrote in
news:HZ6dnRERvoEXVYHfRVnytA@comcast.com:

> How can you tell if caps are bad by looking at them? Or do you check them
> with a meter?

At the top they are either leaking or look like they are bulging out,
especially if the have the 'cross' etching on them (the smaller ones dont).
This alone isnt a way to know for sure, because not all bad ones will do
this. There are repairers that will simply take out every one above a
certain size and replace them all.

Head off to www.badcaps.net

10 Mar 2005 9:15 PM

techmagic

Ive replaced hundreds of motherboards ,over the last 3 years with
faulty capacitors, all the names Abit ,Gigabyte ,Albatron,MSI,EPOX,
ASUS,Azza etc , the faults are obvious , swollen capacitors, usually
a tan brown leaking substance from top or bottom.any mainboard 2
years old is suspect ( havent seen it on original intel boards)

10 Mar 2005 11:29 PM

kony

On 10 Mar 2005 16:15:30 -0500,
technoma***@halfweb.com-dot-au.no-spam.invalid (techmagic)
wrote:

>Ive replaced hundreds of motherboards ,over the last 3 years with
>faulty capacitors, all the names Abit ,Gigabyte ,Albatron,MSI,EPOX,
>ASUS,Azza etc , the faults are obvious , swollen capacitors, usually
>a tan brown leaking substance from top or bottom.any mainboard 2
>years old is suspect ( havent seen it on original intel boards)

Are you certain they were _faulty_ though?
"failed" and "faulty" can be two different things. A
completely, correclty functional cap put in a circuit with
excessive ripple or at too high a temp or voltage or ??? can
make it fail when it wasn't actually a faulty cap per se.

For example, generally speaking the Intel boards have some
very good caps on them, and more recent Abit and Albatron
too, Asus to a certian extent also and sometimes MSI,
considering mostly those in the supply circuitry that
(would) most commonly fail.

Generally the "faulty" caps depend more on specific brands
during specific eras.