| LinHES Forums http://forum.linhes.org/ |
|
| Bad Capacitors Causing Freezing On MSI K8N Neo4-F http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19369 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | thornsoft [ Thu Dec 25, 2008 5:57 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Bad Capacitors Causing Freezing On MSI K8N Neo4-F |
Lots of us have these - they're nearly dragon 1.0 spec, and the "platinum" used in Dragon 1.0 seems to have the same capacitor layout (for the ones in question). Background: during the past week, I've been having sudden freezes. Two types: 1: video playback freezes, image stays on screen, machine not responsive to remote, keyboard, or network ping. 2: machine turns off. Bam - no power. Need to unplug, then plug back in. GFCI breaker actually tripped once, when plugging directly into wall. Power supply (Silverstone) checks out ok. Brother-in-law said it sounded like his Dell/XP pc at work. He called the helpdesk, and they said they were all failing with capacitor issues. He looked, and some caps were bulged at the top. So we looked at mine. The 5 largest caps, situated between the CPU and the I/O panel, were all bulged at the top. Instead of having flat tops, they were rounded. No bulging of the sides or leaking, but definitely round tops. They're brown, with specs: 6.3v 3300mf. Father-in-law is a retired EE. He's going to bring over his precision soldering iron next week and we'll install 5 new caps. IMO, this will be much easier than a new Mobo/CPU, not to mention cheaper. I've had my KM R5F27 running smoothly for over a year now, and don't want to start over if I don't have to. Anyway, just wanted to give you all a heads-up, in case you run into this. If you have sudden freezing with no obvious cause (nice thing about Linux is no friggin Windows Update to be suspicious of!), have a look at your capacitors. Good info here: http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5 Mine looked like the 3rd thumbnail. I'll report back here with my success or failure, next week... -- Chris |
|
| Author: | cahlfors [ Thu Dec 25, 2008 6:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
This isn't MSI specific. I've had this happen on Asus and other boards as well. I don't think a capacitor replacement helps - other things are probably already damaged - but with the low cost of capacitors, it might be worth a try. Gigabyte are advertising their boards with "Japanese precision capacitors" these days. At least the two of us will trigger on that! 
Cheers, /Chris #2 |
|
| Author: | thornsoft [ Thu Dec 25, 2008 8:46 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
cahlfors wrote: This isn't MSI specific.
Definitely - I just wanted to give a heads up because so many of us have this particular MSI board. I see that even Apple has been bitten by this one! And yes, when I was shopping for a new one, I saw capacitor longevity mentioned several times. |
|
| Author: | Liv2Cod [ Thu Dec 25, 2008 10:48 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
It's amazing that this problem is still happening. Several years ago, an employee of a Japanese capacitor maker stole the "recipe" for the tantalum dielectric used in the caps and started his own company in Taiwan. With his cheaper prices, he attracted all of the large computer makers -- Dell, IBM (Lenovo), Apple -- all of the major brands. Turns out, he got the recipe wrong. The caps started failing a few months to a couple of years later. They would bulge at the top and cause the motherboard to fail. Some makers, like IBM, stepped up to the plate and had generous recall policies with these motherboards. Others were somewhat less generous. I thought this problem was well over and done with quite awhile ago. It's very disappointing that the problem is surfacing again now -- unless these motherboards were made two or three years ago and are only now surfacing as a problem. |
|
| Author: | Agent24 [ Thu Dec 25, 2008 10:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
I've successfully recapped a few boards of my own too. If you can already solder well and can follow the instructions on badcaps.net you'll be fine 
|
|
| Author: | jzigmyth [ Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:09 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
cahlfors wrote: I don't think a capacitor replacement helps - other things are probably already damaged - but with the low cost of capacitors, it might be worth a try. Replacing the bad caps does fix the problem. I have recapped several boards. The hardest part is removing the old caps without damaging the board.
|
|
| Author: | Agent24 [ Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Just to add: don't just replace the 5 capacitors that are obviously bulging. While these are the ones that have obviously failed, the rest will be the same age and probably the same brand so you should replace them also as they will be in the process of failing Generally anything from 470uf upwards should be replaced, but if the smaller ones are using really rubbish brands (you can find lists of good and bad brands on badcaps.net) then you should replace them also Don't replace them with another rubbish brand, either. |
|
| Author: | thornsoft [ Fri Dec 26, 2008 7:11 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Agent24 wrote: Just to add: don't just replace the 5 capacitors that are obviously bulging.
Good advice, thanks. Badcaps.net agrees with you. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 6 hours |
| Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|