ASUS Blown Caps!!!!!!!!

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Mik3y

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
Do you think this occured because you overclocked your system? Or was it just wear and tear?

i think this is generally caused from wear and tear, since even msi's older boards had problems with these at stock speeds.

happened to tons of boards, not just MSI... at any speed also.

happened on 2/4 of my Solteks... its just a generation thing.

 

[Zepper]

You sure you didn't just drip some tabacky juice on that there cap when you was leanin' in for a close look.?.

.bh.

 

[sandorski]

I think most of the mobo manufacturers have had Bad Cap problems over the years. Looks like Asus's number is up.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: sandorski
I think most of the mobo manufacturers have had Bad Cap problems over the years. Looks like Asus's number is up.

That's true (although I still think DFI is exempt and of course server grade boards who never took china chortcuts)

Read Abit's statement recognising and fixing the problem here.
http://www.abit-usa.com/news/2004/20040301.php


"Starting in October of 2002, ABIT made significant changes with the goal of producing the absolute most durable products available on the market,":

 

[MIDIman]

I saw this on an Epox 8KHA+ I pulled a few months back. Motherboard was working fine.

Should I not use it with the blown cap? Its also one near the CPU socket as shown in the original post.

Considering how old the board is would Epox even bother with it?

 

[Mem]

This old link, you can see virtually all brands were effected by bad capacitors including DFI,Asus,Abit,Soltek,Soyo,Leadtek,Epox,MSI,AOpen and Gigabyte to name but a few.

The important thing to remember is companies like DFI,Abit etc are now using quality capacitors,that`s really all motherboard companies can do apart from offer good customer support ,and we all know that depends on the company in question.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
I just cant believe this is happening on an Asus P5 board in 2005. Good grief. Especially on a board that has a real juice sucking CPU/vidcard slot
And it has nothing to do with "wear and tear". Its non japanese caps.

Yeah. Looks like either ASUS is cutting corners, or possibly - is this an "Asrock" board, or an "Asus" board? Don't they outsource some of their mobo production to China, at least their "value" line of boards? If so, looks like we can expect more blown cheap Chinese caps on boards then.

(That reminds me, my QDI P4 board I just bought was made in China, as are both of my PSUs. Ugh. Remind me to stick to at least Taiwanese-made mobos in the future.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Zebo
DFI or die.

They use aluminum electrolitics on their high power caps.. Same expensive ones you see on video cards and server boards..

I don't get it. Al electrolytics are the cheaper ones. (Well, not as cheap as the chinese-made ones, but they aren't the "expensive" ones.) Did you mean tantalum caps? The really high-quality mfgs used to use those on their boards, even Intel's OEM mobo production for the big-name OEMs tended to use them. There is a bit of a socio-political issue with using tantalum caps these days though - the world's biggest supply of tantalum comes from the Congo Republic, and I guess the mining operations are both destroying the landscape, and fueling the political forces bent on usurping control of the gov't over there. Good technically, bad politically.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: MIDIman
I saw this on an Epox 8KHA+ I pulled a few months back. Motherboard was working fine.

Should I not use it with the blown cap? Its also one near the CPU socket as shown in the original post.

Considering how old the board is would Epox even bother with it?

If it's still working, it probably won't be in the near future. And if you use it, other capacitors might blow up.


E-mail Epox and explain that you've got a board with bulging/bursting caps. Maybe they'll offer to replace the capacitors. I had an old, out-of-warranty board, and I paid to ship it there, plus $7 to get it shipped back, and all the lousy caps were replaced - some weren't, but I guess that that brand wasn't a problem. The caps that were bulging were GSC brand; all of them were replaced, and the board worked fine. Buying new caps from Badcaps.net is at least $23; this way, it's done by someone experienced, and all you pay is shipping both ways.
If they grant you the RMA#.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: WileCoyote
wow you aren't going to believe this:

I read this article and checked my INTEL D865 GBF/PERC board and I have about 7 blown capacitors, half of which are oozing brown stuff from the top. All the K ones are fine, it's only the X ones that have problems.

I bought the INTEL board b/c I want stability over anything. So much for that.

Intel??? Wow, that is bad. Usually you expect them to be rock-solid on caps, they always used to be, and you'll pay a premium for a (generally non-overclockable) board if it says "Intel" on the box. :|

(Any idea who Intel's current first-tier board-mfg OEM is for those? Is it still Foxconn? Or didn't... Intel start to use Asus as an OEM. Hmm... there might be a connection here!)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: MIDIman
I saw this on an Epox 8KHA+ I pulled a few months back. Motherboard was working fine. Should I not use it with the blown cap? Its also one near the CPU socket as shown in the original post. Considering how old the board is would Epox even bother with it?

I wouldn't continue to use it, if you care about the integrity of your data or the health of the rest of your hardware. If you DO decide to continue using it, I would run it as severely under-clocked as you can stand it. But I recommend replacing it, and complaining, no, *demanding* a replacement from Epox. They sold you a defective product originally.

 

[Mem]

Personally I would not take the risk since if the capacitor does blow it could take out other hardware,if it`s still under warranty get it fixed by Epox,if not either replace the board or fix it yourself if you`ve good soldering skills.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Zebo
DFI or die.

They use aluminum electrolitics on their high power caps.. Same expensive ones you see on video cards and server boards..

I don't get it. Al electrolytics are the cheaper ones. (Well, not as cheap as the chinese-made ones, but they aren't the "expensive" ones.) Did you mean tantalum caps? The really high-quality mfgs used to use those on their boards, even Intel's OEM mobo production for the big-name OEMs tended to use them. There is a bit of a socio-political issue with using tantalum caps these days though - the world's biggest supply of tantalum comes from the Congo Republic, and I guess the mining operations are both destroying the landscape, and fueling the political forces bent on usurping control of the gov't over there. Good technically, bad politically.

Yes AL not best but much much better and more money than china or even rubycons ceramics... that said look at abit board I posted above..I believe both surface-mount tantalums on there and the one purple cap is a tantalum....either way not green cheap arse chinas

edit here's the link if again
http://www.octools.com/index.cgi?caller...les/abit/Fatal1ty/AA8XE/fatal1ty14.jpg

 

[stickybytes]

this is certainly really shocking that an asus pentium 4 board made in this day and age will have blown caps. i personally never have seen a motherboard with one but you can be sure i will be on the look out from now on.

the thing that really doesn't make sense is how can a motherboard still operate if they are blown capacitors? you would think there was someone kind of feedback mechanism in all motherboards, especially in this day and age that will detect an inbalance in the voltage that would cause the motherboard to not boot up. i mean there are sensors for all sorts of things in mobo's these days, you would think they could do something about capacitors don't you?

 

[Zepper]

Most caps will exhibit bulges and leaks before total failure. If you don't make a habit of popping the cover on your PC and taking a look around, you may be in the dark until failure. As long as the foil poles don't touch, you can still get some use out of them. RMA that thing ASAP - angle for a cross-ship.
.bh.

:moon:

 

[PascalT]

Bad caps on my soltek478 board as well..

 

[sharkeeper]

Get a Supermicro board (they are the best mainboard manufacturer) and change out all the electrolytics with Solen and/or Wonder Caps.

Relax and enjoy your Martini's.

Cheers!

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper
Get a Supermicro board (they are the best mainboard manufacturer) and change out all the electrolytics with Solen and/or Wonder Caps.

Relax and enjoy your Martini's.

Cheers!

Only problem with Supermicro is it forces people to buy the worst processor.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

yeah those are hurtin. RMA it now before they rupture and make a mess of things. i'm not an EE but i would imagine that the increased ripple as those things lose capacitance can't be healthy for the cpu.

 

[Mem]

Leaking capacitors of my ex-Epox 8KHA+ board,had 11 leaking and board was still working right up until I replaced it,believe it or not .

Pic 1 .

Pic 2.

Pic 3 ,all close-ups.

 

[mcveigh]

I had an 8KHA+ with many bad caps it kept working for about a year after I found them...then it got a little unstable and I got rid of it.

 

[Terumo]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Only problem with Supermicro is it forces people to buy the worst processor.

Not for the server market, which often prefers Xeons as they're easier to maintain. Because so many web hosts prefer it Supermicro tailors their production line to them, not the desktop market.

Stability is what's important in the server market, not just speed.

 

[Terumo]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: WileCoyote
wow you aren't going to believe this:

I read this article and checked my INTEL D865 GBF/PERC board and I have about 7 blown capacitors, half of which are oozing brown stuff from the top. All the K ones are fine, it's only the X ones that have problems.

I bought the INTEL board b/c I want stability over anything. So much for that.

Intel??? Wow, that is bad. Usually you expect them to be rock-solid on caps, they always used to be, and you'll pay a premium for a (generally non-overclockable) board if it says "Intel" on the box. :|

(Any idea who Intel's current first-tier board-mfg OEM is for those? Is it still Foxconn? Or didn't... Intel start to use Asus as an OEM. Hmm... there might be a connection here!)

Doubt it. My tech relative's shop used to only use Asus boards, but their customer service sucked, so they went with Intel. Now they don't have to wait for tech service or spec details -- direct line. Most of their market is business networks (or 3D designers needing dual Xeon workstations), so Intel was the board of choice for them.

 

[PascalT]

Anyone know if i could RMA the soltek board? I've had it for about 18 months. Leaked caps like I said above.

 

[WileCoyote]

Some pics of the blown Nichicon (considered one of the best manufacturers) capacitors on my INTEL, that's right... INTEL... motherboard. 865 chipset and I've had it for about 6 months.

http://www.poccs.com/caps