Capacitors about to blow...

[Thor_Sevan]

Hi everyone,

Here is the little story... when I was installing my new Maxtor 120 GB HD today I realised that two capacitors on my motherboard had their top bulged. My motherboard is a Gigabyte 7VRX and its exactly a year old.

Here is the kink to the picture of the capacitor:
High Res: ** warning **
105_0594.JPG
Low Res: ** 640X480 **
big_capacitor_small_res.jpg

I am sure this capacitor will eventually blow due to pressure dammage over time... now... I don't want it to blow after the warranty is expired...
Is a bulged capacitor a valid reason to replace or change a motherboard ? I don't want to have electrolyte sprayed all over my computer when I am not home... could it be even dangerous ?

Thanks

Thor_Sevan.

 

[OverVolt]

not sure about that, i would E-mail Giga-Byte.

I wouldn't leave that thing running by itself though, maybe you can get a equal capacitor at radio shack or something and solder it on? I know i've heard of this from somewhere, not enough time to search for the link

 

[boyRacer]

Well it could start leaking... ive had an abit that leaked before so i just RMAd it... Got one back that had all rubycons... ...you can solder a new one if you have one thats rated the same or higher but of course that voids your warranty.

 

[MDE]

Abit and (I think Epox) had this problem a while ago, and they replaced the boards with bad capacitors.

 

[aka1nas]

This is actually a fairly common problem in the last couple of years as it seems that there was a bit of industrial espionage a few years back that resulted in several capacitor manufacturers in taiwan obtaining a competitors recipe for electrolyte. Unfortunately, the recipe was flawed and the electrolyte either evaporates or otherwise degrades, resulting in the blown out looking caps you have. This should definately be covered by the warranty and I would RMA it now or replace the caps yourself if you are so inclined.

 

[Thor_Sevan]

Thanks for the replies.
The thing is, do they usually ship a replacement board BEFORE I actually have to ship the bad one ?
I'll try sending them an email tomorrow to be sure.

One more thing, do I have to deal with Gigabyte itself or with the computer store that sold me the computer ? Usually, warranty covers this kind of stuff right ? So THEY are the ones who should deal with Gigabyte right ?

Thor_Sevan.

 

[aka1nas]

If it's a year old you are out of the return policy(Unless you have another warranty from them?). You can usually go through the manufacturers website and get an RMA authorization from them. I haven't ever had to RMA a gigabyte(my 2 GB boards have been great), so I am not sure if they will cross ship a new board to you. If they don't offer it on their site, maybe you can talk them into it with a friendly phone call. Usually, you have to pay for the new board up front in that case, and they refund your money when they receive your old board.

 

[Thor_Sevan]

I wonder if they pay for the shipping though

 

[boyRacer]

I don't know about Gigabyte but my Abit was out of warranty so i had to pay $25 + shipping. Turnaround time was less than a week... ...being in the same state they are sure helps.

 

[aka1nas]

If it turns out to be more than you want to spend you could always grab a refurb/open item mobo from newegg for ~$30 - $40 when and if your caps blow or fix them yourself like I mentioned above.

 

[JetBlack69]

Nice picture. Also, in the latest issue of CPU magazine, they have an article about replacing the swollen caps.

 

[Johnbear007]

cpu magazine lol

 

[Thor_Sevan]

Weird thing...
When my new HD is enabled in the bios, I get crackling sound (winamp) in windows whenever I use an application that takes some CPU and disk access (c++ compiling for exemple). When the HD is set to DISABLED in the bios, I CAN STILL SEE IT in windows (?!), USE IT, BUT, the crackling sound is gone...
I just can't explain that. Someone can ?
The two HD are on the same primary IDE cable.

Thanks

P.S.: Still no response from Gigabyte...

Thor_Sevan.

 

[Black88GTA]

Originally posted by: boyRacer
I don't know about Gigabyte but my Abit was out of warranty so i had to pay $25 + shipping. Turnaround time was less than a week... ...being in the same state they are sure helps.

How old was your board? I had an Abit KT7-RAID that would have been 3 years old in December and RMA'd it a few weeks ago. The board worked fine, as far as I could tell, but had 8 bulging capacitors, and 2 that were leaking out the bottom. I emailed them about it and they emailed me back saying that there was a "special case" with my board, and that they'd waive the $25 fee for the out of warranty RMA. I didn't even mention it to them, they did that for me without me even asking! I ended up paying one way shipping from MI to CA which came out to $5 and change for Fedex Ground. I didn't give them a dime, and got a new board in about 2-3 weeks - but only cause I used the cheapest shipping I could find, and it took a bit for them to get it. They were sitting on it for less than a week.

Thor_Sevan, I'd email them about it. You might get lucky like I did with Abit and get an RMA from them for free, or under warranty.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA

Originally posted by: boyRacer
I don't know about Gigabyte but my Abit was out of warranty so i had to pay $25 + shipping. Turnaround time was less than a week... ...being in the same state they are sure helps.

How old was your board? I had an Abit KT7-RAID that would have been 3 years old in December and RMA'd it a few weeks ago. The board worked fine, as far as I could tell, but had 8 bulging capacitors, and 2 that were leaking out the bottom. I emailed them about it and they emailed me back saying that there was a "special case" with my board, and that they'd waive the $25 fee for the out of warranty RMA. I didn't even mention it to them, they did that for me without me even asking! I ended up paying one way shipping from MI to CA which came out to $5 and change for Fedex Ground. I didn't give them a dime, and got a new board in about 2-3 weeks - but only cause I used the cheapest shipping I could find, and it took a bit for them to get it. They were sitting on it for less than a week.

Thor_Sevan, I'd email them about it. You might get lucky like I did with Abit and get an RMA from them for free, or under warranty.

I dunno... i got it off eBay... so i had no invoice... or proof of how old it is.

 

[Thor_Sevan]

Oh well... still no response from Gigabyte... maybe I should send them a second email.

Yeah... the pics are nice. The camera is an Canon A70.

Thor_Sevan.

 

[Eltano1]

I have the same problem with an Epox mobo, emailed them and they reply back saying that they will replace the capacitors for a small fee of $11.00 plus shipping . I sent the mobo a week ago, now I'm waiting to get it back.

Good luck with yours

Eltano

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: Thor_Sevan
I wonder if they pay for the shipping though

They should

 

[Sniper82]

Originally posted by: Thor_Sevan
Oh well... still no response from Gigabyte... maybe I should send them a second email.

Yeah... the pics are nice. The camera is an Canon A70.

Thor_Sevan.

Try calling them if they have a support number. Never email a company for support. It takes days to get a reply back and sometimes you don't get one back period. Calling them gets things done fast.