nForce2 Mobos' capacitors leaking

[pieman7]

I've got 2 nForce2 motherboards that failed within the last 6 months due to leaky capacitors: :disgust:

Epox 8RDA+
Winfast K7-NCR18G

I've had both mobos for about 1 year now. I thought at first maybe the cause was insufficient cooling, but the Epox case has 3 case fans in it, and both cases have (I believe) sufficient air flow. I read on other forums that some

faulty capacitors are suspected to have been rooted in the theft of an aqueous electrolyte formula which was not copied correctly

- PCStats Article. There are even class action lawsuits launched against some motherboard manufacturers.

Anyone else having these capacitor problems?

Are replacing capacitors easy (I don't have a soldering iron and afraid of frying the mobos)?

Am I better off just junking them and buying newer, better mobos that are compatible with the existing CPU and memory? And hope they don't have poorly copied caps?

Thanks.

 

[DavidHull]

Many motherboards made during a certain period had faulty caps. I've had this problem with an MSI, Socket 370 mobo. The only thing you can do is contact the manufacturer and hope that they'll fix the board. Otherwise, you can try to find some new caps and break out the soldering iron.

Dave

 

[Jii]

Originally posted by: pieman7
I've got 2 nForce2 motherboards that failed within the last 6 months due to leaky capacitors: :disgust:

Epox 8RDA+
Winfast K7-NCR18G

I've had both mobos for about 1 year now. I thought at first maybe the cause was insufficient cooling, but the Epox case has 3 case fans in it, and both cases have (I believe) sufficient air flow. I read on other forums that some

faulty capacitors are suspected to have been rooted in the theft of an aqueous electrolyte formula which was not copied correctly

- PCStats Article. There are even class action lawsuits launched against some motherboard manufacturers.

Anyone else having these capacitor problems?

Are replacing capacitors easy (I don't have a soldering iron and afraid of frying the mobos)?

Am I better off just junking them and buying newer, better mobos that are compatible with the existing CPU and memory? And hope they don't have poorly copied caps?

Thanks.

My EPoX EP-8RDA+ has this problem. I had to retire it from my computer because of a severe stabillity issue. The computer was not crashing, but was extremely slow and locked up all my optical drives at startup and sometimes lost them in the process. At first I thought this was a problem with the nForce drivers but as I opened up the case i saw several capacitors bulged or leaking. I had read some articles concerning this problem, but gave no attention until it happened to me.

The bulged capacitors looked like they were about to blow up any minute and the leaked ones had a brown dried solution on top of the capacitors. Luckily no electrolyte had leaked on the motherboard.

I can tell you, it's not necessarily the fault of insufficient cooling, since my motherboard was cooled using a total of four system fans and the capacitors still failed.

Changing capacitors is not really for a beginner. If you have soldered electronic components before, then you can qualify yourself able to do that. I changed the capacitors on the motherboard myself, being an electronics technician by profession.

You need to make a list of the leaked and bulged capacitors, their corresponding insert numbers printed on the motherboard right next to the components (usually starting with a "C" (like C164), noting the Volt and microfarad ratings on the sides of the capacitors).

Then with that list, go to the electronics shop near you and tell them what you need and tell them that it's for a motherboard, otherwise they may give you wrong type capacitors.

The soldering process is also a bit tricky. You need to locate the capacitor's legs from the bottom part of the motherboard, solder the bad ones off using a Soder-Wick and put the replaced parts in and soldering them to the board, avoiding to overburn them (usually soldering anything over six seconds can be a killer, so you need to have patience) and after the soldering is done, cutting the excess part of the capacitor's leg away.

I got the board working and it's waiting for installation to another case in the near future.

A fair note of warning:
You can destroy the motherboard if you're not careful. Also, the electrolyte capacitors are polarized so if you accidentally solder them the wrong way round, they may explode or suffer the same fate as the previous capacitors, so you need to know exactly what you're doing. If you have even the smallest doubt about your ability to do this repair, then don't do it.

 

[bradley]

Originally posted by: pieman7
I've got 2 nForce2 motherboards that failed within the last 6 months due to leaky capacitors: :disgust:

Epox 8RDA+
Winfast K7-NCR18G

I've had both mobos for about 1 year now. I thought at first maybe the cause was insufficient cooling, but the Epox case has 3 case fans in it, and both cases have (I believe) sufficient air flow. I read on other forums that some

faulty capacitors are suspected to have been rooted in the theft of an aqueous electrolyte formula which was not copied correctly

- PCStats Article. There are even class action lawsuits launched against some motherboard manufacturers.

Anyone else having these capacitor problems?

Are replacing capacitors easy (I don't have a soldering iron and afraid of frying the mobos)?

Am I better off just junking them and buying newer, better mobos that are compatible with the existing CPU and memory? And hope they don't have poorly copied caps?

Thanks.

I also have this problem with my 8RDA+, as do many, many, others. In 2002, I even had an EPOX 8KHA fail in an identical manner. In fact, faulty capacitors have effected almost every motherboard made from late 2000 to early 2004.

Like you've discovered, it seems someone stole a capacitor formula, that was otherwise incomplete, and starting manufacturing and selling these parts cheaply in mass quantity. Being that capacitors often account for a fifth of manufacturing costs, I guess there weren't many who could resist these cheap capacitors. Some even accuse EPOX of knowingly using the faulty caps, months after becoming alerted to the problem. Otherwise, EPOX is pretty good about fixing these motherboards - better than most.

Just RMA the board through the EPOX website, ship it to them, as well, cut them a $15 check for return shipping. It would probably cost $30-40 alone to fix the capacitors yourself - so it's a good deal. Whether it's actually worth fixing the board? Well, that is entirely up to you.

Good luck.

 

[Jii]

Originally posted by: bradley
Just RMA the board through the EPOX website, ship it to them, as well, cut them a $15 check for return shipping. It would probably cost $30-40 alone to fix the capacitors yourself - so it's a good deal. Whether it's actually worth fixing the board? Well, that is entirely up to you.

Good luck.

For my part, it was cheaper to change the capacitors myself than to online RMA the board. I would have had to ship it to Epox Germany or Epox Netherlands for repair/replacement and it would have cost me more than fixing the board myself. Since the board was no longer under warranty, the board was no longer in production use (was replaced with Epox EP-8VTAI), I had the necessary knowledge and tools for fixing it, then why not put the tools in use?

The whole fixing procedure cost me about 10 Euros (or about $13, respectively) for all the needed capacitors and it resulted a board in a stable, working condition. I was happy (and perhaps a bit proud, too) of my work

I have several friends with Epox boards (EP-8RDA and another EP-8RDA+). So far, no reports of any problems, but I think I should check the boards out before something happens.

As a rule of thumb, a bulged capacitor is a sign of a failing, but still functional capacitor, a leaking one is either dead or dying one :thumbsdown:

 

[bradley]

Originally posted by: Jii
For my part, it was cheaper to change the capacitors myself than to online RMA the board. I would have had to ship it to Epox Germany or Epox Netherlands for repair/replacement and it would have cost me more than fixing the board myself. Since the board was no longer under warranty, the board was no longer in production use (was replaced with Epox EP-8VTAI), I had the necessary knowledge and tools for fixing it, then why not put the tools in use?

The whole fixing procedure cost me about 10 Euros (or about $13, respectively) for all the needed capacitors and it resulted a board in a stable, working condition. I was happy (and perhaps a bit proud, too) of my work

Nice to see you handled the problem yourself. Here in the US, getting capacitors can be a problem as many electronics retailers only sell in bulk, or often charge high prices for low volume purchases. But if you're handy with a soldering iron, it's definitely worthwhile and do-able.

Originally posted by: Jii
I have several friends with Epox boards (EP-8RDA and another EP-8RDA+). So far, no reports of any problems, but I think I should check the boards out before something happens.

I believe these faulty capacitors were rated for a life expectancy of 4000 hours, or around 6 months if you run your computer 24/7. So especially if your friends run their computers all day, it's just a matter of time before these boards need to be checked. Of course, if one day there is a class action lawsuit against EPOX, we'll be first in line.

 

[neoreturns]

Epox will accept RMA's on these boards. You might need to do some haggling but you should get one of the similar Nforce2 ultra boards they have right now.

 

[Jii]

Originally posted by: bradley

I believe these faulty capacitors were rated for a life expectancy of 4000 hours, or around 6 months if you run your computer 24/7. So especially if your friends run their computers all day, it's just a matter of time before these boards need to be checked. Of course, if one day there is a class action lawsuit against EPOX, we'll be first in line.

I just took a quick look at my older EPoX EP-8K3PRO and what do I find: Four bulged capacitors near the voltage regulators. :Q OK... This board has been running 24/7 for over a year, but surprisigly it still runs normally. Some of the capacitors look normal so heat generation may be the one to blame. Of course this board has to go to a monthly checkup cycle. One sign of a bursting capacitor and it's changing time for this one too.

Class action lawsuits seem to be possible in USA only. It's pretty impossible to do things like that in Europe, so we have to simply either trash the board or (attempt to) fix it.

 

[Jii]

Originally posted by: neoreturns
Epox will accept RMA's on these boards. You might need to do some haggling but you should get one of the similar Nforce2 ultra boards they have right now.

I know that, but as I told before, it became more costly to RMA the board than to fix it by myself.
Besides, my haggling skills are not that good.

 

[Jeff7]

I had one 8RDA+ and an 8KHA3. I didn't think to ask about the 8RDA+ (no idea why), but I did ask about the 8KHA3 - for $7 (shipping) Epox recapped the motherboard, even though it was over a year (maybe two?) out of warranty.

If anyone tries to replace the capacitors, you will need "low-ESR" capacitors. Low equivalent resistance, or something like that. It's some property of the capacitors that gives them longer life, or better response times, or something like that. In any case, the computer needs them. And they aren't easy to find.

I just took a quick look at my older EPoX EP-8K3PRO and what do I find: Four bulged capacitors near the voltage regulators. OK... This board has been running 24/7 for over a year, but surprisigly it still runs normally. Some of the capacitors look normal so heat generation may be the one to blame. Of course this board has to go to a monthly checkup cycle. One sign of a bursting capacitor and it's changing time for this one too.

My system just froze up - screen was blank when I came back to it, and it wouldn't boot up again. Open it up - 4 bulging (1 leaking) cap by the voltage regulators, and a few others by the RAM and chipset were bulging. GSC was the brand.

 

[kki000]

ditto 8rda+. It stopped booting after a power failure at my sisters.
I have other dead mobos lying around, and im hoping to replace the one dead cap that i saw. Has anyone ever tried that?
K

 

[Bassyhead]

my MSI K7N420 nForce board had leaky capacitors. I fixed it before stability became an issue by soldering in compatible capacitors from a different dead board.

 

[Slaimus]

I guess I was lucky to have gotten the Iwill instead of the Epox KT133A board back then. Have not heard of any Iwill board having the issue.

 

[SpeedTester]

We have had a few boards have their caps buldge and fail. One that ticked me off was our MSI dually server board. I had no choice but to find some good caps and solder them up. This wasnt easy at all. The board acts a giant heatsink and takes a hot iron and some patiants to do. The board has been running great for over two years now so everything is fine. I have done cap swaps on 3-4 other boards with sucess but like I said its not the easiest.

 

[Techie333]

Wow. This same thing happened to me. Wouldn't boot up after freezing. And somebody just pointed me to this thread and I look and there are four brown crusted capacitors near the voltage regulator and a few near the memory!!! The ones near the voltage regulators are the worst! I HAD NO IDEA! This is with Epox 8RDA+. I can't believe this! I've been having so many stability problems recently and it's all because of this!!! CAN WE FILE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT or should I contact epox?!?!

 

[SpeedTester]

Class action lawsuits arent really worth it for our side. We usually yeild a fraction of the cost of a replacement board and the lawyers walk home with thousands. I'd personally contact them explaining the problem and see what they have to say. If you feel adventurous and have some knowledge of electrical repair get some caps with the same specs uf + Volts and solder them up yourself.

Originally posted by: Techie333
Wow. This same thing happened to me. Wouldn't boot up after freezing. And somebody just pointed me to this thread and I look and there are four brown crusted capacitors near the voltage regulator and a few near the memory!!! The ones near the voltage regulators are the worst! I HAD NO IDEA! This is with Epox 8RDA+. I can't believe this! I've been having so many stability problems recently and it's all because of this!!! CAN WE FILE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT or should I contact epox?!?!

 

[Bonesdad]

Well, I for one won't purchase another EPOX board. They let their boards stay in the wild while KNOWING they were using faulty caps. Bye Bye EPOX.

 

[arswihart]

i think they quit doing it, btw, I have a 8rda+ thats been running great for 2 years, I don't leave it on 24/7, more like about 6-12 hours a day.

- i have to update this, just checked and I no doubt have some slightly swollen cap's between the back I/O panel and the CPU. Some leakage on top as well, haven't really examined the whole thing very well yet though. Didn't notice this over Christmas break, I'm sure I checked them then, I guess this is a new development. No problems with the computer though, anyone know what the warrently is on this board?

 

[Bonesdad]

Think epox has 3 year warranties on boards, at least, it was for my 8rda+, that's the reason I was able to RMA mine.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

These companies will usually accept an RMA request for leaking caps even if the warranty expired.

 

[arswihart]

nice, I'll keep my fingers crossed, did someone mention you may get a newer version (like 8rda3I or 8rda6+) or do you think I'll get the 8rda+ (with more bad cap's?)

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Bonesdad
Well, I for one won't purchase another EPOX board. They let their boards stay in the wild while KNOWING they were using faulty caps. Bye Bye EPOX.

It wasn't just Epox that was affected - MSI, Abit, and numerous other electronics manufacturers used the faulty caps. Most probably didn't know about it until lots of their products had them. But Abit was the only company to acknowledge that a problem existed.

If you've got bulging/leaking caps, contact the maker of your board and explain that you've got bulging capacitors, and would like to RMA the board. Epox charges $7 for shipping, and you also pay to send it there. But this is still better than paying for low-ESR caps, and risking really botching it by doing it yourself. You can overheat the board, damage vias that might be tied to any of the internal copper layers, or damage traces. If they screw it up, it should be up to them to send you a whole new one.

 

[pieman7]

1/31/2005 UPDATE:

I contacted Epox and Leadtek (Winfast) and they immediately gave me an RMA# to get the mobos repaired. I would only have to pay for shipping to get them there. No charge for the actual repair or return shipping. I tried to find out if I could get credit towards a new or current mobo, but they said repair or replace with equivalent only. Anyhow, I'm happy that I should have something functional in 5-15 business days (plus shipping).

 

[Noid]

Your problem has been around awhile...
... (as many have posted ...)

Too bad they stuck you for shipping...
I have lost so many 'deals' thru RMA and 'shipping'


I just thought I'd add this link for others who can't RMA...

http://www.motherboardrepair.com/

I kept this link, just in case, my NF7-S fails in that department.

 

[Bonesdad]

Originally posted by: pieman7
1/31/2005 UPDATE:

I contacted Epox and Leadtek (Winfast) and they immediately gave me an RMA# to get the mobos repaired. I would only have to pay for shipping to get them there. No charge for the actual repair or return shipping. I tried to find out if I could get credit towards a new or current mobo, but they said repair or replace with equivalent only. Anyhow, I'm happy that I should have something functional in 5-15 business days (plus shipping).

well, my RMA board was received by them on Jan 13th. According to their site, it isn't even "in progress" the best I expect from them is on the 15th business day, they will ship my board. It will be shipped UPS ground which will take another 10 days to get here. At that point, it will be over 6 weeks without my system, 5 of those weeks in "RMA".

It really should not take them that long to see the leaky capacitors and ship a new one, eh? The fact that I have to pay shipping either way really grates on me. The capacitors were bad, and they have known about it for a while. How should I be required to pay for anything to do with this? If they had contacted me once they knew the caps were probably bad, I would give them more slack. WHen my mobo died, it COULD have taken other components with it.

Don't expect to get your mobo in 5-15 days...I bet it takes a month.