Replacing buldged capacitors on a motherboard?

[badfish2]

I have a HP desktop that randomly freezes / shuts down on a clean windows install. Thinking the mobo was going out I found 6 buldged capacitors that I'm considering replacing myself. The process looks pretty straightforward, heat the leads, remove, replace and resolder, make sure no leads were bridged.

Any tips for making this go smoothly?

[NaughtyMonkey]

I've heard of people doing this, but never had the balls to actually try it. I'm sure there are guides online. Good luck and let me know how it works out!

[five.five-six]

I have a HP desktop that randomly freezes / shuts down on a clean windows install. Thinking the mobo was going out I found 6 buldged capacitors that I'm considering replacing myself. The process looks pretty straightforward, heat the leads, remove, replace and resolder, make sure no leads were bridged.

Any tips for making this go smoothly?

there is a reason that the caps went out, if you don't fix that, then they will break again, depending on your prosesor/memory, you can probably find a NEW mobo at freys for $50 or a used one on ebay for $25

[ke6guj]

there is a reason that the caps went out, if you don't fix that, then they will break again, depending on your prosesor/memory, you can probably find a NEW mobo at freys for $50 or a used one on ebay for $25

yup, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

[robcoe]

I have a HP desktop that randomly freezes / shuts down on a clean windows install. Thinking the mobo was going out I found 6 buldged capacitors that I'm considering replacing myself. The process looks pretty straightforward, heat the leads, remove, replace and resolder, make sure no leads were bridged.

Any tips for making this go smoothly?

Be carful in removeing the caps, motherboards now have several internal layers of traces, if your not careful you can damage the plateing on the through hole and have an open inner trace. Both mechanical stress(solder not completly melted, lead scrapeing the wall, ect) or from heat stress such as having the iron applied to long, can cause these problems.

Also you might want to check your power supply, buldged caps usualy are the result of to much voltage stress or the result of a polorized cap being installed backward(unlikely). If its to much voltage putting a new cap in will just cause it to blow again.

Overall, given the time that will be involved in getting the parts and getting them installed, unless you have a high end motherboard your probably better off buying a new one.

[E Pluribus Unum]

There is a reason they use robots to make motherboards.... its much cheaper and faster.

Buy a used MB that fits your hardware.

[tgriffin]

HP is crap. There's your problem.

[CSDGuy]

I had the same issue as well, but with a non-HP motherboard. I ended up getting a new motherboard and processor. I shopped around a little bit and found one that was compatible with basically everything the old board had. I eventually decided to get a new video card... Both systems had on-board video to begin with, so I'm not counting the video card upgrade... I put in just a little over $100 on the whole thing. I'm really happy with the upgrade. The rest of the system was fairly decent to begin with, so the upgrade went pretty smoothly.

As pretty much everyone else says: upgrade. Don't waste your time soldering. Once you get that done, why not use that old board to play with soldering? You're not using it anymore, so... and if you goof, well, you're not using it anymore...

[Dhena81]

I've never heard of anyone doing this in a long time techs now just replace the whole motherboard do you have a DMM? Capacitors are usually the weak link in most electrical circuits. Some of them might not be bad but if there buldging they most likely are. Make sure you get the right Micro Farad and voltage ratings if your seriously going to do this.

[Corbin Dallas]

I've never heard of anyone doing this in a long time techs now just replace the whole motherboard do you have a DMM? Capacitors are usually the weak link in most electrical circuits. Some of them might not be bad but if there buldging they most likely are. Make sure you get the right Micro Farad and voltage ratings if your seriously going to do this.

Same here.

Also check your PS and make sure it's sending out the right voltage/amperage. A bad PS will cook a motherboard in a matter of seconds.


IF (and that's a BIG IF) you are going to replace the bad caps, make absolutely certain you are using a electronic solder sucker (read: not a bulb or wick type) and let the cap fall out under its own weight. If you PULL the cap out, you may ruin the top layer of the board.

Also, when re-inserting the new caps, tripple check the anode / cathode positions on the board and match the cap designations.

Screw that up and you'll be buying a new motherboard for sure.

GL!

[badfish2]

This isi an extra tower I have, so not a huge loss if something goes awry. I heard the HP restore wont install on a non-hp badged mobo, that was my only hold up from looking for a new one. Thanks for the suggestions :-)

[Matt C]

Get a new MB.

[gunn]

The easiest repair is just to replace the board.
On my home server, I replaced the board, CPU, and memory for well under $100 (fry's motherboard w/ integrated video + CPU special + cheap mem deal).... but all this computer does is share my printer and store my files for access by 1-2 users (my wife and I).

As stated above, this problem isn't limited to "HP junk" -- I've replaced several of my boards & power supplies for this exact reason so you aren't alone. The explanation for the problem is listed in the wikipedia article.

If you want to go down the solder route, its really not that hard. Two issues:
- find a cheap, cost effective replacement may be a slight challenge. If you are trying to do it on a budget, check places like digikey or jameco may have it but it might not be cost effective after shipping. You might want to look on older boards (if you or a friend isi a packrat) to see if you can scavange a suitably sized cap.
- make a note of the correct polarity when you solder the new component down. Caps only work one way. Corbin mentioned this above...

These are probably the tips you were looking for other than the blanket condemnation of "just replace it". As for software, well, you are connected to the internet and all that stuff is easy to find...

-g

[Merc1138]

Unless you're already good at this sort of work, just replace the board. The reason why I said that, is because a bad soldering job means time spent troubleshooting, which is time wasted putting it all back together, seeing that it doesn't work, taking it apart, resoldering, putting it back together yadda yadda.

Additionally, if you've already got some bad caps, if it's a batch issue you'll eventually end up with another blown cap. Unless it's some really high end component, it's just not worth the effort.

[Krusher]

Not a bad idea.

I'd say give it a shot, Make sure you get + and - right, and no not a smart *** comment, that can make or break a repair ..

solder wick would be a great removal aide, and with something like this, it may just smooth out that system.
Capacitors are just not made like they used to anymore and have become more of a failure point over the years..

Good luck, if anything try as a fun project.. and let us know how it goes. Would suggest a adjustable soldering station and lower temp flow solder..

I have a HP desktop that randomly freezes / shuts down on a clean windows install. Thinking the mobo was going out I found 6 buldged capacitors that I'm considering replacing myself. The process looks pretty straightforward, heat the leads, remove, replace and resolder, make sure no leads were bridged.

Any tips for making this go smoothly?