Hello all. I found this forum after researching some things about capacitors when I found they were the likely cause for the computer problems I've been having. I just want to ask you well-versed members whether or not I have additional problems to worry about, and if my motherboard is worth fixing (I have no soldering supplies so I'd need to buy everything).
Anyway, I bought this computer used about a month ago and it's been working fine up until two nights ago.
When I booted my computer that morning, windows stalled during boot (with the windows xp logo and the loading bar). I rebooted and windows told me that it didn't start successfully, possibly because of a hardware/software change. (I hadn't changed anything) I booted Windows normmaly and everything seemed to be ok.
Then I tried to play a game (Prototype), but it froze 5 seconds after loading. So, hoping it was just the game, I started up TF2 which also froze after 5 seconds. At this point I guessed something aws wrong with my video card but after troubleshooting (even put in a different card) I realized that wasn't the cause.
It was late so I shut off the computer for the night figuring I could try again tomorrow. But now when I turned on my computer it wouldn't POST, and the PSU and HDD lights didn't come on. However, the fans started running and the internal light in the PSU came on. The debug LED on my mobo stopped at 23 (which my manual says means the chipset registers are being programmed) and doesn't display any other numbers.
So by this point I'm getting frustrated, and I opened my case and took a long, hard look at all the components. Lo and behold I found no less than 3 wet electolytic capacitors to have burst. I took a couple pictures:
So, could the bad capacitors have caused all these symptoms my computer is exhibiting? Can I just replace the mobo or do I need to get a whole new computer? Sorry for the long post but I wanted to make sure I provided as much info as possible. Speaking of info, here are my specs:
BIOSTAR TForce590SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition Processor
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
HIPER Type R II HPU-5B880 880W Continuous @ 40°C (Maximum Continuous Peak: 1040W) ATX12V V2.2 & EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
PNY VCG88512GXPB GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks a lot guys.
Anyway, I bought this computer used about a month ago and it's been working fine up until two nights ago.
When I booted my computer that morning, windows stalled during boot (with the windows xp logo and the loading bar). I rebooted and windows told me that it didn't start successfully, possibly because of a hardware/software change. (I hadn't changed anything) I booted Windows normmaly and everything seemed to be ok.
Then I tried to play a game (Prototype), but it froze 5 seconds after loading. So, hoping it was just the game, I started up TF2 which also froze after 5 seconds. At this point I guessed something aws wrong with my video card but after troubleshooting (even put in a different card) I realized that wasn't the cause.
It was late so I shut off the computer for the night figuring I could try again tomorrow. But now when I turned on my computer it wouldn't POST, and the PSU and HDD lights didn't come on. However, the fans started running and the internal light in the PSU came on. The debug LED on my mobo stopped at 23 (which my manual says means the chipset registers are being programmed) and doesn't display any other numbers.
So by this point I'm getting frustrated, and I opened my case and took a long, hard look at all the components. Lo and behold I found no less than 3 wet electolytic capacitors to have burst. I took a couple pictures:
So, could the bad capacitors have caused all these symptoms my computer is exhibiting? Can I just replace the mobo or do I need to get a whole new computer? Sorry for the long post but I wanted to make sure I provided as much info as possible. Speaking of info, here are my specs:
BIOSTAR TForce590SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition Processor
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
HIPER Type R II HPU-5B880 880W Continuous @ 40°C (Maximum Continuous Peak: 1040W) ATX12V V2.2 & EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
PNY VCG88512GXPB GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks a lot guys.
Comment