Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

[Johndill]

Hi, I have a DELL XPS M1730 I bought to repair, there is a capacitor missing and I don't know what value it is, the left cap is at TC22 and the missing one is at TC23, If someone has the diagram for this motherboard can you help me please. Also, what is the value of the left cap?

This is my board


I'd like to replace it with one of these just for testing in the mean time when I get the right value that goes there


This is the only close up pick I can fine of this motherboard but it's not clear

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

I found this picture but the caps are different values than mine

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

It seems they have different cap values on each motherboard that are both the same, does that mean my missing cap would be the same as my remaining cap? if so, what value is my cap in the first picture? 100uF? what does 9g mean?

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

any help?

[mockingbird]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

They're not different values, just different brands. I am pretty certain it's a 25V 100uF capacitor.

Please see this thread:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17074

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

They're not different values, just different brands. I am pretty certain it's a 25V 100uF capacitor.

Please see this thread:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17074

Thanks, I put a 100uF 25V cap in the missing place and just tested the caps when power is applied and they both get 12V so the caps mustn't be the problem, could the original cap that's there be dying even though it gets 12V, should I replace the original cap too?

Maybe you can help me, when the power button is pressed, the power light comes on for about 4-5 seconds then goes off, no fans started, could it be the caps or something else? I really want to fix this motherboard, all help will be much appreciated :-)

[mockingbird]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

It's almost certainly the discrete nVidia GPU causing the problems with this model.

Fixing it would involve re-balling the GPU. Re-flowing it in the oven is only a temporary solution. It won't last.

In my opinion, you're looking at at least $100 for the repair, or possibly much more.

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

It's almost certainly the discrete nVidia GPU causing the problems with this model.

Fixing it would involve re-balling the GPU. Re-flowing it in the oven is only a temporary solution. It won't last.

In my opinion, you're looking at at least $100 for the repair, or possibly much more.

But the motherboard should boot without the GPU card as I have another DELL laptop with a dead GPU I took it out to test if the board boots without it and it does

[mockingbird]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

Ah, ok then.

The only other thing I can think of besides diagnosing the electronics is re-flashing the BIOS (which you'll have to do out of circuit).

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

These boards have a lot of issues, besides the famous nvidia gpus (at least the card can be replaced). BIOS, northbridge and southbridge issues are all common on them. I would not take up a repair on these without access to a bga rework station.

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

Hmm... a heat gun would be dodgy even damaging if it came to that, wouldn't it? The power jack is dodgy as it looses power when the power connector is moved around (the connector is good) so I've got some new jacks coming in the mail, I bought two of these boards hoping they would be an easy fix but is beginning to get more complicated (as electronics usually do :-), the other board had its power jack removed by the previous owner and about 3 or 4 knocked off smd components around the jack, I have no Idea what was originally wrong with these boards which makes it harder, not to mention I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this level of repair but a quick leaner when i'm determined to fix it :-)

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

Even a heat gun will help if you use it carefully, but using a heat gun carefully on a computer motherboard, is, well... close to impossible. But before heating anything up, you should start by figuring out whether anything needs to be heated up at all.

If you really want to learn what is wrong with these boards, you need to take it step by step and understand what they are doing, so you can then understand why they are doing it and figure out the faulty components. So the best place to start would be the schematic here:

Take a look at the power supply circuits and try to understand how they work, then begin by measuring some voltages.

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

Even a heat gun will help if you use it carefully, but using a heat gun carefully on a computer motherboard, is, well... close to impossible. But before heating anything up, you should start by figuring out whether anything needs to be heated up at all.

If you really want to learn what is wrong with these boards, you need to take it step by step and understand what they are doing, so you can then understand why they are doing it and figure out the faulty components. So the best place to start would be the schematic here:

Take a look at the power supply circuits and try to understand how they work, then begin by measuring some voltages.

YES! thank you! I looked for the schematic but couldn't find it, now to learn how to read it :-) one think I have found is that when the power is on and the battery led is flashing orange and blue (because the battery is old) it should keep flashing when the system turns on but it stops flashing and freezes when powered on, so it's not getting to a point during boot then crashing, it crashes as soon as it's powered on, any ideas? your right about the caps :-) "SE100U25VM-14GP"

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

Well, one GPU and motherboard are no good now, the connector wasn't attached all the way down and it burnt the connectors :-(

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

So now I'm trying to fix my other board on the left, the new DC jacks arrived but smd's C824 and C827 (in red) are not in the schematics and C429 (in yellow) says reserved in the schematics so would I have to replace it? and R255 (in blue) is broken and is the black part next to it still ok? it looks ok

Should I take them from the right board and put them on the left board?

[Per Hansson]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

Johndill, I have uploaded your pictures to badcaps.
We don't like it when you link them offsite because most of those hosts will go offline, and then we have a thread without pictures in the future.
At the time of writing all of the pics in your last two posts were not loading.
And only one pic in your first post.

I resized them to 3000pixels: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19629
And then uploaded them: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1868

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

Johndill, I have uploaded your pictures to badcaps.
We don't like it when you link them offsite because most of those hosts will go offline, and then we have a thread without pictures in the future.
At the time of writing all of the pics in your last two posts were not loading.
And only one pic in your first post.

I resized them to 3000pixels: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19629
And then uploaded them: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1868

Ok, thank you, I'll do it that way in future :-)

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

So I did what I said in post #15 and the other motherboard is now working, as you can see in the pictures the display was working and I could hear the hiss of the GPU but now I am getting the black screen and only hear the hiss for half a second when I turn it on and when I put some pressure around the GPU area it'll hiss a bit and sometimes crash, the LCD is getting power it's just a black screen, I can't run any diagnostics until I get a new keyboard as the original was bent and broken from the previous owner, so at this point would it be the GPU? also, the CPU fan doesn't come on nor the GPU, some times when I turn it on the lights don't turn on then I turn it off then on again and the lights come on.

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

UPDATE: This morning I turned it on and it comes up with media direct sometimes then comes up with the next picture and says it got hotter than expected, everything has new thermal past, I don't know if it's shutting down from the faulty GPU or a motherboard problem, I got to start diagnostics but it crashed after that pic was taken, I'm hoping it's just the faulty GPU and not the motherboard

[Johndill]

Re: Help with DELL XPS M1730 capacitor replacement

Please don't leave me