will 1 swollen cap...

[minear85]

Will 1 swollen cap cause my pc to do the continuous beep at post?( means bad mobo OR power supply )

-my pc tries to boot as soon as plugged in so it may be the power supply
-I found 1 slightly swollen cap near my second pci-e slot although i dont use that one
So basically can one swollen cap cause a complete board failure?

[Topcat]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

Yes. all it takes is one.

[Rulycat]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

You've also got to remember that just because only one has bloated doesn't mean only one has failed. All of them could have failed and only one is showing signs of it.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

All of them could have failed and only one is showing signs of it.

... or the root of the issue could be in the power supply.

[Rulycat]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

... or the root of the issue could be in the power supply.

True, but if the PSU has caused mobo caps to fail then the mobo caps are only passing it on to the GPU, NIC, etc..

[minear85]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

I appreciate all the feedback. im taking my PSU down to DIT computers to test it and if its bad get a new one but will most likely also replace the cap.

also the PSU turns everything on as soon as its plugged in not when turned on or off so the psu may have taken out the mobo.

[c_hegge]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

Replace ALL of the caps, bulged or not. As has been said, They are probably all bad, but only one is showing it.

[yyonline]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

also the PSU turns everything on as soon as its plugged in not when turned on or off so the psu may have taken out the mobo.

That's usually controlled by a BIOS setting. Something along the lines of "Power on after power failure" or similar.

[momaka]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

im taking my PSU down to DIT computers to test it and if its bad get a new one

I doubt they will do a proper test on it. A proper test requires a load-tester and an oscilloscope. As far as I know, none of those "computer repair" places have this type of equipment. Most just swap parts.

With that said, post the name of the brand of the PSU - it should be printed on its label. Better yet, if you have a camera, open the PSU if not under warranty (make sure it's unplugged from the wall!), and post some pictures here.

----
While it's a good idea to replace all of the caps on your motherboard, you could skip the small caps under 220uF (unless, of course, they look bad). However if you want peace of mind, replace every electrolytic capacitor.
Post some pics of the motherboard as well (if possible).

[minear85]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

Its a dell xps 700 and the parts are proprietary.

-psu is h750p btx
-mobo is yf432 with nvidia chipset and lga775 cpu slot.
ill get some picls when i take it apart. DIT hooks it up to what looks like a load tester but I dont think they use an oscilloscope.

[momaka]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

Well, any news?

Dell PSUs are excellent. Definitely worth repairing, especially if it's something trivial such as a few bad caps.

DIT hooks it up to what looks like a load tester but I dont think they use an oscilloscope.

Well, it's a useless test then because only an oscilloscope will tell if the PSU is bad (i.e. outputting more ripple than it should).
Just have a good look inside the PSU yourself, and maybe post some pics. If there are any bad cap, change them. PSUs are very easy to work on.
----
Since this is a Dell computer, most of the caps on the motherboard will be of a reputable brand. The only ones to watch out for are United Chemicon KZG/KZJ (caps with a "shield" logo and a "Y" stamp on top ), and Nichicon HM and HN series. For the Nichicon HM/HN caps, only those made between years 2001-2005 would be considered bad and should be changed. You can tell when the Nichicon caps on your motherboard were made by looking at their datecode. It will be written on each cap as Hxxxx where each x is a number. The first 2 numbers indicate the year the cap was made. So for example, H0413 would indicate the cap was made in year 2004, week 13.

[brethin]

Re: will 1 swollen cap...

Short answer is yes 1 swollen cap can cause your problem, most likely if 1 is swollen others are failing. Taking it to any shop that doesn't specialize in component level repairs (which most don't) will result in you paying $ for nothing.