Greetings all, new to these boards, but I've been lurking for a long time. Finally jumped in and replaced some bad caps on an old DFI board(G-Luxon) and got somewhat good results, except that I missed a bad cap in a different area of the board.
Here are the caps I swapped out, the one is obviously blown, the other is the one that looks sunken in, by the time I changed it, it was bulging like the one in the foreground.
I ordered my caps, the long way around, from digi-key. Cost me $3 a pop, plus an $18.50 shipping and handling charge on top of that, for 5 caps. With tax, almost $40 Canadian. I wasn't impressed, but hey, I wanted to fix the board(DFI CA-64 TN).
Hunted for an iron with a grounded tip, looked at the Wellers, 25W and 40W, only 2 prong plugs on them, and the plugs weren't polarized. $40 for the 40W, and I had my doubts the tip was grounded. El-cheapo solder gun on the shelf: "Mega-Power", 100W, $14.99, with a polarized plug, I figure it may have a grounded tip. I bought it.
Test time, I grab my multi-meter and start checking resistance: large prong to tip, switch on, infinity. Small prong to tip, switch on, infinity. Prong to prong, switch on, 0 ohms resistance. Short the prongs, go from prongs to tip, switch on, infinity. I figure it's safe to say the tip is grounded, what a scoop for $15.
Desoldering was a piece of cake, the caps fell right out for me. Installing the new ones was just as easy, the holes were clean, I could see right through them. I gently tried inserting the leads on the new caps through the holes, but they wouldn't go. I applied some heat to the backside of the postive hole, lead slipped right in. Cool, did the same with the negative, same thing. Flipped the board, applied some flux and soldered the suckers home.
Flipped the board back over and was sitting there admiring my handi-work, then noticed another blown cap. In the very bottom right of this pic, that cap is blown, dammit!
I did not notice this when I ordered the other caps.
Major problem here: this cap is 2200uf, 10V, the five I picked up are 2700uf, 6.3V. Or is that a major problem? Can I use a 2700uf/6.3V in place of a 2200uf/10V? I mean, the sucker is blown right now, will it hurt to have have a working cap on there of the wrong spec?
FYI, I wanted to salvage this board for an unlocked 1.26ghz Tualatin, I have a matched pair off a server board. These chips will be going to my boys for their "school work" computers. I can score another DFI CA-64 TN for $80, but I want to know if it clocks well before I do splurg.
Prior to cap replacement, this mobo wouldn't boot with the Tualatins at a 133mhz FSB. I had it running with an unlocked PIII 866 @915mhz, but that was the best I could get. Right now, I have this Tualatin running @1355. I know this chip does 166mhz on the FSB, 9.5 multiplier, and more, but I'm stone-walled here at 1.35. Could the other bad cap be holding me back? Obviously, it's not helping.
I'm using this system right now, rock solid:
So, what say you? Can I substitute a 2700uf/6.3v for a 2200uf/10v and get away with it? If not, where the hell can a guy in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, get one freakin cap for less than $30?
Thanks guys, for all your help, this forum is was got me motivated, I was going to just sell these Tualatins on eBay, but this forum gave them a new life.

Here are the caps I swapped out, the one is obviously blown, the other is the one that looks sunken in, by the time I changed it, it was bulging like the one in the foreground.
I ordered my caps, the long way around, from digi-key. Cost me $3 a pop, plus an $18.50 shipping and handling charge on top of that, for 5 caps. With tax, almost $40 Canadian. I wasn't impressed, but hey, I wanted to fix the board(DFI CA-64 TN).
Hunted for an iron with a grounded tip, looked at the Wellers, 25W and 40W, only 2 prong plugs on them, and the plugs weren't polarized. $40 for the 40W, and I had my doubts the tip was grounded. El-cheapo solder gun on the shelf: "Mega-Power", 100W, $14.99, with a polarized plug, I figure it may have a grounded tip. I bought it.
Test time, I grab my multi-meter and start checking resistance: large prong to tip, switch on, infinity. Small prong to tip, switch on, infinity. Prong to prong, switch on, 0 ohms resistance. Short the prongs, go from prongs to tip, switch on, infinity. I figure it's safe to say the tip is grounded, what a scoop for $15.

Desoldering was a piece of cake, the caps fell right out for me. Installing the new ones was just as easy, the holes were clean, I could see right through them. I gently tried inserting the leads on the new caps through the holes, but they wouldn't go. I applied some heat to the backside of the postive hole, lead slipped right in. Cool, did the same with the negative, same thing. Flipped the board, applied some flux and soldered the suckers home.
Flipped the board back over and was sitting there admiring my handi-work, then noticed another blown cap. In the very bottom right of this pic, that cap is blown, dammit!

Major problem here: this cap is 2200uf, 10V, the five I picked up are 2700uf, 6.3V. Or is that a major problem? Can I use a 2700uf/6.3V in place of a 2200uf/10V? I mean, the sucker is blown right now, will it hurt to have have a working cap on there of the wrong spec?
FYI, I wanted to salvage this board for an unlocked 1.26ghz Tualatin, I have a matched pair off a server board. These chips will be going to my boys for their "school work" computers. I can score another DFI CA-64 TN for $80, but I want to know if it clocks well before I do splurg.
Prior to cap replacement, this mobo wouldn't boot with the Tualatins at a 133mhz FSB. I had it running with an unlocked PIII 866 @915mhz, but that was the best I could get. Right now, I have this Tualatin running @1355. I know this chip does 166mhz on the FSB, 9.5 multiplier, and more, but I'm stone-walled here at 1.35. Could the other bad cap be holding me back? Obviously, it's not helping.
I'm using this system right now, rock solid:
So, what say you? Can I substitute a 2700uf/6.3v for a 2200uf/10v and get away with it? If not, where the hell can a guy in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, get one freakin cap for less than $30?
Thanks guys, for all your help, this forum is was got me motivated, I was going to just sell these Tualatins on eBay, but this forum gave them a new life.

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