Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Here is an update. Yesterday, while PC was on and Windows started some schedule tasks including disk defragmentation, I noticed that same squeal noise from the CPU area while HD was under heavy duty. So, I remembered that I had another HD lying around and came to idea to see if this would happen with it, too.
So I replaced the HDs, and to my surprise, the noise was GONE. It wasn't present at Windows Logon, nor during HD activity.
The HD causing the noise is WD2500, and the older one not causing the strange noise is WD800, both are ATA and of the same brand. Could it be that the motiherboard reacts in this way to this HD alone? Or is this older WD800 HD less demanding and does not stress the power as much as the WD2500 one? Or maybe the capacitors near the CPU are just left in good enough shape to keep working with older disk, but are stressed with larger one and then produce the noise near the CPU/VRMs?

Now I am completely perplexed. I have checked this WD2500 with WD's "Data Life Guard" program using an Extended Disk Check and the results showed no errors. All S.M.A.R.T. parameters also say PASS.
I don't have a third HD to see how it would go with that. I wouldn't want to replace the caps only to find out they needn't be replaced...
What do you think could be here?

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Hi, guys! Here are some pictures of the motherboard in question. I tried to take my camera in as horizontal position as I could so you could se the caps' tops, but I think you will be able to do that. I didn't have the time to completely take the PC apart, so I took the pictures as they are.

On the first picture, an area where the whine/squeal noise is coming from is presented.

All the big black caps are Nichicons HMs. The smallest one is Luxon. So, have a look. I am not a specialist, but I can't say I see any bulging on them. So let's see what do you think.

On the last picture are shown those little yellow caps near the CPU (the picture represents the caps on this board exactly as they appear).

An update about the noise: as I said earlier, it is different pitch with different HDs. Yesterday I installed a third hard drive to see what will happen, and the noise level changed, although it apperas in the same situaions regardless of the HD, only the noise sounds different. Weird...
I have ordered a full package of Rubycon MBZ caps for this board, so we'll see, I will install them when they arrive - I guess it can't be worse than this.

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Guys, one more question here. Is it "normall" for capacitors to MOVE? In the images above, the two large Nichicons next to the heatsink tend to bend away from the sink on their own! Every time I opened my PC casing I noticed that they are tilting to one side. Even though I push them back again at the 90-degree angle, some time later they tilt again away from the sink as long as the distance between them and the PCB is allowing them to.
On the images they stay up right because I pushed them back in that position, as they were tilted when I opened my case to take the picures. So they were left in the up-right position, but today they were again tilting.
I am starting to think that maybe those two are not bulging on top because they are actually doing it at the bottom. There isn't any visible liquid around them on the PCB, but I don't think the components should "move" on their own. :-I

What do you think, is this a telling sign?

The Rubycon replacement still hasn't arrived, I hope these Nichicons will last a few days more. I have also reduced the PC power-on time in order to "save" them until Rubycons arrive.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Those caps are from the bad HM series - yes it's entirely possible they could be bulging from the bottom. On the one i had they bulged from the top, but it's not uncommon for them to push the bung out either. It is not normal for caps to move by themselves unless something is pushing on them or the board is slightly warped by the CPU cooler.

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Ummm... well, no, the board is not warped in that area. And anyway, if it did warp, it would do it in a way so the PCB would bend towards the CPU socket and therefore make the caps tilt towards the heatsink. These look like they are doing quite the opposite, as if they are "running away" from the heatsink. I sincerely hope they can last a couple of days.

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Guys, my Rubycon replacement has arrived, and will be installed soon. I still have to modify, or to be more exact, make a new soldering iron tip that will have a "U" shape so it can desolder and solder both cap leads at the same time for easier removal/installment of the cap. As soon as the new tip is constructed, I'll start replacing the caps.
I have got 6pcs of Rubycon 6.3V/3300uF, 6pcs of Rubycon 16V/1500uF and 18pcs of Rubycon 6.3V/1000uF capacitors. They are all marked Rubycon MBZ series and are in dark blue sleeve with gold lettering. I will attach some images later, my camera is still charging.

Now, is there anything I should know about soldering this specific series of caps? I know they are out of production but these were available to me, so I hope they will do the job. Since these are marked as motherboard capacitors and have the same ratings and specs as the ones currently on the motherboard, is there anything specific about soldering them, or is it straightforward as every soldering job?

I would like to thank you all for your assistance so far, especially mariushm who was very helpful and informative. I will post some images of the "new" caps, and then again some pictures of the motherboard with the new Rubycons installed, together with a review of the repair success.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Rubycon MBZ is drop-in replacement for your VRM caps, no precautions need to be taken. Replace old caps with same number of new caps and you should be good to go.

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Hey, Th3_uN1Qu3, thanks for the input. I was planning to do it this weekend. In the meantime, I have taken pictures of the Rubycons I received. Here are some really close-ups of them, each image represents one type of Rubycon capacitors, taken from all sides. They look OK, and I really hope they are not fake, please have a look and drop your opinion before I start the repairs.


The 6.3V, 3300uF Rubucons have a date code T0221, which I suppose is a year 2002, week 21.

The 16V, 1500uF Rubycons have a date code T0351, which I suppose is Year 2003, week 51. I am a little concerned that these two types are already almost 10 years old. But, I knew that the MBZ series were out of production so I can't say I didn't know that, I just hope they are fine as they really look unused and new.

The 6.3V 1000uF Rubycons have a date code T0522, which I suppose is Year 2005, week 22. What surprised me was the absence of these capacitors in the datasheet for the Rubycon MBZ series caps, though they look genuine like all the rest.

I bought all these capacitors on eBay from the seller egekecu, whose store has a logo like a ==(pcMcs) and excellent feedbacks.

Please, have a look at these images, I took them as best as I could, also with the "K" vent side up and tell me what you think of them:

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

The first two look genuine. The printing on the third (6.3v 1000u) looks kinda dodgy.

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Thanks for the quick reply, Th3_uN1Qu3.
OK, so the first two are OK. So, the age would not have any performance impact since they were not used (or should I expect "possible" electrolite dry-out)? I suppose they have 0 hours of running time.

Here is a bit clearer image of the third type of capacitor. This cap is smaller and I am having trouble making this camera shoot it nicely in super-macro mode, because my hand moves a bit when I press the "shoot" button. Also, here I have selected a cap where the Rubycon word is not warped by the groove near the cap rubber lid, so you can see better:

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Nah, they'll work just fine. Print is kinda fuzzy on this one indeed, but anyway - you won't be able to find the answer until a couple more years pass by with the caps installed on your board. So go ahead and solder them in.

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Well, guys, here is the repaired board. I have replaced all the capacitors with the Rubycon MBZ ones, respecting the types. The board now only has those two yellow F caps and those little TEAPOs that are not Rubycons, all the rest are.
The board works, PC powered up, this is the first day of running it with the replaced caps. The squeal noise is still barely present and heard, but only if I really closely focus on the noise it will be heard at the same stage of power up - so in general the board now runs quieter. I kinda thought that maybe this recapping job didn't do extarodinary difference to the board, but it looks like it's running more quiet now anyway. I hope it will last for a while.
None of the removed caps showed any form of leakage or deformation, even the tilting Nichicon ones. They all seem to be in their right shape (exept for some dust on them).

I have included some images bellow so you can see how I did. I think I wasn't so bad since this was my first recapping job. The whole work lasted for almost 3 hours (I was slow and careful, but did not do any heat damage or paint burnout in the process of desoldering and resoldering a total of 18 caps). On the last three pictures are the caps that have been removed.

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Nah, they'll work just fine. Print is kinda fuzzy on this one indeed, but anyway - you won't be able to find the answer until a couple more years pass by with the caps installed on your board. So go ahead and solder them in.

Hi, guys! I just remebered this older topic of mine. Well, I'm happy to inform you that now after 6 months of continued use of this board with the replaced caps, everything is still working great! Windows did not even once fail to load, the PC is being used daily for many hours (sometimes with 2 or more separate start-ups). The board is working very stable, and I guess those Rubycons I've put in really do their job good, even though they were bought as an outdated MBZ series line. As you suggested, quality capacitors really do make a difference.


So, once again, thanks to all of you for some great advices.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

what about that video card, the leadtek 7600gt that was freezing up on you? does the video card no longer freeze the system after the recap?

cuz i have a problem on my system whereby the video driver wud keep crashing. think it might be the faulty kzg caps on the cpu rather than bad caps on the mobo agp slot or a dying video card.

[UserXP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Yes, the video cards works great. I guess it was also afected by the unstable power on the motherboard at the time, which caused it to not work properly. It still works fine. There were no bulged caps on the LeadTek card. The GA-8IPE1000-G board also still works without a gltch. The Rubycons do their chore, I guess.

[VX-Rider]

Re: Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G, rev4.0 "problems"

Greetings from New Zealand more than a year down the track since last post on this thread. Just to say thank you to both Mariushm & UserXP for their collective dialogue. Between you two, you've given me all the info I need in terms of comparative e-caps datasheets, brand identification (esp that yellow Fujitsu functional polymer cap), and a recommended e-bay buyer for me to embark on my first mobo recap of my beloved Asus P5B. It has the dreaded NCC/UCC KZG infestation (21 x 6.3V 820uF :-o).

One question to everyone out there: When did Rubycon cease production of their MBZ/MCZ series?

Cheers
John