GX270 Small Form-Factor heatsink problem

[hesu]

At the bowling alley where I work we have this Dell GX270 running some online scoring software. It's on 24/7. It started misbehaving a while back and I diagnosed it having bulged capacitors. Ordered capacitor kit for it from the fine gentlemen of badcaps.net.

There is just one problem, it's GX270 small form factor model and has this soldered heatsink on some fets. There is three capacitors between the heatsink and VGA/serial/parallel ports. The heatsink is shaped like Y and the capacitors are under it and accessing them is quite impossible. Anyone had similar experiences or have any advice how to proceed?

Thanks.

[Gariarto]

Re: GX270 Small Form-Factor heatsink problem

. The heatsink is shaped like Y and the capacitors are under it and accessing them is quite impossible. Anyone had similar experiences or have any advice how to proceed?

Thanks.

I just got one of these in to replace the PSU for a customer. The PSU's are so darned compact in their design they cook the caps in there. You might want to check that while you have it open. Back to the VRM...

I see what you are saying.. There's 2 screws holding it to the 'sink base with their heads facing the CPU heatsink assembly. You are going to have to disassemble that CPU heatsink assembly to get a philips #2 driver on them. You still have to angle over the top of the output caps. There's a little flexibility movement to the sink from its attachments but I don't recommend attempting to bend it to aid you. That will risk damaging any solder joints doing so. Use gentle care and apply some counter-support pressure when you undo those screws. Looks easy enough though, take your time and good luck !

[momaka]

Re: GX270 Small Form-Factor heatsink problem

Not sure how close the GX270 SFF motherboard is to the regular desktop one (or maybe they are the same?), but the desktop also has that "Y" type heat sink that covers the caps between it and the ports on the board. On the desktop version, you remove the bolts that hold the MOSFETs to the heat sink. Then, you desolder the heat sink from the motherboard. If the GX270 SFF board is also like that, you'll need a fairly powerful iron to desolder the heat sink - probably 50W or more. I did it with a 35W iron, but I also used a heat gun to pre-heat the board a bit before attempting to desolder.

If you need more help, post some pictures using the forum's "Manage Attachements" feature (found in the advanced text/post editor).

[Gariarto]

Re: GX270 Small Form-Factor heatsink problem

Did some digging for you..

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/printt...&pp=20&page=14

Some nice pics posted by Ibcus. I didn't know the sink itself was soldered to the PCB, I thought it was just held there by the MOSFETs legs, but then I just assumed since I have never unscrewed the board from the backplate. I just cleaned it, put in a new PSU, had a look around and closed it up. Thanks Momaka. I'm also guilty of assuming he'd have removed the motherboard by now to see whats' what for himself, kind of expecting him to post again with a success report or a new question ?