identify motherboard capacitors

[nickBcap]

Have a Happy New Year all BadCaps.Net forum members, and thanks for all the help you have given me through the past years. It is great having somewhere to come with ignorant questions and then to receive help that results in successes. It is very satisfying. Thank you.
After power on an Asus M4A88TD-M motherboard processor fan spins up then off and cycles continuously on and off and on when it is outside the case laying on timber so is not shorting on anything. I pulled out the processor and reinstalled all the hardware with the same results.
The problem may be with the unidentifiable capacitors which appear to not have any brand names on them.
Here is photos of the capacitors on the motherboard that I can not identify and most of the other capacitors are the same brand as the capacitors in the photos.

[mariushm]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

The black ones are Panasonic FL series. M is the logo, from Matshita, the previous name of Panasonic.

Generally, Panasonic capacitors are good and this FL series is not known for going bad. I assume the capacitors on the right side of the picture are the same capacitors, just the other side.


The ones at the bottom are Nippon Chemi Con / United Chemi Con (NCC/UCC) KZG series.

NCC/UCC is a very good manufacturer of capacitors but it had a few series of capacitor with issues, KZG series is one... KZJ i think is another one.

Most likely these are causing problems, especially since at least 2 of them seem to have problems with their bottoms (too much pressure inside)

I would only replace the KZG capacitors first, and if there are still problems, go for the Panasonic ones.

If you say where you live (country) we can suggest what to replace them with and from where.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

The Panasonic (Matsushita) caps look genuine, and, yeah, at least two of the UCC KZGs look like they have problems. I think some folks here would replace all the KZGs - even the ones that look OK - as future failures.

[nickBcap]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

I posted the wrong name of the motherboard.
The motherboard is Intel DH55TC.
The capacitors on the motherboard are all shaped the same and the bulge at the base is typical of all of them. None of the bulges appear to be any different from the others in shape relative to the large and the small capacitors.
The fault symptom is the processor fan starts and stops and starts and stops. One guy said he put heatsink paste on the top of the processor and that stopped that problem and someone else said he replaced the motherboard Cmos battery and that solved the fan restarting like it did.
I tried both and another guy said the board was shorting on the case but this motherboard is outside the case. I may have the syptoms adn the solutions mixed up here but I looked at these solutions when I was investigating the start stop problem.
I am going to place a second spacer between the CPU bracket base and the motherboard in case it is shorting there but it does not seem to be shorting and if this does not solve the restarting I might replace the capacitors.

[retiredcaps]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

When I had a few dead/non working motherboards, I found this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/260754660938

to be very handy.

I put it inside a good working PC so I know what the boot sequence looks like. Then I move to the non working PC and see how far it gets. The lights for the different DC voltage rails also help if you don't have a multimeter.

[nickBcap]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

Does the diagnostic card tell you anything more than this >>>>> ◦5 LED indicator: -12, +12, RST#, VCC, 3V3 <<<<< information?

[retiredcaps]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

Does the diagnostic card tell you anything more than this >>>>> ◦5 LED indicator: -12, +12, RST#, VCC, 3V3 <<<<< information?

There is a manual that comes with it telling you the diagnostic POST codes.

I found it handy, but you might think it is a piece of junk.

[mariushm]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

Those leds tell if the voltages appear in the PCI slot. That would tell you that those circuits carrying those voltages through the motherboard aren't shorted somewhere and that the power supply sends these voltages to the motherboard.

The card's purpose is to actually give you that 2 digit number reported by the BIOS. As bios initializes components on the motherboard and does its job, it moves between several states indicated by that 2 digit number.

If everything's OK and the board can boot, usually the BIOS gives a code that it's probably "FF" or "80" - from memory, these are the most common for "Everything OK". - it varies from BIOS to BIOS, if it's Award bios, or AMI Bios etc
If there's a problem, you get to see the last 2 digit error code and look up the code in a table and see what the issue is.

[nickBcap]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

That sounds useful to have codes. I am wondering perhaps the different codes stop if something is wrong or do not get to the end of the whole boot process and you can figure out where the process stops to identify how far along in the error ocurs so you can identify the parts in the motherboard circuit. Is this possible using the codes?
I am a beginner at electronics repairs and usually guess at solutions and practise for solutions to solve problems and this takes time so the pci analysis card sounds useful to me.
I like having bought 6 or more mtherboards that are newer than my current motherboards at that time so I got to upgrade for cheap having recovered motherboards I would not have afforded. I am ok for finding bargains too so my computer is pretty good for my income status of beneficiary. Repairing successfuly is the *whipped* cream on the cake an carries a degree of unexpected excitement.
The little card is cheap so I think I will try it out and all of the 80 times, except the last item I bought on Ebay, has arrived to me here in NZ from overseas using Ebay which is a pretty good record and I am just about to get around to recovering the missing item with a tracking number the seller gave me today.
***Happy New Year to all of you***

[nickBcap]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

EDITED: just to correct the mistake in my first post in this thread - the motherboard is INTEL DH55TC with the latest Bios.
Hi, I used the PCI card on this motherboard and I must say there is an enormous number of codes available for the little PCI PC Analyser Card.
lol, even if I can not understand what to do with the codes while I was using it I got to run a bios recovery and seem to have restored this motherboard which cost me $10 or so...I will report back here if it fails me but it sems to power on much quicker now and the ideas I got while I was looking at the various codes was the bios may have been corrupted giving up to about 12 different codes as the motherboard went through some strange boot processes.
I think some motherboards do a fan test then restart automatically and with the possibly corrupted motherboard bios all these different codes appeared.
Connecting all the pc buttons and front panel leds and two case fans to the motherboard pins seemed to help too and placing 2 memory modules into 2 DIMMs may have also helped.
I think perhaps the motherboard had to get more power through it to boot with lit leds which it was not doing before which also made me think the capacitors were the problem.
I will disconnect everything and let it sit and try it out again a few times to see if it boots consistently and then wonder what to do with it or not wonder what to do with it.
The exercise has been fun and rewarding again.
Rather looking forward to affording a proper electronic desolder pump too to carry on repairs in the future. Using heat gun before desoldering with an electric desolder pump looks like a good idea too
ps; when I tried a bios recovery when I first attempted a recovery I had downlowaded the wrong bios recovery file. It was quite nice to see all the successful bios recovery proceedure details on the display screen.

[nickBcap]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

The codes I saw when testing where, in any order.... 16, 18, 60, 80, 34, 04, E5 and E7.

[nickBcap]

Re: identify motherboard capacitors

After running a successful bios recovery the motherboard is not rebooting after power off. I thought this was a feature that may have been draining any remaining power from the board after power off, hmm. Anyhow, now the motherboard powers off as normally as any computer may so I am now confident this motherboard is fixed ok. And another reason I think the motherboard is now 100% ok is thee is two PCI Analyser codes appearing which I had not seen before where the boot process slows and then stops; 35 then 98. I have no peripherals except the 2 case fans, connected to the motherboard.
- yippee and I will let you know if it fails in the future.
PRESENT DIAGNOSIS: just as is like what seems to have been the problems with most motherboards I have recovered from condition faulty - corrupted bios.