I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

[handyrandyrc]

Okay, I really don't HATE you, but you've made my world a WHOLE LOT bigger now! Sheeeeiiit!

I have had stability problems with my PC for months now, lockups, blue screens, error messages come up "Windows has recovered from a serious error". I get explorer.exe error messages. I've reloaded Windows and have the same symptoms. Someone on another forum asked about capacitors on my motherboard, and recommended THIS site. I now feel like I bought the biggest lemon components I could have possibly purchased.

Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G motherboard - Intel 865PE chipset
13 Supacon Capacitors, and a couple swollen -- at least they used Big Nichicon ones for the main CPU power.
Geforce 6600GT AGP card -- full of Lelon caps
Antec Smartpower 350Watt - Full of fukkiyhu caps -- some swollen

So now I'm looking at replacing every one of these junk capacitors, and reeling from the amount it might cost me. Happy that I know what's likely causing my problems, but I feel like I need to fix "all three" components (video card, power supply, and motherboard) before I feel like I can trust any one of them to be stable.

Yay for you guys! I will be spreading the word. Lots of AWESOME information here folks!

[stretch0069]

Re: I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

First off....welcome.

sorry you've run into the problem of badcaps. there is a wealth of info here. biggest part of taking care of the problem will be your soldering skills. i know for me, i like replacing components. electronics nowadays is throw-away so its nice to resurrect stuff.

good luck in your quest. with all the brains that hang out here, you should be able to get any question answered.

stick around and have some fun too.

[stevo1210]

Re: I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000-G motherboard - Intel 865PE chipset
13 Supacon Capacitors, and a couple swollen -- at least they used Big Nichicon ones for the main CPU power.

Hello handyrandyrc,

I Have the exact motherboard and the caps around the CPU are also Nichicon branded, my Nichicon caps are the HM(M) series and probably the same as yours, but it is quite odd for me to hear that you have Supacon capacitors everywhere else. I have KZG caps instead.... What revision series is your motherboard?? My board is REV.3.0.... maybe they changed caps with the future revisions??
So far I haven't had a single vented caps on this motherboard and it is rock solid in terms of stability.

Thanks.

[Fizzycapola]

Re: I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

Antec Smartpower 350Watt - Full of fukkiyhu caps -- some swollen

It's not full of Fuhhiyu caps, just the main 2 caps and the caps on the rails.

If you replace the PSU caps I recommend maxmum safety precautions, beware parts which shouldn't have electric in them may do. I wore thick rubber gloves and rubber boots when I partially recapped mine.

[gonzo0815]

Re: I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

Well, simmply unload the PSU`s bigger high voltage DC capacitors by shorting them with an insulated screwdriver. or better with an powerresistor.
Before that, just pull the cord when the system is runing, so in most cases this alone will ashure discharged caps.
After that, there is no hazardous voltage left.

[kc8adu]

Re: I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

if those nichicons are hn or hm series replace them too.
there were some bad batches.unfortunatly its unclear when or how many bad parts were made.
replace now and avoid a repeat.

[stevo1210]

Re: I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

if those nichicons are hn or hm series replace them too.
there were some bad batches.unfortunatly its unclear when or how many bad parts were made.
replace now and avoid a repeat.

I havn't planned to recap those Nichicon HM (M) caps around the CPU yet since my Nichicon HM (M) caps have lasted for more than 2 years without bulging.... yet.... Maybe i'm not affected by the HM series issues??.

Those Nichicon caps also have to currently withstand the heat and power from my 3GHz P4 Prescott CPU, but so far they are holding up OK.

I'll have to wait and see the future results though.

Thanks.

[Galvanized]

Re: I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

Welcome handyrandyrc!
This is a good, quick read to pass on https://www.badcaps.net/faq/ Crappy PSU current does have an impact on motherboards and cards.

[handyrandyrc]

Re: I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

Thanks for the tips, gents. I hope my 'leet soldering skills are enough to get me through. Have a nifty ceramic element soldering iron I bought for soldering battery packs together when I used to do RC Cars for a hobby. I'll put the baby chisel tip on it, but I hope it's good enough for the job. I'm kicking myself that I didn't know to buy a "grounded" iron back when I bought it. I spent probably 40-50 bucks on this iron -- while it's not an Ungar or a Hakko, and doesn't have a power supply, it's always done whatever job I've needed it to do -- light or HEAVY. Link to my Inland iron:

http://store.allstainedglass.com/inincersolir.html

The Nichicon caps are HM(M) series, so I suppose I'll just replace 'em all to rule out anything. This Gigabyte board is a Rev. 4.0, so perhaps they changed to Supacons for the 1000uf caps with that revision.

I used to convert PC power supplies to be a DC power supply for my RC battery chargers. I've mounted banana plugs in the power supply casing and everything for a tidy little job. I've even wired up 3 power supplies' 5v outputs in series to give me some serious 15v output to run multiple RC abttery chargers. So I've played with those nasty big caps -- always an impressive arc on a screwdriver when you discharge those! Thanks all for watching out for me. I'll give a review of my progress. Maybe I'll even haul out the camera for some hot close-up action.

[gdement]

Re: I hate you guys -- I guess ignorance WAS bliss!

I wouldn't worry much about the ungrounded iron. IMO the whole esd thing isn't nearly as frequent a problem as people make it out to be. It's a convenient magical explanation whenever anything doesn't work. Since you'll only be soldering on capacitors, it's very unlikely you'd do anything that damages a chip, except through heat. I soldered many boards with an ungrounded iron before getting a newer one which happens to be grounded.