Bad cap problems? winME

[lllllllBOB]

Sup all...

I've been trying to fix my buddies pc what I thought was software/spyware/ or possible video card realted, and I've come to the conclusion that it could be bad caps. after I seen the caps are kinda bulged up at the top, and two of them has a speck of the brown stuff on the top. lol I just now seen those while I was "raking" off the dust that looked like cotton from underneth the fan on top of the proccessor.


( 850MHZ) ( Windows ME ) (Compaq)

Symtoms:
(1) When it does do something:
It Will not boot to windows. and will not boot in safe mode.
Freezes when safe mode starts... never gets to windows.
Got it to boot to the floppy a few times. but still couldn't fix nothing.

I did get it to boot half way into safe-mode one time, but it froze up after a few desktop icons started showing up. It done this after I disabled three spyware files that were starting up with windows. I disabled those when I booted to the floppy by deleting those startup registry keys with regedit.


( 2) Usually what it does... or rather what it's doing now:
* Freezes before even trying to boot from the hard drive.
So it can't be software related "correct?"

* AND most of the time the monitor won't come on ! after about 5 forced power offs, the monitor will finally come on. Once it finally comes on, it will usually come on every time. But when I let it sit there off for a while is when the monitor don't wanna come on again.

I thought it was a video card problem cause I'm seeing two inputs for a monitor. One is made on the board and one is in it's own pc slot. The one separate is the one thats working. the one on the board is suppossedly disabled. I was thinking maybe they were in a conflict or something?


But I just checked the bad caps list here and guess what... the caps on this pc are on that list. G-LUXON 2200uf 6.3v -
There's nine of them and all of them doesn't look too flat to me on the top.
Plus theres the two with the speck of brown stuff on the top. It's just a speck and slightly not flat. LOL !

So what would be a good brand cap to get for replacements?

Also I couldn't see any mother board brand on it. Where is it usaully located at on the mother board? I'm probably just over looking it...

My buddy supposedly had the mother board replaced a while back cause it was doing the same thing as it's doing now. I'm thinking the pc repair folks just stuck in that extra video card and it worked untill now. and they just said they replaced the board with a new one. Cause unless I'm just stupid, store bought pc's usually only have ONE monitor hook up. LOL !
and if they actually did put in a new board, then why in the crap wouldn't they use the onboard video instead of adding yet another card?

[MD Willington]

Sounds like they could be bad...They usually do puke out a brownish looking crap, but if your buddy smokes then it could be nicotene on the caps...

Got a picture?

MD

[willawake]

can you please post a pic of the bulged caps.

it sounds like they are bad and must be recapped, G-LUXON is a bad brand. all the issues sound to be due to bad caps. if that is so then nothing can restore the computer to working except replacing the caps.

please also check the monitor on another pc to see that it starts good every time. this is necessary to determine if there is a problem with the monitor that is unrelated to the mobos bad caps. it can be either.

what is your experience with soldering and replacing caps. it would not be best for you to try your first cap replacement effort with your buddy's board unless he appreciates that you may trash his board.

common replacement brands are panasonic fc and rubycon zl

Topcat who runs this board can repair the board professionally or supply you with a cap kit.

looks like this?

[lllllllBOB]

can you please post a pic of the bulged caps.

Hey all... thanks for the replies. appreciate it.

I'll post a pic of the caps later tonight. It's not as much brown stuff as the pic you posted.. its more like a dot in the middle on the top of the cap. But all of 'em do not look completely flat like the caps should look like.

Yeah, it's a whole different monitor. I'm using my spare one from my other pc. So it's not the monitor itself. cause it does come on eventually, but it usually hangs before even trying to boot from the drive. and usually don't even get to the point to boot from the floppy. So now I'm pretty much ruling out that it's the hard drive itself.

and yep, I'm pretty good at soldering. :-)
Itta prolly be late tonight, but I'll post up the cap pics.
Thanks again for all the replies.

[willawake]

recommend also to get rid of winme after the recapping. an 850 is perfectly acceptable to run xp or win2k as long as the ram is more than 256.

[Topcat]

recommend also to get rid of winme after the recapping. an 850 is perfectly acceptable to run xp or win2k as long as the ram is more than 256.

I'll second that!! WinME is more of a problem than the bad caps!! J/K (maybe)... Replace caps, and replace OS....you'll have a happy PC once again!

[willawake]

i have another 4 win98 machines in the office to convert to win2k when i have time and then i can stop doing desktop support. The win2k machines only crap out when the hdd fails. 8)

[lllllllBOB]

Well son of a ....

My buddy order some caps and got'em in. I was just fixing to put them in just now, and then I see on the caps 2200uf 10V... what the heck!!!!!!!!!
They are supposed to be 6.3 volt NOT 10.

So now I'm guessing I don't need to use 10v caps that are supposed to 6.3 volt. right. Good greif.. people can't even get the order right.
It even says 6.3volts on the sticker on the package. but yet on the caps reads 10 volts. what the heck?

Anyone know if 10 volts will work... it's supposed to be 6.3 volt caps.
Will four more volts be too much for it?

-----
and yep, I've told my buddy hundreds of times before to replace windowsME with anything but that.. lol no need to tell me that. lol

[willawake]

what brand/series of caps did you get?

10V will be great.

[lllllllBOB]

what brand/series of caps did you get?

10V will be great.

Man... thanks for the superfast reply.
So the 10volt ones will work huh... excellent.

I hope this brand will work. It didn't turn up on a search here so they must not be that bad I hope.... lol
NTE NEV 2200uf 10v

I gonna get a pic of the bad caps first before I start taking it a part.

[MD Willington]

10V means they can handle up to 10V, they are passive components, they do not require any specific voltage to work, just don't use them in a circuit that is over the voltage rating. For your circuit you will have no worries.

MD

[willawake]

those dont look to be low esr. they are no good.

a second opinion pls :

https://cdn.badcaps-static.com/pdfs/...f9385a10e4.pdf

[lllllllBOB]

those dont look to be low esr. they are no good.
a second opinion pls :
https://cdn.badcaps-static.com/pdfs/...f9385a10e4.pdf

If you type in NEV 2200 uf on google a few pages will turn up and read that they are for computers and other electronics.

The NEV and NEH series subminiature aluminum electrolytic capacitors are especially suitable for applications requiring high capacitance. low cost. and very small size. In fact. you'll find these capacitors in some of the most demanding applications. from precision medical electronics and automobiles to the newest personal computers and disk drives.

Well they must be good enough.. cause I just installed them...
Plugged everything up and it booted right up without a glitch!
Restarted it... and again fully booted ! YIPPY ! YIPPY !

That's the first time in months that I actually seen the desktop. LOL !
Thanks for all the help everyone!

Hopefully they'll last. Believe me... i'll be sure to post back if they go out real quick.
Now I gotta get spybot on there and remove all the spyware. lol

I'll get the cap pics posted when I have time. Prolly tomorrow night.

[willawake]

damn we wasted all our money on them panasonic FC and rubycons. Glad you had success. good luck with your board.