GA-7VAXP rev 1.2 How bad is This?

[gigaburst]

Oh wise Electronic Guru's.

I had the dreaded fan twitch and found this great site and noticed my slightly bulged capacitors. I ordered some Rubykon (SP?) capacitors and went to town. I did not notice that the board was damaged below the capacitor( see the first picture under the middle capacitor.

After the new capacitors were in it did not come back to life. I saw a bare patch under one of the replaced capacitors . I thought maybe, I used too much heat but, then I went back to my old pictures and saw the start of the cracked surface.

Can this be repaired? Is top layer of the board just and insulator/cosmetic surface or did I ruin traces?

BTW this board lasted about 6 or so years and performed great until about 1 month before it died!

Thanks in advance,

Gigaburst

[PM650]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.2 How bad is This?

The missing piece may just be the blue solder mask, or a portion of the top layer was removed (I have yet to see this, maybe someone else has insight on wether this is possible). Look at the piece that came off and see if you can see traces on it, that will likely tell you if the top layer came off.
Also, considering that it still does not work, I would guess this is possible. The mosfets look to have gotten quite hot, this may have been enough to damage the top layer, causing it to crack (or perhaps its just burnt electrolyte that I see). A picture of the missing piece would probably help too.

[gigaburst]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.2 How bad is This?

I am not sure where the piece went. Maybe I can find a picture of a GA-7VAXP rev 1.2 somewhere without the damage and look for traces. I did notice that my know capacitor looks a little bulged.

Thank You,

Gigaburst.

[PM650]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.2 How bad is This?

The bulged new capacitor is a sure sign that something is still wrong with the board. Most boards I've seen use the top layer for signal traces, with small planes in the VRM area, so it seems likely that the board was/is damaged. You may want to check the mosfets so see if they're shorted; if you have a multimeter, check the resistance between the Drain and Source of each one.