Recapping my first recap :)

[chirkware]

Had a GX270 slim desktop (not the SFF) which I had taken out of service last year due to a failing motherboard. Finally decided why not try to recap and fix it...no big deal if I fail, the system is trash as is anyway, and I don't have a dime in it.

Looking it over, it only had five caps that looked bad (all the caps around the processor were Rubycon's that looked perfect). I replaced the five 1500uf 6.3v Nichicon caps (four on one end of the DIMM slots, one on other end) with Rubycon's.

And what a hack job I did...

I didn't have a good pen solder iron (mine's only 25W), so I used an old solder gun that my dad gave me years ago. I sharpened the tip to a neat chisel point with the fine stone on my bench grinder.

I also didn't have anything to clean out the old solder, so I skipped that, trimmed the leads on the new caps to about 1/4", and shoved them into the old solder one side at a time as I heated it with the solder gun. Added a touch of new solder, trimmed the leads a bit, and the five caps were in. Wiggling each one, I found one had a loose solder joint, so I touched it up and all seemed solid.

Put the system back together and held my breath as it fired up just fine. The hard drive had been stripped already, so I threw in another drive, installed XP Pro fresh, and it's running well so far.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics while it was apart (dumb since I've been having so much fun using the 3.2Mb camera in my new cell phone).

I just started a burn in test and will let it run for a day or so to see how stable this system will be.

I know I broke a few rules in my technique (and I failed to mention clamping it into my vise, lol), but it was a disposable system and a good test to see if I could come close to doing it. All in all, I spent $2.50 on caps, an hour of time on it, and realized I'm capable of not totally destroying a motherboard even if I am working in less than ideal circumstances. I also learned it would be much better if I had the right tools and much better lighting.

I've got a friend with an Apple G5 that failed. I haven't seen the motherboard yet, but from his description of the problems, I bet it's the caps. Maybe I'll offer to do it if he'll supply the caps and the right tools.

[ratdude747]

Re: Recapping my first recap

first, look for a better iron. you dont necessarily need a soldering station-

i have an xytronic 258 :http://www.xytronic-usa.com/258-200gx-200phg_index.htm any of those will do you just fine. mine cost $20 at my local electronics store

find a sponge (pastel-colered ones, not plastic) and wet it, use that to clean excess solder of your tip. wet denim works well too

find a solder sucker- i use the spring-powered kind but most people here will tell you to buy some fancy desoldering iron- some will say rubber bulb type. i fing the spring ones work if you follow these rules:

1. buy a good one with an aluminum barrel. quality is key

2. before use, disassemble the sucker and and spray the inside of the barrel with wd40 from both ends, spin around the barrel until everything is well coated and shake out the excess.

3. after every job, clean it out by diassembling it, cleaning eveything of sucked solder, and re-spry barrel.

to properly use one:

hold the sucker in your-non-soldering hand. hold it so your thumb is over the button. you should be able to cock the sucker with that same thumb quickly- practicing is imoprtant.

add a tiny amount to joint to be clearedm more if joint is partially opened. i will then put my tip on the very edge of the pad, watching the joint melt to liquid. once all of it has, put the tip of the sucker completely over the joint and hit the button. after hitting the button, get the sucker away from the board and re-cock it. hit the button and cock it a few times to clear any loose solder out of the sucker (the wd40 makes alot of it stick inside). if your hole didnt clear, then reapeat the process 1-2 more times, of not then use the "pick method" or just forget it

for solder i generally use silver-bearing solder. it melts better and when used to help clear holes it reduces the chance of the trace the lead sits in from being sucked with the solder.

like i said, i am sure somebody here will tell you that i am very wrong, but this is how i have always recapped boards on a budget and if you practice on some old, dead boards (anything with caps will do, esp. larger ones 6mm dia. and bigger), then you should be fine

[chirkware]

Re: Recapping my first recap

Well, it's been three years, and this GX270 is still going strong. I had a friend who's PC died, so I loaned this PC to them for a couple of weeks till they got a new one. Got it back, put it in my garage, and it's been my "I'm working on the car, my hands are greasy, and my wife would kill me if I went inside, so I'll Google the problem here" PC. My son (6 years old) will also hang out with me when I work in the garage if I'll let him play video games on it. LOL!

This forum was great for learning about the problem. As a Network Admin, I find that at least 50% of our failed PC's are bad caps...probably much higher, but I'm just talking about PC's where I could tell the caps were bad from a quick visual inspection. Given that the PC's are generally 6 - 9 years old, they get replaced rather than repaired.