Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

[swirlam]

my first post here as i am faced with a dilemma and need advice.

a friend has tried to put an extra rom drive in his computer,in the process knocked off one of the caps(the case and mobo arent matched properly).

while this worries me,the board still operates normal from what i can tell.

is it possible that this cap was unused? possible that it is part of something not in use yet?

[kikkoman]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

that may or may not work in the long run.
the circuit in question could be unused as you say, but that cap was there for a reason.
the power the circuit receives could be smooth enough before the cap for proper operation (if it's in an input filter) if the PSU does a good job.
this however can change over time, and higher ripple voltage can/will lead to an earlier death of some component or another even if it does not show immediately.

and it's practically impossible to simulate ALL conditions in which a failure may occur.
so, if your friend cares about his stuff, he should have it fixed.
and while you have it apart, you should check all the other caps and replace bad brands at sight.

[swirlam]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

yeah wasn't so much an issue of the caps being bad,just the fact that one broke off! to me its a miracle its still running,i just don't want to burn his house down if ya know what i mean. lol.

[Harvey]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

Pictures?

[370forlife]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

What power supply is he running? If it is a crappy psu with poor ripple it may be a problem after a while.

[Chuck F.]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

I've seen several motherboards where the main filter caps for one or more of the voltages is a string of caps in parallel. They will generally be all the same value and in a tight row. Check the tracks to confirm. Therefore if you lose one without shorting it, you might not notice the loss.

Maybe they do this because medium sized caps are made in enormous volumes and five or six of them are still cheaper than one big one. It would also keep the height down.

[370forlife]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

Yes, a VRM with ohh say 5 2200uf, 16v caps would equal 11000uf. A 16v, 11000uf cap would be enormous.

[ratdude747]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

yeah, not safe, replace it!

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

is it possible that this cap was unused? possible that it is part of something not in use yet?

NO
.

[gdement]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

It might not necessarily cause a problem, but ideally it should be fixed. Whether to worry about it is up to his judgment about how critical that machine is.

For example, if it was 1 of 10 Vcore caps, and he's running a low end processor for the board, then it might be fine with the caps that are left. But that's just hopeful thinking. If he's not so lucky, the missing cap might cause long term damage to nearby components that needed it for filtering.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Cap Broken Off-Board Still Works

I doubt he's going to knock a Vcore cap installing a CD/DVD drive.