Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

[mekrith]

I'm totally puzzled by this, because as far as I know (via the google), this should not happen. I was having intermittent (one per week) Memory Management BSODs on this box, which finally developed into total shutdowns (the PSU would cut out, not turn back on for a minute). Replaced the PSU with no success, inspection of the motherboard revealed that all eight Rubycon MCZ 6.3w 1800uf capacitors on the board were bulging or venting. The really weird part is that every other capacitor on the board is fine, but all of these have failed. This board was purchased in 2006. It has operated just about continuously since then, with no issues until now.

[retiredcaps]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

Replaced the PSU with no success, inspection of the motherboard revealed that all eight Rubycon MCZ 6.3w 1800uf capacitors on the board were bulging or venting. The really weird part is that every other capacitor on the board is fine, but all of these have failed. This board was purchased in 2006.

What is the date code on the Rubycons? It should be something like 0632 (2006 week 32).

I'm no authority, but ALL caps will eventually fail. Heat will kill the caps and maybe these Rubycons were/are subjected to a lot of heat.

They look like "real" Rubycons with the "K" vent.

[mekrith]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

The are 0603s. On closer inspection, there are Nichicon 6.3v 1000uf 0610s in neighbouring areas, as well as Chemicon KZFs... these last guys plus the summertime, are probably responsible for the failure.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

bulging rubycons... what a shame...

[Per Hansson]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

What kind of a PSU was used with this system?
Maybe it did a really poor job filtering the current... (So the mobo caps had to work harder than the spec calls for)

Or the system could just have been running too hot... (Remember at 105C it takes just 2000 hours before the caps will be out of spec...)

[Topcat]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

Lots of factors could have resulted in this failure. I've seen many systems with cooked rubies as well as cooked panasonics (the two best lytics in existence). Faulty PSU, poor ventilation and extreme heat will kill ANY brand lytic.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

So, maybe it is not the caps brand that matters sometimes..

[kc8adu]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

look at your case ventilation.esp if you have one of those cheap but pretty things.
seen too many right out of the box with the fans installed wrong.no airflow.
correct this,recap and move on.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

So, maybe it is not the caps brand that matters sometimes..

Yes, it still matters
Good caps will last much longer than poor caps
So had this system had any brand of caps from the bad cap manufacturers it would have failed much sooner...

[kaniki]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

look at your case ventilation.esp if you have one of those cheap but pretty things.
seen too many right out of the box with the fans installed wrong.no airflow.
correct this,recap and move on.

I agree with that.. I had one computer in here that had the power supply sucking air out and a fan right under it that sucked air in. no front cooling fan either.. all that happened was more of a recycled vortex of heated air..

also, if you look, from your pictures, all the ruby's are right next to heat sinks so they were probably getting constantly blasted with hot air..

[pagerman]

Re: Mass Rubycon failure on MSI K9N NEO-F

I'm now using polymers on all failed Rubycon caps. If a motherboard can kill a Rubycon cap, then it can kill any electrolytic cap. The price has come way down on the polys.