I did it!!! k7sem

[SonicSteve]

Hi everyone,
I'm a youthworker who also has advanced computer knowledge. OK I also drive a school bus.
One of the teens I work with is very poor, his mom is in and out of the hospital and quite frail. She can't work because of it. So this teen works many hours and goes to school, takes care of many family related things etc. You get the Idea.
As a help and ministry to him I fix his computer for nothing when it goes bad. A while ago it turned out that his capacitors were all bad on the ECS k7sem board he had. They were G-Luxon caps and they were all buldging.
Thanks to all of you here I was able to learn how to replace them and the computer is now updating itself behind me as I type this. In the words of Old Doc frankenstein " ITS ALIVE"!!!

I'm still in a bit of shock that I did it!
Thank you to each of you for your posts and great FAQ's.
Steve

[AK0R]

Re: I did it!!! k7sem

Good job all around (and not just for getting the computer working again!)

[Chris1992]

Re: I did it!!! k7sem

Great to hear success stories, especially ones done for the good of others.

[willawake]

Re: I did it!!! k7sem

nice work Steve you sound like a great guy
we just love to hear success stories

I'm still in a bit of shock that I did it!

i remember that feeling....wow....

can you tell us a bit about how you did it. what iron did you use and what method you used.

[SonicSteve]

Re: I did it!!! k7sem

OK so here's the full story.
I run a youth program with Youth 4 Christ called Sonic. We play games (gamecube) and refurbish computers I also have a "spiritual discussion" time. Over the summer I was given an Acer P3 computer. It would freeze everytime windows would boot up. One of my teens showed me that all the main caps were not only bulding but leaking too. For some reason I got the idea that maybe i could replace them. I then found this site and spent quite a bit of time reading all the FAQs and guides. From there I talked to the computer guy at the school that I drive for and He gave me two more boards with bad caps. Since they were AMD socket A the P3 acer went on the back burner. I ordered replacement caps and literally a week after they came my friend (the teen) mentioned that his computer was giving him loads of trouble. When I looked at it realized that all the main caps were buldging and to boot they were the same value as the ones I ordered! 2200uf 6.3v 105c. Thanks to you guys I targeted a good name brand nichicon.

I then found out that a father of one of the kids on my bus works on electonics all day long and arranged for him to give me some pointers. like;
1. Its all about heat transfer
2. Solder isn't soup don't stir it

I use a Weller wlc100 that I bought just for these projects (I've never soldered anything in my life before) with my birthday money. I read enough from you guys that I thought a variable control temperature would be good.

I used your method of heating one side of the bad cap and bending it out then heating the other side. I have a bulb sucker to remove the solder but in the end I used the stainless steel pin to clear the holes. You guys were so right clearing the holes was far and away the hardest part. I found that in order to heat the holes enough I had to turn the temp up slightly past 4 out of 5. This would be about 830c.

This was a very rewarding experience.

[SonicSteve]

Re: I did it!!! k7sem

I forgot to mention that used the solder tip that the weller came with. It's much like a flat head screwdriver.

[stretch0069]

Re: I did it!!! k7sem

Good on ya, mate.

[kc8adu]

Re: I did it!!! k7sem

i can hear it now.
kids go home and parents ask what they did today.
we learned to recap computer boards!
huh?
good work.
put a few pc's back in use that would likely get junked.saved the kids some money too.