Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

[dood]

We have a lab of 25 computers with these motherboards in them. This one marks the third that has died. Machine will work, but locks up all the time. Sometimes you get a colorful video output (though they don't have onboard video...), other times it just goes to sleep and won't wake up 'til you restart it. Two visibly bad caps, one GSC 1200uf 6.3v, one Choyo 330uf 25v, both short caps. There are also five total Choyo 3300uf 6.3v "tall" caps around the CPU, which have not visibly failed, and seven Choyo 330uf 25v caps (same as the one failed one) scattered around the mobo that have not visibly failed.

Do you think it's necessary to replace the other seven 330uf caps?




(Two offending caps in the foreground)

[willawake]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

i replaced them on similar board with 1000 16v as per topcat's advice and was totally stable.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=377

1000 6.3v is probably fine but check.

[dood]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

Okay... I was going to ask that too... if it was okay to go with a higher uf rating on those... 16v should be okay for a 25v cap?

[dood]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

Got the following response from Topcat when I went to order the caps:

"1000uF 16v in place of the 330uF 25v caps is GROSS overkill. Use 1000uF 6.3v or 10v."

[dood]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

Well, this marks my second successful recap! Got the caps yesterday, and the board is up and running with Rubycons. I did the 5 big 3300uf caps, and the two smaller bulged caps, but left the rest of the uneffected 330uf in place, even though they're from Choyo. I just didn't feel like doing the entire recap. I'm fairly certain that these boards only have to last until this summer and then they're being replaced, but I'm not sure.

In the future, I probably won't even replace the 3300uf unless they're bulged... these 5 weren't, but I thought I'd replace them because they were from a bad manufacturer.

[kc8adu]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

i would do the whole job the first time.i hate comebacks.
and those choyo's will likely make it come back like a boomerang.
remember those pulls will likely still be usefull in a few months for workstations or kids boxes.
i love free hardware.i get lots of pulls like that.and it all finds new homes fast and its easy money.

[TerrorBite]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

I have the 2.1 revision of this board, in a machine that I run as a server. Last night the system became unstable, causing chaos throughout the system and some hard drive corruption as well. I'd previously noticed some capacitors with bulging tops and had been a bit worried about how much longer the board would last, but seeing as everything seemed to be working fine I hadn't given it any more thought. After the crash though, the capacitors were the first thing I checked.

This is what I found:

[click for larger size]

The 6.3V 3300uF between the RAM and the CPU, closest to the power connector, is visibly leaking from the top. The one beside it also shows signs of beginning to leak. The two 3300s near the CPU fan connector are leaning over, and in fact the rubber seal has been visibly pushed out of the bottom of one of them. The fifth 3300 has a bulging top.
The green 6.3V 1200uF cap that dood pointed out on his board is also bulged. However, none of the 25V 330s show any visible signs of failure (though they're definitely under suspicion).
All of the caps on this board are Choyo. I'm going to try and source some Sanyo caps to replace at least the 3300s and 1200 with.

[TerrorBite]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

Quick question: There's empty spaces on the board for additional caps, is it worth adding extra caps in some of these spaces? Would this prolong the life of the new caps, or would it just be a waste?

[TerrorBite]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

Well, I recapped the board and since then was able to run the machine for over 50 days, stable as a rock. Success!
<smilies></smilies>

[gdement]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

Quick question: There's empty spaces on the board for additional caps, is it worth adding extra caps in some of these spaces? Would this prolong the life of the new caps, or would it just be a waste?

Didn't see this question until now.
Just so you know, those locations (near the CPU) are probably in parallel with the Vcore caps.
That was what I found on some other Gigabyte Athlon board, and I've noticed a few of their boards have a similar layout. A multimeter will tell you for sure.

On the board I checked, there were 9 cap positions on Vcore, but it was populated with 4x 3300uF caps. So you can substitute 9x 1500uF caps if you like, or try 2200uF if you prefer. More caps in parallel reduces the combined ESR, so you have more flexibility in what series you can install. It should also be more reliable that way.

[dood]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7ZXE REV: 1.1

Holy old thread, Batman! I stopped messing with any boards that use SDRAM. Prior to giving up on the older stuff, though, I did recap a fair number of these. Recently, any that were left went to the recyclers...