Syntax s478 mobo random freezups - caps maybe?

[Sparky]

Hey I have a Syntax socket 478 board with a celeron 2.5GHz in it that randomly will freeze up. It'll run fine for days or weeks (currently been on for a week and a half with no lockups) then have a fit of lockups, then randomly be fine again for an unspecified amount of time before having a fit again. Sometimes it just freezes up once then is OK for the next week. All very random.

I've stress tested the CPU and RAM, changed PSUs, data cables, and HDs, and reloaded the OS. It still does it. All the caps look fine - no bulging or leaking - but I'm suspecting that they are not right.

It isn't in an easy to get to spot right now but if I get a change I'll get the system out of its little hole and find out the make of the caps.

[davmax]

Re: Syntax s478 mobo random freezups - caps maybe?

Intermittent problems are very difficult. You are on the right track, check the cap brands.

[Fizzycapola]

Re: Syntax s478 mobo random freezups - caps maybe?

If you can use a program for monitoring motherboard voltages. Such as Speedfan/MBProbe/MotherboardMonitor. It theres much fluctuation when idle it could be hardware related.

Heat and cold boots can cause lockups too & sudden rises or falls in temperature (i.e +-10oC/h)

[kc8adu]

Re: Syntax s478 mobo random freezups - caps maybe?

try getting the latest bios and flashing it.
a pic is still worth a thousand words.
time to pull it out for all to see.never seen a syntax board.

[Sparky]

Re: Syntax s478 mobo random freezups - caps maybe?

I am running the latest BIOS right now. I'm going to get into it this afternoon or evening to check the caps on it. After the weekend I'll have my camera with me hopefully and I'll snap some pics.

[Galvanized]

Re: Syntax s478 mobo random freezups - caps maybe?

Please do pull the board to get some good close-ups.
You could offer us some proper pics, as well as give it a real cleaning / inspection.

Love your sig, we fought for over a year at Anand's.

[Sparky]

Re: Syntax s478 mobo random freezups - caps maybe?

Haha yeah we did have our little disputes I just wish that I hadn't learned the hard way

Anyway, I can't take pics of this board right now since I don't have my camera with me, but here is a list of the caps on the board.
7x OST 3300uF 6.3V
6x OST 1000uF 6.3V
2x G-Luxon 1500uF 6.3V
4x G-Luxon 100uF 16V (2 are half-height)
1x G-Luxon 470uF 16V
5x G-Luxon 22uF 25V

None look bad, they are all sitting flat on the board and have flat tops.

I'll post some pics after this weekend once I have my camera with me.

[gdement]

Re: Syntax s478 mobo random freezups - caps maybe?

Maybe a component is suffering from heat. Could also be some loose capacitors or other parts not making reliable contact anymore. If you already have the parts I'd probably go ahead and try replacing the caps, regardless of how they look.

[Sparky]

Re: Syntax s478 mobo random freezups - caps maybe?

I thought maybe heat, but it has done it when just turned on and nothing had a chance to get hot yet. I didn't see any dry joints on the board.

I think I have some more of those OST caps in a bag somewhere, I may just replace crap with crap and see if that fixes it