Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

[stevo1210]

Hello Everyone,

I went out shopping today at my local computer shop and I purchased a motherboard with badcaps. The owner of the store decided to sell the motherboard to me for $10 which was a pretty good deal for a socket 478 motherboard with an Intel 845GV chipset.... even though it was working properly.

On the motherboard it says Imperial_GL_VE 20020629 and it still posts with my Celeron 2GHz CPU. Upon bootup, it comes up with the HP Boot image and it actually finishes POST process so that means the MOSFETs are still OK and other components (apart from caps) are still OK.

I only have one problem now and that is the recapping process. Right now I have a lot of Hitano 1500uf 10V 10mm LOW ESR caps, the caps are a little big but i guess they will fit because theres a 1.5mm gap in between each cap. The caps currently on the board are TMS 1500uf 6.3V 8mm. There are also some Sam Young and RM caps on the board.... Do I need to replace them also even though they havent bulged or leaked .... yet. There are also a few Rubycon MBZ caps on the board and they all appear good.

Is there any way that I can find out what HP computer system this motherboard came out of??.


Thanks.

[willawake]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

its probably from a pavilion 522 or 533, who knows. why you would need to know i dunno. motherboard is made by trigem korea which is an oem only manufacturer. its a trigem imperial GL

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=990&
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=463&

you need to replace all the TMS for sure they are super crap. what are the values of the samyoung and rm? you can leave the MBZ for sure.

[stevo1210]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

The Samyoung caps are 1000uf 16V and the RM caps are 470uf 16V.... the RM caps will probably OK since they are under 680uf.

I wanted to know what model HP desktop this board came from because I need the Sound, Video and LAN Driver.... maybe also the BIOS updates. I'll probably go to Intel to find the Intel Extreme graphics driver but the rest i'm not sure where to even start looking on the HP website if I dont have the model number of the desktop.

Thanks.

[willawake]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

good point. i usually disable all that crap

for sound its got a realtek RTL81008 so you can use the reference driver
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...&GetDown=false

what is the chip to the right of that one. (at the left of PCI 1 and 2) maybe thats the lan

there is also a smsc chip which i guess is temperature monitoring etc

[stevo1210]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

Thanks Willawake, I guess i'll try the Realtek website for audio drivers then. As for LAN drivers.... I'll look into that one day when i'm not busy.

Now I have a problem. In the process of removing the TMS caps, there was one cap that didn't want to come out so I think pulled it too hard (while heating the leads of course). The cap itself started sizzling and electrolyte came out of it.... then I discovered that I snapped the cap off the board?!

Now I'm left with two leads.

Does anyone have ideas on how to pull these leads off?? I tried pliers but it didn't work either even though I got someone else to pull it while I heated the cap but it still didn't come off.... I'm afraid that if I pull it too hard I may damage the motherboard itself.

Thanks.

[willawake]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

add solder to both sides (important). use pliers, dont pull, wiggle it. if it seems impossible then try heating from the front
if in the end you cant do it then leave it and use double uf value in one of the next caps in the same row

show me a pic of the chip at the left of PCI 1 and 2

[stevo1210]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

add solder to both sides (important). use pliers, dont pull, wiggle it. if it seems impossible then try heating from the front
if in the end you cant do it then leave it and use double uf value in one of the next caps in the same row

show me a pic of the chip at the left of PCI 1 and 2

Thanks Willawake, I added some solder and wiggled the leads then after a while it eventually came out.
I've attached a picture of the chip to the left of PCI 1 & 2.

So far I've cleaned every lead hole around the CPU all I have to do is add the caps in. The single Rubycon MBZ is still there since it is still good.

Thanks.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

Here is the driver for your NIC (Realtek 8100B)

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...&GetDown=false

If you are heating the lead and it wont come out you have too little heat... Add more solder, that will help the heat spread out more

[willawake]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

oops i got them the wrong way round. Per is right, that one is the lan. The audio is the little one realtek alc202a . drivers should still be ok or use the ones on intel site.

[stevo1210]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

I have recapped the whole motherboard now and it works fine.
Amazingly all of those 10mm Hitano 1500uf caps actually fit the area where the old 8mm caps were.... I only had to put 1 cap on its side for a little more space .... but in the end, everything worked fine.
Now all I have to do is download the drivers for it.

Thanks.

[willawake]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

good work

[tazwegion]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

Nice job stevo!

BTW if you don't mind me asking, how much are you shelling out (approx.) for those EXR series Hitanos? locally they're charging $1.50 ~ $2.10 per unit (depending on rated value)

[stevo1210]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

BTW if you don't mind me asking, how much are you shelling out (approx.) for those EXR series Hitanos? locally they're charging $1.50 ~ $2.10 per unit (depending on rated value)

The Hitano EXR 1500uf 10V caps costed me $1.30-ish (AUD) in November 2006. The 3300uf 10V ones are the really expensive ones.... the shop charged me $2.20 AUD for each of them.... the higher the capacitance or voltage, the more expensive it gets.

[stevo1210]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

I've installed Windows XP SP2 on it now and it's been running fine so everything should be OK now. Right now it's being powered by a Deer rebranded PSU.... I'm just wondering why my Dell/Hipro one wont work anymore.... It takes numerous attempts to boot the PC up.... maybe there are badcaps in there?? I don't actually want to throw my Hipro PSU out.... it feels very heavy and very well built compared to the Deer PSU.

I downloaded all the drivers for the PC now. I just used a driver CD from a different motherboard and it loaded every driver.... except for the audio drivers.... I had to get the audio drivers from the internet.

Thanks.

[999999999]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

I was curious about the Hitano caps and checked their spec sheet ( ). Their "low ESR" impedance figures are about 3-4 times as high as (for example) a Panasonic FM of the same voltage & capacitance.

I think you have "low ESR" but would ideally have "very low ESR" capacitors for these types of uses. Possibly having gone with the larger 10mm x sized part and 10V, you have improved specs enough to offset this, but I'd be weary of some uses that called for 10mm parts originally, and check their temps while running (CPU) at full load with the idea being not just to keep them under 105C but that they shouldn't feel overly warm for longest life.

[davmax]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

Correct 999999999 Hitano LowESR caps are not in the same game as Rubycon, Panasonic, Samxon etc.etc.all having Ultra Low ESR caps.

[linuxguru]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

> I'm just wondering why my Dell/Hipro one wont work anymore.... It takes numerous attempts to boot the PC up.... maybe there are badcaps in there??

Definitely a symptom of bad caps, most probably on the +5Vsb rail (among others). Also replace the 47uF or 100uF capacitor on the primary side of the auxiliary flyback supply - these invariably lose capacitance as they age and dry out.

[stevo1210]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

Thanks linuxguru,

I've now found the problem and I have also confirmed that it is badcaps. There are two Arcon 3300uf 10V 10mm caps bulging and leaking.
I shouldn't use this PSU anymore until I fix it.... I don't want to ruin my PC from voltage issues etc.

Thanks.

[linuxguru]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

Replace all the Arcon and Asiacon above about 470uF - they'll all fail eventually.

[stevo1210]

Re: Installing new caps on a HP motherboard

Hello Everyone,

I haven't been back here for a while but theres something very wrong with this HP/Trigem motherboard....

On the day I purchased it I didn't bother to take notice of this but....

Theres a trace next to a screw which has been scratched off by someone that was being a little careless with the screwdriver, the PCB area around it looks as though a screwdriver slipped and hit the PCB quite hard.

The odd thing is that the motherboard is still functioning well with no issues at all. The trace damage is next to the RAM socket and is connected to something like an IC voltage regulation chip. It is quite hard to notice since the RAM clips cover it when unlatched.

Can this electrical trace wiring be repaired at all?? I heard that something called conductive circuit pens exist and can repair traces.... They are expensive but I just want to avoid soldering because I know i'm going to damage the motherboard more than it is already damaged.

Thanks.