First off a confession, and a self nomination for bonehead of the week. I took in an HP media center pc with an ASUS PTGD1-LA motherboard. No power up was the issue. So I look inside and see the VRM section has all 4 caps bulged, 2 others 820uf @ 6.3v bulged as well. A quick peek inside the 300w P.S. reveals 3 more 2 (2200uf @ 16v) and 1 (1000uf @ 10v). So I replace them all, test P.S. <checks good> and power up motherboard. It spins fans for 1~2 seconds and shuts down. Seems like P.S. is crow barring so maybe it is not fixed after all. (note: customer has added additional drive and high-end video card) I was thinking maybe it just did not have enough oooomph, so I put in a bench 750W. Powered up again everthing spins then about 3 seconds later POOF, POOF, POOF, POOF all the new VRM caps let loose the magic smoke. So I go to bed.
Today I take it apart again to do the autopsy. Apparently those little stripes on the side of the caps means something <doh>. I put them in backwards. < double doh, hence my nomination > I replace the 4 grenades in the VRM and reverse the 2 820's, and a quick power up with the original 300w PS. It spins up, stays running. I want to reconnect drives and video card but as I begin double checking everything ALL the other 'lytics on the board - except 1 are in the correct orientation. By the SATA connectors is c285 a 1000uf @ 10 that is lined up opposite all the others. Has anyone else seen this ? Is it o.k. to leave it as is, or should I pursue this. My brain hurts.
Today I take it apart again to do the autopsy. Apparently those little stripes on the side of the caps means something <doh>. I put them in backwards. < double doh, hence my nomination > I replace the 4 grenades in the VRM and reverse the 2 820's, and a quick power up with the original 300w PS. It spins up, stays running. I want to reconnect drives and video card but as I begin double checking everything ALL the other 'lytics on the board - except 1 are in the correct orientation. By the SATA connectors is c285 a 1000uf @ 10 that is lined up opposite all the others. Has anyone else seen this ? Is it o.k. to leave it as is, or should I pursue this. My brain hurts.
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