Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

[Botanic]

I have two MSI 6163 Pro mainboards. Both of them having problems.
I had one board in my Linux server and one in my windows workstation.
The one in the server started rebooting when doing heavy stuff as compiling for example. I replaced the server and saved that mainboard for later repair.

Now my workstation started acting up. It also reboots under heavy load. Sometimes it reboots when loading windows.

So I got some capacitors for the boards. I changed all the leaking capacitors on the board that I had in the server before. About 30 of them...
When I first started the machine, it worked for 30 seconds. Then it hanged. Now it does not want to boot at all. It beeps 3 thimes, pause of 2 seconds, beeps 3 times... The diagnostic leds indicates that there is a problem with the RAM.

I know that the CPU, RAM, PSU and all the other components are ok, since they work with the other identical board. I even tried with another CPU and RAM.

My plan was to fix this board and then switch it with the other one, and then fix it too.

Now my dilemma is that if I replace tha caps on the board that still needs the replacement, I might end up with two faulty mainboards.
I am a poor student and don't have the money to buy a new machine.

What could cause such a problem that I have with the board? I can't see any shorts or problems on it. It doesn't smell burnt or anything.
In some places there were not enough room to fit the capacitors. The new capacitors were 1 mm wider than the old ones. So I had to fit two capacitors with very long legs. I bent the legs and fitted the cap sideways. So one of the caps leg is about 4 mm long, and the other about 8 mm. This should not cause a problem, right?

Please help!

[Rainbow]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

Check the voltage on the DIMM slot - pin 6, should be 3.3V (http://www.hardwarebook.net/connecto...m168unbuf.html).
Also check the PCB traces around the DIMM slots and CPU socket for damage.

[Botanic]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

I measured pin 6 on all three slots. 3.32 V on each.
No damage on the PCB.

The machine behaves the exact same way both with and without RAM.
Seems as if it does not find the RAM at all.
The diagnostic LEDs stops at the "Memory and LS Cahche Detecting and sizing".
According to the manuals "Possible Problem": "System D-LED will hang here the memory module might be damaged or not installed properly".

[Botanic]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

I plugged in the mainboard once again to measure the rest of the VCC's to the RAM.
This time there were no voltage at all there?
Seems to be a bad connection somewhere. Any ideas of where it could be and how do I find it?

At the same time measuring I accidentally shorted something with the cords from the multimeter... What does the circuit do in the upper right corner, next to the bios?: http://img227.*************/img227/4837/6163pro6ql.jpg

[Per Hansson]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

No idea, post what is printed on it...

Sounds like a bad solder joint somewhere.. Check all your solderings... Maybe you damaged a trace?

[Botanic]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

I have looked at all the solderings. Can't see any problems with them. Is there any tricks to find the problem?

I damaged one of the traces from the circuit "LV244A" to a small one that says "472". I think it has something to do with the BIOS slashing or something (that I will probably never use if I get this board to work.)

[Rainbow]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

Check if the trace is continuous and fix if not.
472 si probably 4.7Kohm resistor network (usually for pull-up or pull-down) and LV244A is some logic device (maybe a buffer).

[Botanic]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

I can't find anything visibly wrong with this mainboard.
I'll give up with this one and recap my other mainboard this weekend.
First I have to make a plan B. I need to decide what to buy if my second recap goes wrong.
Thanks for all the help so far.

[Newbie2]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

All I can say right now is I hope you good luck on your second recap on that motherboard!

[Botanic]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

So... My second recap was not so successful either.
This second time I managed to change all the caps in half the time with better soldering results. But I guess that my working place is not so ESD friendly or something.

This time the board worked for 15 minutes. I changed some settings in the BIOS and fired up memtest86. The board just stopped responding.

After a reboot the board went dead. All the diagnostic leds go red, which is the first stage of the booting. There it just stops in this dead state for some time.
Then it turns it self off. And after two minutes it tries to boot again by itself. I don't know if it is the mainboard or the PSU that makes it behave like this.
So I gave up.
I bought a new mainboard, RAM and a Sempron CPU.

I still have the old mainboard here. I might give it another try some day.

[Neo2_000]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

Those old MSI boards can be a bitch to resolder.

The solder they use is absolute crap. Too much heat and you're mobo's toast.

I would guess that this is most likely what happened. Too much heat to a joint toasted it.

I got two 6163 pros myself I have to redo when I get around to it.
Not looking forward to it.

A lot of badcaps and bad solder to boot. Yep they're a bitch alright.

[Pud]

Re: Two MSI 6163 Pro cap problems...

i had a similar problem that you experienced with the first msi mainboard in that the diagnostic leds indicated bad ram.
it was pretty intermittent and varied when i changed the slot that the ram was plugged into so i just cleaned the contacts of the dimm slots and the ram with an old toothbrush and some electrical contact cleaner.
board worked a treat after that.

Your situation sounds a bit more involved with the loss of voltage to the dimms so i don't know if it will help. Never hurts to try though i suppose. i also find the msi boards have tracks running everywhere and very close to the capacitors (more so than other boards). check to see you haven't exposed any copper tracks or broken a connection to a cap somewhere. i did this once and it required a bit more solder over the broken track before it would play nice.

Pud