Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

[tucker]

I have a Dell XPS 600 with a GS375 Motherboard with.... bad caps!

Two questions:

Is there a cap kit for these? I would like to try doing it myself.

On the attached picture the board looks sort of brown around the bad caps.. Might this indicate that they took other items out too or is this par for caps going bad?

Thanks,

-Tucker

[mockingbird]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

Yikes...

Busted Rubycons... That means that it's getting really hot inside or that it was a cascade failure. Can you show a picture of the whole board? Also can you look inside the PSU?

[tucker]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

I don't have pictures inside the PSU yet but can get those tomorrow.

The 5 year old computer was power cycled on off on off on when an electrician was doing work... it never came back. I get an orange light on the mobo and a diag status 4 light.

[mockingbird]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

All the caps that I can see are Rubycons (Though I can't see the CPU VRM caps, the heatsink is in the way). Needless to say, some of them have failed from either excess heat or excess ripple from a failing PSU.

So yea, take some pics of the PSU as well. Most likely you'll either have to repair it or get a new one.

Another problem I see is the SLI nVidia video cards. According to Dell's specs, these are either Geforce 6 or 7 series. I suggest you test them in a different computer to see if they work.

In the meantime, if you can take the machine apart (And you might want to give it a good cleaning, as well as clean the CPU and bottom of the heatsink so you can apply a fresh layer of themal paste later) and list the capacitors, I can point you in the right direction.

I'll need:
Make
Model (i.e. Rubycon MBZ, MCZ, ZL, etc..)
Diameter (Width is mainly important)

[momaka]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

On the attached picture the board looks sort of brown around the bad caps.. Might this indicate that they took other items out too or is this par for caps going bad?

Bad caps don't usually take out other components, but in your case they have. Notice the fluffy white component next to those bulged capacitors - that's an inductor, and the white fluffy stuff was once wire (and maybe glue) that has now all burned off.

You need to replace that inductor. If anyone here has an idea of what inductance this inductor should have, then perhaps you may be able to find an exact match. If not, then look for junk motherboards that have inductors of the same or similar size.

Also, because of the burned inductor, you will also need to remove and test the two MOSFETs in that area.
...
At this point, I would say this motherboard is in the realm of repairable, but it seems that it will be a little more than just a simple recap job. So it's up to you to decide how you want to proceed. If you want to repair it, let us know.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

Agree.
Note darkened PCB at MOSFET to right of blown caps.
-
Bad MOSFET might have been the cause of bad caps vs the other way around.
.

[kingdavidbaker]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

Hello, I have almost the exact same issue. Blown caps and fried inductor. I know replacing the caps won't be a problem but does anyone have any information on the inductor? I have no clue where to start as far as the inductor is concerned. Also did anyone ever get the exact info on those caps? Mine are the same so it would save me the trouble of figuring it out lol. Thanks in advance for any help.

EDIT: Oh and I say almost the same issue because my board doesn't look burnt lol.

[momaka]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

Hello, I have almost the exact same issue. Blown caps and fried inductor. I know replacing the caps won't be a problem but does anyone have any information on the inductor? I have no clue where to start as far as the inductor is concerned.

Replace inductor with a new one. New inductor needs to have same inductance. Since we (at least I don't) know what the inductance is, I would suggest to just get an inductor that has the same physical size, same or slightly more number of wire turns, and same or larger wire thickness (this last criteria is really important - your new indcutor may burn again if the wire is not thick enough).
If you have junk motherboards or PSUs around, you can try to use one from there.

[kingdavidbaker]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

Thanks for the reply. Thankfully I work in a datacenter as tech support so there is no shortage of old servers or PSUs to tear apart. I kinda figured it would be tough to get the exact specs on the inductor but it was worth a shot. Still hoping someone can give me the exact capacitors I need to purchase though =)

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

Look up the specs to the originals.
You want caps with the same or less ESR and the same or more ripple.
-
If you want more detail then that then we'll have to know what circuits the caps are in because they aren't all the same situation.
-
As there is usually room for less uF in most VRMs the VRM caps can often be upgraded to solid polymer - which is a good idea on a board with heat issues.
-
With non-VRM caps you either need to do a circuit analysis [including checking actual voltages] for each cap or stick with the original uF and other specs.
.

[brethin]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

Most XPS 600/610 etc failures are not bad caps but blown mosfets or worse, that is why you see so few replacement boards for them available. Same goes for the 700/710 etc. Unlike the 400/410 etc boards that are caps most of the time.

[kingdavidbaker]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

Gotcha. Yeah i'm just trying to get this comp up and running as cheaply as possible. I work for a datacenter who basically threw this computer in the garbage so if I can replace a few caps and get it working then I'll have a decent computer for next to free. I see other people mentioning that modifications are required to use a new mobo in this case but worst case scenario I will replace the mobo entirely with a cheap SLI compatible abit or something.

[brethin]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

You wont find a cheap mobo for that case as it is BTX and will not take a ATX mobo. That is the reason it was trashed. Best you might do is list it on Ebay with all parts inside and state the mobo is bad, you might get a few bucks for it as a parts system. I wouldnt ask much as the mobo is the part that always fails in these but sometimes they sell broken for those that need want extra parts for the working ones.

[kingdavidbaker]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

Ah, well thats certainly lame lol. Eh at that point i'm better off yanking all the usable components and throwing them in a new case. Obviously I'd need a new PSU but the rest should be usable. I'll try replacing the caps and inductor first and hopefully i'll get lucky =)

[momaka]

Re: Dell XPS 600 GS375 Motherboard

I'll try replacing the caps and inductor first and hopefully i'll get lucky =)

Sounds good. Let us know how it goes. If it doesn't work, replace the MOSFETs as well. Again, you can use replacements from donor boards - just make sure the replacement MOSFETs have the same or bigger current rating and same or lower ON resistance (usually stated as Rds[on] in data sheets).