HP/ASUS M2N68-LA (Narra2) Bulging Caps

[rsparks]

I have a pair of these boards, and I can see 4 bulged 16v 1000uf caps on 1 board, and 2 6.3v 820uf caps bulged on another, both of the same brand it seems. However, I haven't noticed system instability in daily running on either, except maybe an incident where I tried to install a better videocard, a GeForce 8500 GT, and the system then refused to POST for an extended period of time, after I had removed the card.
I mostly want these systems for their windows licenses, but I fear they may become unstable in the near future as more caps begin to fail, or failed ones fail harder. It's all KZG's bulging. Several more on the boards.
Now, to the point, I have a small amount of soldering experience, mostly just reattaching wires, so is it worth it to replace the caps on these boards?

I have a junk board to practice on, with a few parts I'd like to reuse if they're of a reputable brand. the logo is an M with a rounded square around it.

[mariushm]

Re: HP/ASUS M2N68-LA (Narra2) Bulging Caps

Hi, welcome to the forum.

KZG is the code for a capacitor series made by Nippon Chemi Con which is known as a faulty one. Basically, the chemical substances inside this series of capacitors are not in the right proportions so the majority of the capacitors in this series eventually go bad. Otherwise, this manufacturer makes good reliable capacitors, this series was simply a fluke from their part.

With a bit of attention, you can remove them (not just those that are a bit swollen but also the ones with the same series code near them) and solder new capacitors in their place. However, you can't use just any capacitor brand and series, what you put there must have specific characteristics close to the ones the KZG series has.

Since you're in US, you can buy from this site's online store or from Digikey or Newark...

From here, these will work to replace your KZG capacitors:

1000uF 16v:
https://www.badcaps.net/store/produc...roducts_id=174 (if you can fit 10mm wide capacitors)
https://www.badcaps.net/store/produc...roducts_id=173 (if the diameter of your capacitor has to be less than 10mm)

820uF 6.3v:

https://www.badcaps.net/store/produc...roducts_id=163

If you prefer to buy from Digikey or Newark, let us know and we can give suggestions on what would work.

The M inside a square with rounded corners is the logo for Panasonic - M is from Matshita, their parent company. Panasonic capacitors are good, reliable, but again whether you can use them or not it depends on the series - can't just put any capacitor there. Panasonic has a 2 letter code for series in general which should be on the capacitor also, but there are exceptions.

[rsparks]

Re: HP/ASUS M2N68-LA (Narra2) Bulging Caps

Thanks for the info, and well, what I can find on this Panasonic cap is FJS next to the thermal rating (105C) and very faint lettering on the opposite side of the stripe with what looks like 84 III EN.
Also, there's a third KZG cap on both boards that hasn't started bulging yet, 6.3v 1500uf they have 7(k) and 8G on them. the 16v 1000uf ones happen to have had 7(T) 6Z on them, and the 6.3v 820uf ones have 7(k) 7X.
On a side note, I had thought the chipset's heatsink was rather hot, so I had stuck some fans on them, and then browsing here, I see people complaining that the nvidia chipsets can unseat themselves, or otherwise cause poor connections, looks like that was a good idea.

[rsparks]

Re: HP/ASUS M2N68-LA (Narra2) Bulging Caps

There's a premade kit, above my budget for now, for all the caps. It says 8mm caps, so I guess that's what I'll be going with. I can replace the 2 types that have shown problems between the 2 boards on 1 board for about 10 dollars, pre-shipping. I guess I'll do that to the board with the cheaper CPU with it, and see if I succeed. Thanks for the recommended caps.

[Uranium-235]

Re: HP/ASUS M2N68-LA (Narra2) Bulging Caps

just because a KZG isn't bulging doesn't mean its good. They're made with poor seals, so sometimes the gas leaks through the seals without bulging the top, still resulting in a bad cap

replace all KZG's with a vent, IMO

and yeah, the cooler you can get that nvidia chip the better. still doesn't mean it won't unseat itself though