GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

[jsteenbrugge]

Hi all,

I Have 2 of those boards failing on me the last 6 months (after 3 years of reliable service).

Both have the same issue: the 4 GSC 3300uF caps are leaking from the top.

I will recap this board but are looking for extra info:

1. Do I only replace the faulty ones, or the lot of them (4 3300µf, dozen 1000µf (supacon), couple 1200 µf (Choto?), 3 1500µf (supacon).

2. The board has room for 5 more capacitors in line with the 3300uF. Do I better install caps in these also. If so, what capacity?

3. I seem only to get hold on panasonic FC type elco, which are 12.5 mm. The GSC are 10mm. Do I stick with 12.5 or go for the 2200uF 10mm?

Thanks in advance

[jsteenbrugge]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

Here some pics, don't look at the cpu cooler....

[Fatal0E]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

I dont know about adding additional caps, but trust me and replace all the capacitors at once. If you do not then you will be removing it from the case every 4 months replacing the next round.

[Rainbow]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

Replace all the GSCs and Choyos, probably Supacons too. And clean that heatsink/fan.

[davmax]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

Re heatsink. Remove the CPU fan (four screws) and use a paint brush to remove fluff and dirt from fan and heatsink fins. The fluff often means the computer is near carpet, try and keep away from carpet. Ideally once you have loosened dirt on to the motherboard the dust needs to be blown off or vacuumed. Never leave the power lead connected to the power supply of the computer when working on it.

If the caps are gone on the motherboard they may also be bad in the power supply. It will need a clean as well.

[Rainbow]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

When a heatsink is really dirty, I wash it. Of course removing the fan before.

[arneson]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

don't look at the cpu cooler....

I'm sorry I looked I couldn't help it.
I am still laughing
But just a little I'm sorry I can't help it.

[gonzo0815]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

If you can verify, if those missing cap places are conected to the vrm o/p (e.g it should have Vcore if the board is running) then you can probably replace all caps with 2200uf and populate the missing caps too. This will in the end give you the same or more capacitance. Those 4 caps with 3300uf, about 13200uF is near the minimumm for soket a. I would seriousely not reduce this anymore. If you can fit those 12mm ones in bending the leads. Bu tif the board was desinged with 2200uf caps in mind. add thos missing 200uf caps and try it. This will give about 24000Uf, wich is was the more seriouse soket a boards all have. But first you should measure if those silkscreaned places are realy at vcore niveau.

[davyc]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

my GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 was purchased in Oct 2002 and went crazy early this week... I had an Apache HTTPD under Windows xp and crashed for no reason, and then BSOD (that "IRQ_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL" crap).

Opened the case and I saw three bad caps. Not the ones above though. Mine were the three in a row above the north bridge chip (and its crappy fan...). 2 of them (in green) are GSC 1200uF 6.3V and the other (in black) is G-LUXON 1000uF 6.3V. The 2 GSCs were bludged while the G-LUXON bursted at the bottom.

Replaced them with Rubycon's and now back to life to post this... Nice web site and nice forum. Couldn't get 1200uF 6.3V replacements and I got 1500uF 10V Rubycon YXG instead.

The board came with a couple of Sanyo's though. Weird.

(actually I totally agree with the suggestion that all those GSC's and G-LUXON's should be re-capped... just too lazy to replace so many of them at at once...)

[yanz]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

welcome, davyc!

just curious, what series of g-luxon they are? i still have many ecs mobo with good condition g-luxon caps. (but probably because they never been used ).

[davyc]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

it's a G-LUXON 1000uF 6.3V, and on the other side it reads

L Z 105 C
2083(M)

Dunno if you have clues about that.

well... on my 7VAXP, there are quite a number of other G-LUXON's, and they seem to be fine. Bad caps was a cause, but for my case, bad fans was the major one. My display card fan, north bridge fan and one of the PSU fan all had problems.

I had experience with system hangs due to stopped display card fan and north bridge fan (then I applied WD40 on them and back to running again). One of the PSU fan (the one which faces the inside of the case) also stopped for sometime. I guess the overall heat problem killed those caps. Had the ventilation been good, probably those caps would still be working.

The fans are now running ok after WD40 was applied. But that doesn't last really long. Guess I need to replace them in the coming week or so...

[jsteenbrugge]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

Got my capacitors today by ups:

- Rubycon 1000uF ZL
- Panasonic 1200 uF FC
- Rubycon 1500uF ZL
- Rubycon 3300uF ZL

Used my 40w Weller soldering Iron. In no time the caps were out.

I do not have andy kind of desoldering tool (except those mechanical pumps) so putting new caps in the board required some wiggeling.

System is running for an hour now (was 2 minutes in the past). Will test by running full virus scans and stuff like that.

Some pictures to see the result (it's my first mobo recap)

I had to bent one capicitor quite a bit to squeeze another one in between it and a coil, that was the difficult one.

Thanks for the replies

[parttimebill]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

"The fans are now running ok after WD40 was applied. But that doesn't last really long. Guess I need to replace them in the coming week or so..."

'Been my experience that WD-40 may not be the best for that application... it tends to 'lacquer-up' with age and heat... billl

[davmax]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

WD40 was never intended as a lubtricant. It is a light fraction and just evaporates. Fans will run well and last if 10-50 synthetic oil is used, one or two small drops. This is added by removing the label on the non moving side of the fan. Often the label will not stick back so I find masking tape has good adhesion, use just enough to make a seal. Clean off any surface oil before using the tape.


This advice will probably be known by many. Hope it will help those new to such things.

[Per Hansson]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

I use very thin oil, made for lubrication of air powered drilling machines, grinders etc...

[kc8adu]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

m1 15w50
hey i get it free so it gets used in everything!

[davyc]

Re: GA-7VAXP rev 1.1 - recap advise needed

No, WD40 doesn't save the day... just that I didn't have anything else handy... and I had replaced the fan anyway

however... I should have listen to you guys... A loud pop sound was heard in my room one night last week. My computer was still running ok, but I shut it down and opened the case. I saw a CHOYO 3300uF 6.3V bulged at the top with a small crack.

So this time I recapped everything else over 1000uF as you guys said.