AOpen DX34R-U

[matt7476]

Hello -

First off, thanks for creating this site. It's saved me alot of time already. (Who knew it could be so hard to find 4 varieties of caps in one place)?

Anyway, brought home a server from work Friday, that has sat unused because it wouldn't get past 'Verifying DMI Pool data' on boot.

I spent Fri & Sat removing boards and messing with the BIOS. It wasn't long before the configuration was a motherboard, 1 stick of 256MB ram, and a video card.

Still wouldn't get past Verifying DMI Pool data.

Went back into BIOS and disabled everything that could be disabled, and it made it past the DMI check. Through elimination found that the 'External CPU cache' BIOS setting was the key - if enabled, no boot.

Went on to installing the OS (Windows 2003 server). Sometimes it would lock up on format, sometimes during file copy. The farthest I was ever able to get was 'Installing start menu options' on Windows install. The more I played with it, the more I could see that it wasn't an IDE, RAM, BIOS or card problem. The lockups were occuring too randomly.

Sunday I googled around for other people with this board, and somehow stumbled onto this site. I thought what the hell, might as well take a peek at the caps.

And holy moly..... I can't believe I didn't notice them already. EVERY cap is leaking or swollen. 22 of them. It's a miracle the thing even powers up at all.

I used this sites order form to get a quote for the caps, and am sure I'll be buying them from here. (I couldn't find a single site, not even the local electronics supplier, that had all 4 sizes of caps I needed. Also fairly difficult to find any of them at a decent price unless I wanted to buy in lots of 50).

So, once again - thanks. I'll post back with the results of the operation....

[willawake]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

good luck with that. make sure you practice on a trash board first. i bet you can do it.

[VILE DISRUPTION]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

i recapped even before i found this site. not too hard just dont put them reverse polarity.

[matt7476]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

Thanks for the encouragement!

New caps ordered.

Picture of cap placement/value/polarity orientation drawn, rechecked before each removal.

Pattern for tonight: Remove 5, then cig, then beer.

16 to go. Probably will do this over the course of a few nights.

So far the biggest problem looks like it's going to be cleaning the crusted electolyte from the board. All caps coming out cleanly, 'tubes' staying in place throught the board, and all holes clean to daylight.

Some of these caps are really severly mutated. None will stand on end without falling over, one has the bung halfway blown out.

One question: The board is a mix of Lelon (16) and Rubycon (6).

The rubys look normal. Every Lelon is bulging or leaking.

Should I mess with the rubys?

[gonzo0815]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

I think real rubys should be fine, probably you find them only at the CPu VRM section.

[Per Hansson]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

Should I mess with the rubys?

No, leave them be, they are one of the (if not the) best manufacturer...

[matt7476]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

Ordered caps on the evening of 9/19, and they showed up on 9/21.

In my book, that's pretty damn outstanding.

Thanks for the tips on the Rubys.

WIll post back with post op results.

Thx
Matt

[matt7476]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

Well, it's up, running and formatting. Made it past the BIOS DMI pool problem I originally had.

Gotta say I'm surprised it booted at all. I was fully expecting a lot of smoke.

The leg of one cap broke off when removing it, right at board level. I couldn't get it out, either direction.... and every attempt just brought me closer to being sure that I was overheating the board with the iron, and that it was toast.

Hated to do it, but finally decided that the only way out was to solder the cap to the underside of the board, vs. ruining the board with the iron or potentially having it suffer catastrophic failure as it met sheet rock at whatever velocity a 40 year old can hurl a circuit board.

After doing that, just sort of felt like I was half assing it and sort of slopped my way through the rest of the work. I went back and checked it all, and it looked OK... but I was kinda like... what's the point, it's toast anyhow.

But, whadda ya know... powered up fine.

Also I left all my system software at work, so I'm loading an old copy of W2K pro I had laying around. After install will let it run all night to see what shakes out.

Thanks for the help, everyone -

Matt

[Lance Thornton]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

If you want, you could use a dental pick to remove the portion of the cap that got stuck or broken off. If possible, could you take a picture (or several) for us to see? I'm also curious about the velocity you could throw the board, or any of us for that matter. Maybe we could have a thread about sheer destruction after all attempts to save the item have failed. Oh, and congratulations on the recap!!

[matt7476]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

Thanks Lance!

I don't have a camera, but I'll see if I can hunt one down. I'll also see if I can hunt down a dental pick - I have to admit that was probably the biggest cause for my problems - lack of proper tools (even after reading most all the posts about irons, picks, etc).

But the caps showed up, I got in a hurry to play with the board.... and as is always the case, lack of patience + improper tools = good chance at failure and assured frustration.

But I got lucky and it's up and running and I can go back and clean it up at my leisure. My typical behavior is to say I'll come back and then never do; and that may happen here.... but I think not as I just don't like the idea of that cap sitting under the board.

Thanks for the support!

Matt

[PCBONEZ]

Re: AOpen DX34R-U

Be aware that those holes have a thing called a "via".
You can more or less think of it as the holes are copper plated all the way through.
They connect the solder pads to either the solder pad on the other side OR to traces that run between the layers of the PCB material.
If you push out the via the board may be shot.
So: Use heat, not brute force, to work that piece of lead out.