Asus m3a sound failure

[hikaruichijo]

Hi, I have an Asus m3a that is starting to develop problem with the audio hardware, one chanel of the standar stereo output(green connector) has lover volume than the other channel. The realtek audio chip has 6 capacitors from evercom (10uf25v) that I suppose are one for each audio IO, and as I'readed around this forum that evercom caps are crap I think that's the problem.
But I not sure about this so I'm seeking some advice.
Thanks.

[stj]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

it could be the caps although i'v never seen it before, are all other outputs o.k.?
and did you check the mixer settings arent the cause?

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

Hi, other outputs seen to work ok, I tried conecting the speakers to the rear speakers output(black) and they work ok, I checked the mixer and moved the balance to one side to keep the sound level equal on bouth chanels.
Is intrensting that we had another m3a on the workshop an that one had a very very low volume output but on bouth chanels and also other outputs worked ok, in fact we andviced the costumer to plug the speakers on the black connector.

[stj]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

maybe the caps are being damaged by people using large unamplified speakers that draw a lot of current through the caps.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

Yes bad coupling capacitors can cause quiet sound. Replace them and see if it gets better.

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

Well, I'm using the speakers integrated on the monitor that have around 2 wats of power .
And a question that may sound stupid. I' have another board that died because of a power surge with six polimer capacitors rated at 10uf and 10v surounding the sound chip, the original evercoms are electrolitics and rated at 10uf 25v. I doubht that they need to be 25v in that place. What do the experts think?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

Sound chips on motherboards are usually operating off 3.3 volts, so there will be no problem with using 10v capacitors.

[stj]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

carefull, some of those chips incorporate an amplifier that will be higher than 3.3v
lets check - what part number is the chip?

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

Hi, it's done, but the problem persists and I noticed that the board is plaged with a lot of KZG caps wich as I understand after reading the forum, are among the worst caps so ... I'm not going to touch it untill it has a bigger problem....
But I can't express how thankfull I am for the help.

[stj]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

so it's one channel on one output only?

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

I moved the balance almoust al the way to the failing channel and it's working for now with a subjetibe balanced sound level, when it fully fail, either I'll look for a sound card or other motherboard, but I don't know of a reliable motherboard for the AM2+ platform, on thouse years it was either bad caps or bad chipsets from nvidia, thouse are the comon motherboards for am2+ here in spain, in fact previously I had an m2n-sli that died because of the chipset

[stj]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

it's not the chiset, it's probably the audio ic or it's soldering

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

On the m3a i don't know whats hapening and the m3a is based on the amd770 chipset. But the m2n-sli is based on the nvidia 560-sli chipset and it was the chipset for sure becase I reflowed it twice but got tired of it and specialy tired of the overheating problems that nvidia based hardware almoust allwais has.I measured on the chipset coller at an ambient temperature on around 17 degres celsius,the laser termometer showed 83 degres celsius with the case opened of course... it was crazy.

[momaka]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

Regarding the Asus M3A, does the PC case have a front pannel audio connector? If yes, try using that and see if you still have the same problem with the audio. Let us know what you find.
Could be a bad contact issue from the front audio port (if FP audio is AC97) or something else wrong with the signal path for the rear port (regardless if FP audio is AC97 or HD).

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

Hi, I never used the fp connection on that board, in fact I already cheked the jumpers on the connection but it couldn't be that easy

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Asus m3a sound failure

I'm not going to research this any further so the thread can be closed.
Thanks everyone for the help.