Dell GX620

[Topcat]

Re: Dell GX620

It's probably simply heat issues with that one.
Small tight case. Possible poor air flow in some areas inside.

True. Heat in these little boxes kills rubycons and panasonics all the time. I see blown pannies and rubies in SX280's on a daily basis. These systems don't breathe well.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Dell GX620

Yes,
Dell did the same thing when the HN and HM problems first started showing up.
[In their defense with new problems at first no one really knows what's going on.]
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It's probably simply heat issues with that one.
Small tight case. Possible poor air flow in some areas inside.
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On the other hand this may be the beginning of yet another plague.
In that case it might be a year or more before the real problem in known.
-

[midibob]

Re: Dell GX620

Hi Pcbonez,

I did come across that article in my travels which lead me to think that this one is about to become more widespread. Dell are denying any issues with this board but I wouldn't expect anything less.
When I get my hands on a blown capacitor board hopefully I'll be able to identify the problem.

Topcat, I'm sure that there are many others out there suffering the same issue so this thread should expand somewhat.

Bob

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Dell GX620

Looks like badcap.net will soon have a new pet Dell board.

Source:
http://cnet.nytimes.com/desktops/del...tml#msg2590766

Content:

June 3, 2008 08:07
Terrible
0.5/5
I have a lab with 56 of these machines with the super duper small form factor. During the course of the last two weeks, 26 machines have failed with at least blown capacitors on the motherboard. Some have needed CPUs in addition to the motherboards. Some have needed new power blocks, too.

This lab is very cool, with it's own air conditioning. Speed Step protection is on, and the extra cover on the case is off.

For whatever reason(s), these machines fail constantly. If you do the simple math, I have experienced a 46% failure rate. Maintaining this lab has turned into a full-time job in itself and I have never been so frustrated with Dell products in my life.

If you do have to buy this machine, get a 4-year warranty and then extend it to however long you think you might have the machines.

Caveat emptor.

- WoofDoggie

[Topcat]

Re: Dell GX620

I havent seen any yet, but I'm sure its a matter of time before I do.

[midibob]

Re: Dell GX620

I'm hoping to get hold of a PSU if only to be able to test any boards that I try to repair. Although up till now it would appear that once the mobos have been swapped out everything is OK. Time will obviously tell.

The board I'm working on at present, I've now removed all the large value caps and they all test OK ESR wise.
The only caps that have an issue I've noticed are the 220uF ones. A few of these have varying ESR readings, one in particular 12ohms whereas some of the 'good' ones are around 0.4. Mind you although these are Rubycons they are only rated at 85c (tut tut Dell)!
I'm not sure there's any value in swapping out the large value ones as their ESR's are very good (low). Maybe there's a regulator failure, I need to look further into this.

Bob

[bgavin]

Re: Dell GX620

Perhaps there is a run of defective PSU in those machines?

Might be worth a half hour to pull the PSU and lift the cover to take a peek. It might not be the board causing the failures.

[midibob]

Re: Dell GX620

Thanks for the reply,

Interesting that the 2200uF are Rubycons. I was thinking if they were were Nichicons perhaps some fakes had crept in. I've been stung with fake semis in the past and with all those dodgy caps that were made it wouldn't surprise me if somebody had decided to change the plastic covers. Unlikely I guess but who knows.
I was thinking about changing out the whole lot of 820uF and above caps just in case but I'm still suspicious that they should fail after only 3 years. At 105c rating I've seen caps last a lot longer in much more hostile environments.

Bob

[4tified]

Re: Dell GX620

I haven't repaired any GX620 motherboards yet, but I will say that the issues are very similar to those of the SX280's, which I've fixed dozens of. Usually only 2 caps go bad on the GX620's upon total failure.... the capacitor you mentioned, and also a 2200uf, 6.3v located right underneath the hard drive. Not alot to say about replacement except to make sure you replace all the 820uf and 2200uf caps of the same brand on the board, because once you replace those two that failed originally, the rest are sure to follow within 3-4 month, if you're lucky.

Good luck on repairs, it should only take 5-10 minutes if you have the resources.

[midibob]

Hi all,

As yet I'm not sure this is a bad cap issue so I'd be interested in hearing anyone's experiences.
My son works in IT and has told me that a large number of GX620 mobos are starting to fail at his workplace, sometimes visibly ie C329 (next to the cmos battery) is venting (820uF).
I have only seen one failed board so far which doesn't show any signs of distress. The ESR of the caps, in circuit, looks OK of the 820 and larger ones that I've checked so far.
The new replacement boards are fitted with Rubycons throughout. Another one I have seen had a mixture, the 820uF were brown and un-named?
The faulty one I'm looking at has Nichicon for the 820uF and the rest Rubycon. The Nichicons all test 0.1 ESR in circuit.

I'm hoping to lay my hands on one of the vented ones when the next one fails (I'm sure that won't be long).
Searching the web there's not too much about these but I do get the feeling that it's going to be an upcoming issue. The 3 year guarantee has just run out too so it's looking a bit like the old 270 issue.

So, if anyone's got similar experiences I'd be interested to hear.

Bob