ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

[odyssey3001]

My ecs p4m800pro-m motherboard has recently started generating this high pitched whining noise from the area behind the cpu where the regulator caps and coils are located. I couldn't isolate the exact component causing the noise but I'm sure it's not any of the fans or the drives. Sometimes the noise oscillates when I'm scrolling a webpage or doing something graphics intensive. The capacitors didn't look bulging or leaking to me. Here's a picture of that section of the motherboard. What do you guys think? Could it be bad capacitors making that gawd awful annoying noise?

[espresso]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

Chokes are the most probable source of the noise. It might help if you poured some lacquer on the chokes. By pressing each coil with a wooden stick one can pinpoint the exact choke that's producing the noise.

[odyssey3001]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

Thanks for your reply. I pressed on each of those coils with the rubber end of a pencil but it didn't seem effect the frequency or loudness of the whine. I've been using this motherboard with the same processor and bios configuration for almost two years now and this is the first time it's making this noise (started about two weeks ago).

[kc8adu]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

your power supply can cause this too.open it up and look for bad caps.
bad caps on the mobo can too but they are most often found when you are looking for the cause of instability.
i would not expect much if any noise from those coils as they appear to be potted.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

MOSFETs can 'sing' is power from PSU has enough noise in it.
[Black wafer looking chips near the coils.]

[odyssey3001]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

Well, I've tried a different power supply and it made the same noise. I disconnected the extra drives and fans so the load on the supply would be minimum. One more thing, it's been occasionally freezing up during post when it's trying to detect the sata and the ide drives. Couple of restarts seem to fix it. Thanks.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

I see OST caps on there.
I haven't run into it myself but (as I recall) I've heard of them going bad with no outward signs of problems.

Can anyone confirm or dispel this?

[odyssey3001]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

I'd like to know that too since the caps look fine physically.

[dood]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

I had an ECS board with OST caps that were not bulged. It came to me because it would not POST at all. After a recap, all was well. Board was only a few months in service when it stopped working.

[odyssey3001]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

Did you replace all the caps on the board or just the ones in the regulator? The caps in the picture are 1500uf, 6.3v and 1800uf, 16v. Do I have to replace with exact values or is there a little bit of freedom in choosing the caps?

[Wizard]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

Should.

OST is not nice caps. Reason the switchers are singing merry monotone sound is capacitors are drying up.

Cheers, Wizard

[dood]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

I replace any bad brand 'lytics from 480uf on up. There is some flexibility, but it depends on the board design. I would try to stick to the original values.

[odyssey3001]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

That's quite a bit of effort to invest in a three year old el cheapo board, except maybe for the whole experience of soldering capacitors which I could use! Now I'll have to find quality replacements for all the caps on the board.

By the way, that whining noise seems to tick and pulsate whenever the processor is under load like playing flash contents, dragging or scrolling web pages, etc. Is that a typical effect of drying up caps or can there be other components on the board about to go belly up?

Thanks for all your responses. This place is awesome!

[kc8adu]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

those 680/4j are often found bad on the gateway gt series boards.
those should be replaced with polys.
the ost vrm input caps(16v) could be bad and its possible for 1 or more phases on the vrm to be dead.
yes a bit of work but even if you dont save it you wont lose much and will learn something.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

1500uf, 6.3v - Which Series? What diameter/length?
1800uf, 16v - Which Series? What diameter/length?

RLA, RLP, RLS, RLX, ???, ???

- There's enough people here with data sheet libraries to give you the exact specs so you can make a good replacements choice.



Using the original value is best but there's wiggle room is availability is a problem.

For uF:
- uF on the label is +/-20% and uF goes down with aging so going up one is fine and down one if you HAVE TO (and don't plan on using the board more than a maybe a year) will usually work.
Conveniently +/-20% works out close to one standard size up and down.
1500 +/-20% -> 1200-1800
1800 +/-20% -> 1440[1500]-2160[2200]
Note:
Lowering the ESR means you can get by with a little less uF. - In so far as how much lower ESR to how much lower uF I don't have any guidance. - I just know the folks into solid polymer mods do this all the time and it works.

For volts going up is okay:
(The volts is a -limit- of the cap. Nothing to do with actual in circuit voltage.)
- The 16v is on 12v power so you need 16v+ caps.
- The 6.3v can be switched to 10v or even 16v if you need to.
[You know 6.3v is NOT on 12v power and the next lower voltage on a motherboard is +5v. So, 6.3 and 10v caps are used interchangeably even from the factory.]
-
With the exception of the 6.3v/10v deal which ONLY applies to MOTHERBOARDS and to the final output filter caps in PSU's (NOT the other caps in PSU's.)....
- NEVER go down in volts without checking the circuit's actual voltage with a meter.

For ESR going lower is okay. (and an upgrade)

For Ripple going higher is okay. (and an upgrade)

.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

I replace any bad brand 'lytics from 480uf on up. There is some flexibility, but it depends on the board design. I would try to stick to the original values.

470uF

[dood]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

Yeah, whatever. Lack of sleep plus long hours = issues. I'll try to keep my uf's straight

[PCBONEZ]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

Just teasin'

[odyssey3001]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

I couldn't read off every information from the sides of the caps since the motherboard is still inside the casing but I'm pretty sure that the characters "kjz" are on the 1800uf/6.3v caps and "rlx 0615" are on the 1500uf/16v caps.

What's the rating of those 640/4j caps?

I'm considering getting them from here: http://stores.ebay.com/PC-MotherBoard-Capacitors-Store

~Thanks

[PCBONEZ]

Re: ECS P4M800Pro-M Ver 1.0A high pitched whine

RLX 1500uf-16v Ripple=2780 ESR=.020 10x25mm
-
Rubycon MCZ, Nichicon HN or HZ, Samxon GC or GA, are appropriate replacements.

KZJ makes no sense. It's a Chemicon number, not OST.
I see two can sizes of OST in there and I see no Chemicon colors.
Just the same:
KZJ 1800uF-6.3v 8x20mm Ripple=2350 ESR=.012
KZJ 1800uF-6.3v 10x16mm Ripple=2460 ESR=.0125
-
Same replacement series' as RLX are appropriate.

Chemicon KZJ use the same electrolyte as Chemicon KZG and KZG will fail with no visible signs. They are more often a problem in hot spots as near the CPU or MOSFETs than in other areas. They don't like heat.
- A good first step might be to just replace those and see what happens.


I'm not sure who makes those un-sleeved lytics.
I see two sets of markings:

63
680
4J

65
680
4J

680 is uF and 4 is the volts but I dunno what the 63, 65, or J represent.
Couldn't find anyone using that marking convention so not sure who made them.
Maybe someone else knows.
I ~think~ I've seen those in another post here but not 100% sure.
.