Abit KG7 screenshot

[TravisO]

Back in 2006 I started to notice the PC getting flakey, randomly rebooting for no rhyme or reason, although it would only happen when I was using it, never when it sat idle all night. Running an 8hr MEMTEST never caused it to reboot though, so I just ignored the problem.

It was slowly getting worse, at the high point it rebooted 5 times in a 8hr workday (at home) in early 2008 and I knew it was time to build a new PC. Especially since it was the same PC I built back in 2001. Of course I made it a point to buy a 100% Solid State Capacitor as my replacement.

PS: New I know it's dirty in there, I opened it up to clean it and decided to take a picture.

[momaka]

Re: Abit KG7 screenshot

If you have a soldiering iron, you can repair it for a few $ with new capacitors. The ones to the left of the CPU heatsink on the picture you posted have clearly failed.

[bgavin]

Re: Abit KG7 screenshot

I have recapped a good number of these boards with complete success. They are work horses.

There are 37 caps on this board, 470uF and higher. Usually the two 4700uF caps are Rubycon ZL and can be left alone. 35 caps is a good amount of work and expense. One has to ask if this is worth it, when you can pick up a P4 3.2 GHz Cedar Mill and board for $85.

I've never found any of the field caps bad... only the VRM as shown in your picture. You can probably do just these, if money is tight.

There comes a point of diminishing returns... unless the KG7 is mandatory for your installation. I have several Exchange servers running on the KG7 board, so it is quite important I be able to replace the board without rebuilding Exchange. This would be an Ugly Thing, and take several days. I keep a tested, recapped KG7 in stock at all times just for this reason.

[krazykev64]

Re: Abit KG7 screenshot

i have a KG7R and i have never had any trouble with it. it looks as if the caps in the position that are leaking may be a different make to the ones on mine. on my board. mine are nichicon's. it still runs well now since i first purchased it in October 2001 (£147). it has had a LOT of heavy use as a file server and was on 24/7 a lot of the time