Abit NF7

[Cap'n Cheapy]

Hi All,
I recently purchased a used Abit NF7 with AMD 2.0 ghz as a backup board for a Shuttle AN35N-Ultra I was having trouble with (that's another story, down the road). The NF7 wouldn't boot. No speaker code beeps. No spinning of fans. It has two LED's, a red one to denote power is getting to board, and a green one to denote it is booting(I think). Only the red one lights up.
The power supply is new. An Antec Earthwatts 650 (which is currently powering this post message) The processor is good (is running to post this message). All hardware connected to the NF7 at attempted boot time was in good working order.
All of the caps on the board are Rubycon except for the one's in the picture I've attached, 1200uf @ 16v. with a strange insignia. Could someone help me identify them? I saw no leakage on any of the caps either at the top, or the bottom. Is it likely that any of the rubycon's failed?
The other pic is of the Southbridge. It has a brownish area in the middle of the chip which can't be cleaned off by either water or isopropyl alchohol. Could this be a telltale sign of a roasted chip?
Thank you in advance!
Richard

[kc8adu]

Re: Abit NF7

the caps are nichicon and your sb is cooked.

[Cap'n Cheapy]

Re: Abit NF7

Thanks kc8adu!
Do you think the caps are worthy of salvage before I landfill the board?

[bgavin]

Re: Abit NF7

Such a shame. I own one of these boards, and have seen a few others destroyed by BESTEC power supplies. Same sympton. Red hot SB.

[momaka]

Re: Abit NF7

Do you think the caps are worthy of salvage before I landfill the board?

I've seen Nichicon HD/HC on a few Radeon 9800 Pro video cards. They seem like good caps so why not.

Also, as of few days ago, Best Buy recycles used electronics for free (unless it's a monitor/tv over 32"). Probably a better idea than taking it to the dump.

[Cap'n Cheapy]

Re: Abit NF7

Good idea, momaka! Thank you for reminding me to think green first.
However there are some stipulations at Best Buy:

http://www.forums.bestbuy.com/bb/boa...g&thread.id=18

Nevertheless, every recycling avenue counts, and I will do a more exhaustive search of my area for other recycling venues before doing the landfill option.
Richard

[coutphil]

the caps are nichicon and your sb is cooked.

Most of the times when capacitor are popped on top , there are dead.

I have a abit nf7 v2.0 with Rubikon Capacitor and one nichichon Capacitor.

The nichichon cap. is close to the agp port.

Last week, my mobo stop to work properly. the computer was starting , the red and green light on board was ON but i had no signal on the screen. So i take a look at the (most of the time , look the cap !) and i found the nichichon cap was popped.

the nichichon cap is supporting 6.3v and 1800uf (micro-fara). i took measure of the cap and it show me 1320uf on 6.3v.

Huummmm, a capacitor worth 20 cent and the old mobo worth 80 USD$ on ebay.

So, i decide to buy some cap at digi-key online and replace the old one.

I was sceptical about that but 20cent + 8$ shipping its very cheap to try.

So i try it and ..... IT WORKS !!!!!!!!!!


I say to :

the caps are nichicon and your sb is cooked.

Maybe not !

GL !

[Brian C]

Re: Abit NF7

I believe it is the Nichicon HM. The later NF7 mobo uses Rubycon MBZ for its AGP 1.5V DC-DC input capacitor.

[dchrsf]

Re: Abit NF7

no spinning of fans, etc probably means its toast. I have the AGP cap problem on my NF7-S v2, and all fans spin and my SB is fine.

With my ATI x800xl AGP there is no display, and with my backup NVIDIA GF4 MX it displays the BIOS diagnostic screen (only sometimes) and detects memory, but will go no further, it just freezes there.

So I would say that you have a bad SB chip and not to bother with the cap replacement since it seems that your SB is not functioning at all.

[dchrsf]

Re: Abit NF7

..and I am contemplating sending in for repair, or have my neighbor do it. I don't think sending it in would be cost effective for the replacement of 1 cap.

[ratdude747]

Re: Abit NF7

With my ATI x800xl AGP there is no display, and with my backup NVIDIA GF4 MX it displays the BIOS diagnostic screen (only sometimes) and detects memory, but will go no further, it just freezes there.

what psu are you using in that system? i have the same video card bot it wond do much for me. i think its the psu.

[dchrsf]

Re: Abit NF7

I run a Seasonic S12-330w. Good Quality power if you ask me.

[exmark]

Re: Abit NF7

I have a abit nf7 v2.0 with Rubikon Capacitor and one nichichon Capacitor.

The nichichon cap. is close to the agp port.

Last week, my mobo stop to work properly. the computer was starting , the red and green light on board was ON but i had no signal on the screen. So i take a look at the (most of the time , look the cap !) and i found the nichichon cap was popped.

the nichichon cap is supporting 6.3v and 1800uf (micro-fara). i took measure of the cap and it show me 1320uf on 6.3v.

Huummmm, a capacitor worth 20 cent and the old mobo worth 80 USD$ on ebay.

So, i decide to buy some cap at digi-key online and replace the old one.

I was sceptical about that but 20cent + 8$ shipping its very cheap to try.

So i try it and ..... IT WORKS !!!!!!!!!!


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I have the exact same problem as the above and the exact same capacitor that looks faulty. I will try and replace it. Thanks for the good info here guys. It seems those capacitors are perhaps junk

[dchrsf]

Re: Abit NF7

What were the dimensions of the cap you ordered? was it by chance one of these?
1800uF 6.3v MCZ 10mm 16mm
1800uF 6.3v MCZ 8mm 20mm

..because badcaps has those in stock and it would be easy to order of the this site.

[gdement]

Re: Abit NF7

I've never traced out that board, but it's possible that 1 unique cap near the AGP slot might be the only cap on the AGP power supply output. If so, it might be overstressed with higher power cards.

[Pyr0Beast]

Re: Abit NF7

That cap is for NB/SB power supply. Have seen it bloated and mainboard failing to boot. Replaced and it works like a charm.
I've replaced it with a 2200uF panny, it's a bit bigger, but I don't think it'll matter much.

[dchrsf]

Re: Abit NF7

I've since replaced that cap, and sold the board. Works great for me, and the current owner. Thanks for the insight on this cap issue!