MSI 694D Pro - Possible Cap Problem

[Gimpmaster3201]

Hi, i have a 694d pro which randomly reboots and having found your site after a search, i think that it might be a problem with the caps. I'll give you a bit of a 'back history' of the board which led me to believe it is a cap problem.

Originally i bought the board off Ebay, all was well when i was using it, it was working with two cpus no problem. Now a few months down the line i was starting to have BSODs and random restarts, so by the off chance i removed one of the cpus and the board started to work correctly again but somewhat limited with only one cpu.

When i removed the second cpu i noticed a rust looking substance on top of some of the caps near the cpu sockets, at the time i was totally unaware of the wide spread caps problem, so i kept a mental note of the irregularity and continued use.

Now, some time on, i have replaced the system and am/was using the board as a server, but it has a problem with random restarts, so after finding this site it seemed quite likely that the caps could have been gradually degrading, from the state by which only one cpu would work, to now when it barely works with one.

Unfortunately i do not have a camera available to take pictures of the caps but i have inspected it and quite a few of the caps do seem swollen/vented, so this has further led me to believe it is a cap problem.

This now leads me to another problem, residing in the UK i am finding it difficult to source suitable caps for this board, the only place i have found that stocks a reasonable selection of caps is RS Electronics but even the quite broad range this company provides does not have suitable caps. While they do stock caps of suitable rating, voltage and uF wise they seem to be too big. For example where i require a 10mm and 8mm cap they only seem to stock a 16mm and 10mm cap which i do not think will fit, does anyone in the UK know anywhere that stocks suitable caps or has used the Panasonic FC range in the sizes mentioned above and found the to work ?

Sorry for the long winded post but i wanted to get my thoughts on the problem out all at once. Thanks a lot for your help.

[willawake]

welcome to the forum,

please check the faq, in uk you have RS, farnell and digikey
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=613
but personally RS has given me great service so far and Panasonic FC are excellent. For the sizes it is difficult to source the same small sizes so you have to make a mod in order to fit.

check the thread of Bushytails who is our resident 649d expert. There are some space considerations which you have to overcome with the larger recapping caps but with a little bending of leads and hot glue if required it should be fine. You can also bend the leads and place caps flat on the board if there is an extreme problem with space. The only problem I see is that Bushy reported a difficulty to work with the original solder on the board, it required much heat, please be careful not to nuke a solder pad by keeping the iron on too long. not a good board for a beginner i guess. i finally reformatted Bushy's thread so you can see all the pics at once.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=456

[Gimpmaster3201]

Thank you very much for your informative reply, it is much apreciated. I will likely order the Panasonic FC caps from RS and bend them slightly to allow for the excess diameter and then secure them with hot glue as you suggested, once again thanks a lot for your timely reply

[willawake]

if you have probs with the temperature do not try to force a cap down the hole. clean again and try to gently insert the cap. with difficult boards it is best to go slowly and maybe do a section each evening. dont hurry cos you get careless. one fuckup and the board is toast

[bushytails]

Aside from the ones installed flat to clear the area around the slots, the bent leads and hot glue was to move the capacitors further away from the cpu sockets, to leave room for those massive orb fansinks... on my other 694d (the first thread), I left them all in the standard locations, and with any non-insane fansink, it fits perfectly.

The board only uses 10mm caps around the cpus, so 10mm replacements work perfectly... the little ones around the board are 8mm, but 10mm ones fit in every location without hitting anything. the only concern is the ones at the slots, which can stick up and hit cards, depending on how tall your replacements are.

--Randy

[Gimpmaster3201]

Aside from the ones installed flat to clear the area around the slots, the bent leads and hot glue was to move the capacitors further away from the cpu sockets, to leave room for those massive orb fansinks... on my other 694d (the first thread), I left them all in the standard locations, and with any non-insane fansink, it fits perfectly.

The board only uses 10mm caps around the cpus, so 10mm replacements work perfectly... the little ones around the board are 8mm, but 10mm ones fit in every location without hitting anything. the only concern is the ones at the slots, which can stick up and hit cards, depending on how tall your replacements are.

--Randy

Thanks for the reply, but the problem was that i could only find 16mm to fit in place of the 10mm, around the cpu socket for example, so i wasn't sure if they would fit, but it seems they would fit if i bent them opposite from each other.

[Topcat]

If you still need caps, shoot me an email or a PM. I'll sneak a cap kit out to you, it has all the correct sizes. I don't ship overseas often because of the hassle, but once in a while I make an exception.