Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

[gobbler]

Hi

Bought this Biostar Geforce 6100-M9 motherboard cheap, owner said will encounter hang in windows XP every time after using 10-15 mins. I did try installing windows XP, true enough, I encountered same problem.
No bloated caps.

VRM :-UCC KZG series 3300mF 6.3V (x5) (esr reading 0.01)

UCC KZG 1500uF 16V (x3) (near MOSFET) (esr reading 0.00 or 0.01)

OST RLP series 1000uF 6.3V (x12) (near memory slots, north bridge) (esr reading 0.02 or 0.05)

OST RLG series 100uF 16V (x17) (all over the motherboard)

If I were to try recapping, any recommendation which range I should start with or any guys have experience regular hang in windows XP?

[momaka]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

Sounds more like a overheating issue (especially if XP works solid in the first 10-15 minutes). Reason I don't think it's the capacitors is because their ESR actually gets lower as their internal temperature rises.
Check to see if the Northbridge/Southbridge are not overheating and make sure that their heatsinks have proper thermal compound. Also check the VRM/FETs for overheating issues.
If there are no heat issues, then it could be the Ost caps going bad. Before you spend money on new caps, however, it's probably better to wait for a few more opinions here. Maybe there could be something else wrong.

[yanz]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

did u really succesfully installed win xp on it? what about doing memtest+ moren than 15mnt.. will the problem occured?

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

I've worked on several of these. Usually the 1000uf caps are bad. On the last couple I fixed, the ones over by the RAM were bulging, and also the cluster of 3 near the opposite corner. I replaced all of them, and a few of the 100uf for safe measure.

The south bridge also gets pretty warm. You might want to put fresh thermal grease on it.

Also clean/re-seat the RAM and run MemTest86.

[gobbler]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

Hi guys,

There is one feedback I need to add from the previous owner of the motherboard. "Problem: Works ok for first 5-15mins, after that it 'freezes' - still power on but no display, mouse red led turns off, etc. Tried restarting but can't work. Have to wait for ~1hr to be able to on, and the cycle repeats itself. Probably the chipset is gone case...

momaka,

Your suggestion did help improve the situation. The north bridge has a heat sink only while the south bridge has no heat sink at all. So I apply fresh thermal grease on north bridge. Well, it did run beyond 15 mins and I tested it till 2 hrs without any problem. So, my next test was to run Prime95 and I managed to monitor it till 10 hrs without any problem. Then, I left it to run overnight in my air-conditioned room. In the morning, the motherboard did hang with no display. So I powered it off and tried turning on using the on button switch. Everything seemed to be not working, the cpu fan not spinning. There wasn't any power on my POST card too. It seemed dead. I tried several times after 2hrs, 4hrs and even 6hrs later, same cpu fan not spinning.
Weird thing is that after more than 24hrs later, I tried power it up again, it works this time and has display on the monitor.


yanz,

I did managed to install windows xp. Haven't tried memtest yet.


Maxxarcade,

I do not see any bulging caps and ESR readings are pretty decent so far.
For my case, do you think I need to replace the 1000uF caps or I should try install the north bridge with heat sink with fan and install the south bridge with heat sink?


Any suggestion what is the next course of action? Thanks.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

Sounds like you may indeed have a thermal problem. It could be either the chips or the solder. You can try adding a heatsink to the south bridge and see if it acts different.

I'm wondering if the north or south bridge got hot enough to fatigue the solder, kind of like what happens with the Xbox 360's.

Your ESR readings may be better in-circuit because some caps are usually in parallel. If they are not bulging, they might still have some life left in them, but I usually change them anyway. I'd start with the heatsink though.

[momaka]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

After applying new thermal compound to the Northbridge, how hot does the heatsink get? If it feels hot to the touch, try adding a fan on it and see if it helps. Also, see if the Southbridge gets hot as well. Add a heatsink to it if it does, like Maxxarcade suggested.

I'm wondering if the north or south bridge got hot enough to fatigue the solder, kind of like what happens with the Xbox 360's.

I was thinking the same thing. Hope it's only a heat issue and not a cold solder joint.

[gobbler]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

Now things are getting complicated. North bridge changed to a heat sink with fan while the south bridge installed with a heat sink. Both with new thermal compound applied. Sometimes I got hung in bios boot up, sometimes during windows xp boot up screen. Even if I managed to get into windows xp screen, once I run the Prime95, I can never get beyond 12 mins. Well, once inside windows xp, the hang will either be screen freeze or screen becomes blank. Sometimes the PS/2 optical mouse does not have power.

One thing I noticed quite consistent, whenever it hang, I powered it off and tried to on again, cannot power it up. In order to power it up again, I need to set the PSU on/off switch to off setting and try again around 10-15mins later. If I leave the PSU on/off switch to on setting, I can never power it up again. I am quite puzzled by this.

Are the OST caps giving me this problem?

[Newbie2]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

Are the OST caps giving me this problem?

I doubt that this is just a capacitor problem, you did test a few of the OST capacitors and they were fine.

[Agent24]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

What kind of PSU are you running?

Did you try updating the BIOS?

[gobbler]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

Newbie2,

I only did in circuit esr measurement, 10 caps OST RLP series 1000uF 6.3V have reading of 0.02 while 2 caps have reading of 0.05.

Agent24,

I am using Verudium PowerXT PSU. I also tested with Silverstone SST-ST400 PSU, same symtom. Once I got hold of the motherboard, I flashed the bios to latest version.

[Newbie2]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

I suggest checking for any damaged traces on the motherboard, test the OST capacitors out of circuit.

[gobbler]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

i do not see any sign of damaged traces, let me order some 1000uF 6.3V caps to standby when i test the OST caps out of circuit. in the meantime, MIA awhile ..

[gobbler]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

guys,

if currently the motherboard is using electrolytic caps, can i replace it with aluminium solid caps?

[Newbie2]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

guys,

if currently the motherboard is using electrolytic caps, can i replace it with aluminium solid caps?

You can replace aluminum electrolytic capacitors with polymer capacitors. A general rule here regarding polymer capacitors is to use around half the capacitance of the original electrolytic capacitor when installing a polymer capacitor in its place. For example, if replacing a 1000uf electrolytic capacitor, a 470uf polymer capacitor is used.

Polymer capacitors are more expensive than electrolytic capacitors, and on a motherboard if you wanted to use them in my opinion they would only be required in the CPU VRM area, where caps get stressed the most on the motherboard.

[gobbler]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

guys,

off track a bit, i got a MSI motherboard, it has 470uF 6.3V (3 pcs) and 470uF 10V (1 pc) both G-LUXON brand. if i were to change the caps, can i standardise them to 470uF 10V?

[momaka]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

Going a step higher with the voltage ratings is okay. Going a step down is not recommended, though (unless you actually measure the voltage with a DMM to determine if a lower voltage cap will work).
So to answer your question, yes 470uF 10v caps should work just fine to replace the 6.3v caps.

[gobbler]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

guys,

i remembered posting on another thread and a senior member mentioned if doing recaps, must change the same series for all e.g. if the motherboard has a 3300uF 6.3V bloated cap, must change all the caps with 3300uF 6.3V. Does this apply to the VRM area caps only, say if I got 12 pcs 470uF 6.3V all over the motherboard, only 1 bloated cap, change 1 or 12?

[370forlife]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

You should replace all the caps if one is bad, that usually means the others are bad and aren't showing it, or they will go bad.

[gobbler]

Re: Biostar Geforce 6100-M9

ok, my stocks for the Sanyo 1000uF 6.3V caps arrived and spent a couple of hours removing the OST caps and recapped with those Sanyo. but the problem still there after testing.

if i used on board graphic, display will turn off after 3-4mins. if i used pci-x graphic card, it will hang during POST or in bios if i tried to change some setting.