I'm planning to recap my MSI-5184 m/b. But, I have only a few of them I could buy and the rest of the caps I couldn't find yet in my place. So, I plan to replace only 3 out of 9 bad caps. The severe bad caps are near the DIP switches (ah, those little flip-switches - maybe something to do with Voltage core or whatsoever)...

So is replacing 1/3 of bad caps removes 1/3 of all the problems? What if when I replace 1/3 then the problem is solved and ignore the rest? Please advise...

Re: Capacitors - Small ones?

Same and/or higher? If I put a cap with the voltage and capacitance higher than the original, the board will still survive? Just wondering, is that a theory behind this? I'm a bit ignorant in terms of electronics, and I'm learning actually....

Thanks for the info anyway, I'm going to recap my MSI-5184 right now. Pray that it'll work... Heh heh...

Re: Capacitors - Small ones?

Oh, just wondering, is the size of the capacitor matters also? I have two swollen large 1000 micro-farads caps, and they are tall. So if I replace them with the same value but in smaller size..... will it work?

I noticed the small caps in my MSI-5184 m/b isn't broken or swollen - should I need to replace it anyway? Or just replace the big and the swollen ones? I have around 4 1000 microfarads caps which are already swollen. So what's the best brand for the caps for my m/b anyway?

Hello, I'm new to this great website!

I have a MSI-5184 motherboard bought in very early 2000, and after 5 years of usage and torture (yeah, frequent usage), the board begins to show its age. Late last year, I tried to install Win XP into the computer, and it keeps doing the BSOD. Previously, it didn't have this problem. I could even run XP on this comp long time ago, but not this time. Only Win 98 can be run properly.

I installed the USB card into the comp too. A nice soundcard also. Well, trying these combinations did not actually cause a conflict, since I've disabled...