Can capacitors be repaired/replaced?

[Tullphan]

I dropped my video card & one of the capacitors came off.
Can they be put back on somehow?
I assume they serve a purpose? (Obviously I have no electrical knowledge!)

 

[Lonyo]

If you have soldering skill they can be replaced. Usually they serve a purpose, but that doesnt mean they are absolutely required. I knocked a cap off a motherboard once and it kept going, but you should really look at getting a replacement or soldering the one you broke back onto the board.

 

[fkoehler]

Ack! They always serve a purpose.
Designers do not add non-essential parts.
Multiply the part's costs for design, BOM, shipping, assembly, board space, etc, and multiply over the life of the model in tens of thousands of cards if not hundreds of thousands.
It may be there to provide additional current in certain situations which you just happened to not happen too you.

Yes, they are rather easy to replace even by novices.

Get a 15-20 watt soldering iron, and some flux core solder for $10 at RadioShack. Check for youtube videos on basic electronics soldering.
The key is you do not want to stick the iron on the card for 10-20 seconds or longer, as you can damage the board/traces.

Might be easier to simply put a post on Craigslist and seeing if someone with more expertise can take 3-4 minutes and do it for you for $10.
The part should cost less than a dollar unless you end up buying from RadioShack.

 

[Quiksilver]

http://badcaps.net/

Send them a email and see if they'll do your video card.

 

[Tullphan]

I talked to a friend @ work today who's a Ham. He said he'll do it as long as it wasn't a double-layer board(?).