Capacitor fell off vid card (Asus EN6800GT)

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Last night had a VGA error, & was troubleshooting. Reseated the vid card, but then heard something metal rattling around the bottom of the case. Appears that a capacitor came off the card! WTH! I fired up the system expecting the video to be dead, but was able to play several hrs of Far Cry w/ no problems. How long do I have b/f the card dies? Is it easy to RMA Asus products? Good grief....

Thx...
/OH

 

[Captante]

If the card is working now, it may keep working for awhile but thats purely a guess. As for getting warranty service, I doubt Asus will cover physical damage of the card, but you may be able to get it repaired for a fee... you may also be able to solder the capaciter back on yourself depending on how it broke off.

What caused it to break off anyway?

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

It just fell off on its own after reseating the card (I wasn't being overly forceful), so I would imagine it's all on them to repair/replace it. I've never soldered anything...so that's out, unfortunately.

 

[Aikouka]

Ask about RMA, if it seems you cannot do it without a ton of hassle (card out of warranty, etc), then learn to solder . It's not that hard and I actually repaired a car's ECU once as some caps were leaking .

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Yeah, I reckon I'll give the RMA a shot. A friend of a friend has some soldering skillz; may go that route if all else fails. Still amazed it hasn't died...there must be some kind of built-in redundancy.

 

[Aikouka]

Well, your power might not be as fluid as it should be and suffer from fluctuations, but overall, it should still be usually the right amount of power.

 

[jondl]

As others said, try getting an RMA and if all else fails, solder it yourself. It's pretty easy as long as you take your time.

 

[josh6079]

Bubble gum works too.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Okedokee....thanks for all the replies!

edit: bubble gum? lol..surely you jest, sir

Best,
/OH

 

[krotchy]

Most capacitors on any board are to stabilize the power and are simply bypass caps. Typically bypass caps are quite redundant to prevent ground bounce and other problems. Assuming it is simply an extra bypass cap you should be OK with running the card without it. However if your power source gets flaky issues could arrise. If you can solder on an identical cap that would probably be ideal.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Thx for the comments, krotchy. btw, nice gaming rig!
At this point I'm shooting for the RMA, & will keep the card as a backup. I was going to replace it sooner than later, since it's a bottleneck. I must admit, this card handles Far Cry beautifully though -- 1600x1200 max'd, no AA/AF...ultra quality water sure is purdy

 

[Conky]

I had that happen to a videocard once although I managed to solder it back on. (the ugliest solder job you ever saw too but it works to this day)

Maybe you can find a friend to solder it on if you don't want to try it.

 

[watdahel]

Sometimes video cards do come with extra capacitors. If everything works then you're fine.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Yeah, I'm going to stress it a bit more tonight. If it gets flakier, doesn't post, etc. then it's outta there real quick...

 

[ronach]

I never heard of a piece of electronic gear come with soldered on spare parts..maybe with a seperate loose spare part kit..fuses, knobs, lamps ect. All parts assembled on a PC board have a purpose, some critical for proper operation..others are not. Your capacitor is not a critical component as others have stated..give it a few runs to satisfy yourself of this..then play your games and forget about it. Under no circumstances let a soldering hack get near your PC brd..you hear what I'm sayin, if you have a skilled friend that can do the deed..then go for it.

PS- If you are going to stay with computers..do yourself a favor and get some electronics training, from a ham radio buddy..maybe some cute chick with a degree in EE..heh..ya right ..you should be so lucky..or a learned friend who can take the time to give you some pointers. You will be glad you did down the road. Just some friendly advice..it worked for me.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

PS- If you are going to stay with computers..do yourself a favor and get some electronics training, from a ham radio buddy..maybe some cute chick with a degree in EE..heh..ya right ..you should be so lucky..or a learned friend who can take the time to give you some pointers. You will be glad you did down the road. Just some friendly advice..it worked for me.

Thanks for that pearl of wisdom, Potsie. Go take a break from beating off in the parent's basement & get some fresh air, punk.