Help!! Capacitor broke off on my Vid card!!

[fuentefan]

Here is a pic of the AIW 9600XT.....you'll see that one of the capacitors broke off.......is is repairable? Or will it just work without it? Thanks for any info

Jason

 

[thirdlegstump]

Just connect it back together. No big deal. Prolly some Elmer's glue will help though.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: fuentefan
Here is a pic of the AIW 9600XT.....you'll see that one of the capacitors broke off.......is is repairable?

Yes. But, i would not attempt to repair it if it is under warranty

Or will it just work without it?

Manufacturers these days look for any way to save pennies. This results in big savings in volume production. I doubt that they would put this capacitor on the board if it could function without it with no negative result. Is the card not under warranty?

 

[fuentefan]

I bought it in July 04 from the 'egg....so it should still be under warranty? I've never had to RMA a product before

 

[NightTrain]

Originally posted by: fuentefan
I bought it in July 04 from the 'egg....

That sure is some slow shipping :Q

 

[Lovehandles]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
Just connect it back together. No big deal. Prolly some Elmer's glue will help though.

LMAO ! OMG - talk about your crackheads. LOL.

fuentefan,

You said you bought this in 7/04 but in your message you say it broke off during shipping.
So what are you saying - that this box sat around UNopened from July 04 til now?

 

[fuentefan]

No, I sold the card to a fellow anandtech'er just this week

 

[BullsOnParade]

Looks like it'd be really easy to fix, got a soldering iron around ?
glue wouldn't work, you need a contact that is conductive. You might
be able to tape it down with some electrical tape, just make sure its
firmly seated.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: fuentefan
No, I sold the card to a fellow anandtech'er just this week

Ah, so you did a bad packaging job and that's a picture he took?

 

[fuentefan]

I thought the packaging job was good!!

 

[Woody419]

You can try some conductive epoxy. It costs about $25. Probably couldn't RMA the card if the epoxy fix doesn't work, being all gunked up with epoxy and all.

Did you do the right thing and give the dude his money back? It was your fault it wasn't packed securely and he shouldn't have to fix it.

I would check with ATI and see if they would accept a RMA or what they would charge to fix it before voiding the 3 year warranty by trying to repair it yourself.

 

[sukasem]

Originally posted by: Gurck

Originally posted by: fuentefan
No, I sold the card to a fellow anandtech'er just this week

Ah, so you did a bad packaging job and that's a picture he took?

I bought the card from Jason.
And that is the picture I took.

If I didn't see the capacitor left in the anti-static bag, I may not notice that.

I just contacted ATI for RMA. I will report back when I get back from ATI.

thx,

 

[ViN86]

yea you can fix this yourself. from what i know, capacitors arent polarized so you can connect it either way. just connect it back on with some solder and good as new

 

[sukasem]

Originally posted by: Woody419
You can try some conductive epoxy. It costs about $25. Probably couldn't RMA the card if the epoxy fix doesn't work, being all gunked up with epoxy and all.

Did you do the right thing and give the dude his money back? It was your fault it wasn't packed securely and he shouldn't have to fix it.

I would check with ATI and see if they would accept a RMA or what they would charge to fix it before voiding the 3 year warranty by trying to repair it yourself.

Thanks for the tip,
Yes, I already contacted ATI.

BTW, Jason shipped it first. I didn't pay him yet. He is a nice guy so, I don't worry about it.

 

[Mark R]

Electrolytic capacitors, which this one is, are polarised. If you connect it backwards, it will explode and spray toxic corrosive goo all over the inside of your PC.

 

[SVT Cobra]

DO NOT GLUE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I looked at the pic and after checking something on my old vid card....it will at the least fry the board....im not quite sure, but i do believe that that particular capacitor needs to be in the orginal direction becuase if my memory serves it is polarized.....

i doubt contacting ati will do any good becuase it was a second party shipping but you can try..

 

[Navid]

If you decide to repair this yourself, you may need to get another capacitor since the leads on the capacitor may not be long enough anymore. You need to get the correct capacitance with the correct voltage rating. It is also polarized as marked by the green area on top of the capacitor.

If you decide to repair it yourself, take another picture zooming around the place the capacitor is to be soldered. It should be easy to tell which contact is negative and which positive. The capacitor polarity is always marked on it. You will need a soldering iron and some solder.

 

[imported_whatever]

Originally posted by: Navid
If you decide to repair this yourself, you may need to get another capacitor since the leads on the capacitor may not be long enough anymore. You need to get the correct capacitance with the correct voltage rating. It is also polarized as marked by the green area on top of the capacitor.

If you decide to repair it yourself, take another picture zooming around the place the capacitor is to be soldered. It should be easy to tell which contact is negative and which positive. The capacitor polarity is always marked on it. You will need a soldering iron and some solder.

anything over the correct rating in either field is also fine

 

[NightCrawler]

Duct Tape ?

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: whatever

Originally posted by: Navid
If you decide to repair this yourself, you may need to get another capacitor since the leads on the capacitor may not be long enough anymore. You need to get the correct capacitance with the correct voltage rating. It is also polarized as marked by the green area on top of the capacitor.

If you decide to repair it yourself, take another picture zooming around the place the capacitor is to be soldered. It should be easy to tell which contact is negative and which positive. The capacitor polarity is always marked on it. You will need a soldering iron and some solder.

anything over the correct rating in either field is also fine

No, it is not!
You have to replace the capacitor with one that has the correct capacitance.
You can replace it with a higher voltage one. But, not with a higher capacitance one.

 

[thirdlegstump]

It's possible that the capacitator removed itself from the card because the capacitation was incorrect. If that's the case, you have to get another capacitator with the correct capacitation.