Patterns in motherboard failures due to capacitors

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
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I decided to go through all the spare motherboards I have on had that were flakey or does not POST, and list all capacitors (gonna try to fix 'em). The most common bulged capacitor was the 1000uf 6.3v variety. These are the medium sized ones on motherboards, about 10-12mm tall and 5-7mm wide. Anyone else see a similar pattern in capacitor failures? Here are the boards, issues and the capacitor values:

Asus TUV4X (usually no POST)
one 1000uf 6.3v (happens to be Rubycon)

MSI MS-6366 Pro266 Master (unstable)
three 1000uf 6.3v
one 820uf 4v
two 2700uf 6.3v

Albatron PX845PEV Pro (will "lose" onboard peripherals such as PS/2, NIC, USB)
two 1000uf 6.3v
one 1000uf 10v

Soyo SY-7VCA-E (no POST, was used 24/7 for past year in a case with almost no ventilation)
four 1000uf 6.3v

Shuttle SV-24 mini system motherboard (no POST, was used 24/7 maxed out with Seti, Tualatin CPU on adaptor, 1GB RAM, PCI video card - ALL CAPS BULGING OR LEAKING)
six 1000uf 6.3v
three 3900uf 10v
two 2700uf 6.3v

Every board had failures of the 1000uf 6.3v capacitors. BTW, all except the Albatron are socket 370. Hmmm...

An added bonus, examinations of the following failed parts:

150W PSU from Shuttle SV-24 (same system as above board, dead)
one 1000uf 6.3v
one 1000uf 10v
one 470uf 10v
one 1650uf 16v

EVGA GF4 Ti 4400 (unstable, causes locks/reboots)
one 470uf 16v capacitor is kinda broken off but not bulging

Abit Siluro GF4 Ti4200-8X (unstable, causes locks/reboots)
this one is strange, a capacitor looking thing is broken off. It is all metal instead of metal wrapped in plastic. It sits on a plastic base and has two contacts, one of which is broken off and the whole thing is dangling. Markings on this "thing" is "31 470 6E."

I also recall from past years at work (computer repair) that a lot of socket A ECS motherboards would come in with the same bulging capacitors - the tall ones between the CPU socket and the rear ATX ports that are in four sets of pairs (you knew ECS made these boards just by the layout, even if it said "Shuttle" on it :p ).