Yellowish crud on top of capacitor

[kylef]

I have heard horror stories about leaky capacitors and blown capacitors on motherboards, but recently when I opened my case, I noticed some white-yellowish crud that had accumulated atop one of the large capacitors near the CPU socket on my old trusty MSI K7T-Turbo-R mobo.

There was just a tiny amount on top of the capacitor, but it did look like it had "leaked" out and dried up. I scraped it off.

Is my motherboard doomed? I don't know much about what happens to capacitors when they leak... Losing the dielectric electrolyte can't be good for the capcacitor's performance, but is it in danger of dying completely?

Any advice would be great. Thanks!

 

[ginfest]

Check this guy's site out, he's been repairing boards for awhile and has good info about the cap failures:

Homies


Mike G

edit: In fact, look at his "Images" section, there is a picture of an MSI board and it looks like the problem you describe

 

[Murse]

A couple of months ago, I put together a system for my brother using a MSI KT7 Pro2-A I had lying around. Assembled and tested it, it worked great, took it over to him and couple of days later, he called me complaining about problems. Random reboots, lock ups during boot, etc. I then spent 3 hours at his house changing every component in the system. Finally, I told him I had to take it home to look at it.

At home, I noticed two of the capacitors were slightly bulged on the top. I don't know much about electrical components, but they were not flat on top like the other capacitors. It was then that I remembered reading a few months ago about this capacitor fluid issue. So, I ordered a new motherboard, put everything back together and it ran without a hitch. The board was sitting on my work bench for a few weeks when I saw that the capacitors had split open on the top.

I guess it depends on what capacitors are leaking, but my board was definitely trashed.

 

[kylef]

Ginfest,

That picture on his site looks EXACTLY like my problem. I was afraid of that. After some research, I've pulled up several other forums with people complaining about caps doing the exact same thing on my exact board. I guess MSI used a bad batch of caps at some point...

Well, phooey. I bought that MSI board for maximum stability (not speed), and it didn't even last 2 years... The board has too many of those same capacitors for me to fix. I mean, I was an EE in college, but my soldering skillz have lapsed over the years...

Well, I suppose it's time for a mobo upgrade. Have they fixed this stupid capacitor issue for good now, or what?

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: kylef
Ginfest,

That picture on his site looks EXACTLY like my problem. I was afraid of that. After some research, I've pulled up several other forums with people complaining about caps doing the exact same thing on my exact board. I guess MSI used a bad batch of caps at some point...

Well, phooey. I bought that MSI board for maximum stability (not speed), and it didn't even last 2 years... The board has too many of those same capacitors for me to fix. I mean, I was an EE in college, but my soldering skillz have lapsed over the years...

Well, I suppose it's time for a mobo upgrade. Have they fixed this stupid capacitor issue for good now, or what?

yeah pretty much. another batch of bad capacitors is always on the horizon but teh chances have been cut down considerably. you are safe. and leaky capacitors are covered in most motherba=oard waranties. you might still be able to rma it to MSI. you shold check that out first.

 

[RalfHutter]

It's not just MSI's problem, it's actually an industry-wide problem but nobody except Abit is owning up to it. Here's the whole, sordid story. And in case that wasn't enough, here's another article

I've had that Homie guy (in Ginfest's link) fix two of my boards and he's done a great job. If you lack the skillls (like I do) to do it yourself he can do it for you.

 

[KGB]

Check with MSI as they will most likely still warranty those boards.
I've had to RMA 5 of those Pro2-A's.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: KGBMAN
Check with MSI as they will most likely still warranty those boards.
I've had to RMA 5 of those Pro2-A's.

I ended up with 2 2-A's and 1 Pro2 and 1 of the 2-A's was a replacement for the Pro2 and died in a week :| I didn't even bother trying again and that was my last dealing with that company

 

[kylef]

RalfHutter,
I saw those two articles you mentioned, and they are quite scary. Those capacitors could make it into any electronic components, not just motherboards. Perhaps more people will become aware of the problem once TVs and other consumer electronics start failing due to this problem...

I do have one question, though: what the heck is a "low-ESR" capacitor anyway? Here I thought all electrolytic capacitors were created equal...

RMAing. It's an interesting concept, but would MSI honor a "preemptive" RMA for what, to this point, are essentially cosmetic issues? I mean, technically the board still works, but three of the capacitors are clearly bulging, and one has some yellow crud collected on the top of it. With my luck, they'd just send it back to me with a message "Board works."

I might be able to replace the three capacitors myself. I still remember enough EE to find the right parts at RadioShack (or DigiKey). I'll just have to dig up my old soldering iron...

I'll post an update when/if I get around to it...