Video card blown capacitor

I have a PCI video card that recently blew a capacitor. It is an NVIDIA Geforce FX-5500. The cap that blew was a 1000uf 10v. I scrounged around all the dead boards and cards I had around my house and the computer shop I work at and was unable to find an exact match. I did however find a 1500uf 10v cap. I found another forum someone said that you could upgrade to the 1500 without problems.

I took out the trusty soldering iron and melted out the 1500 and the 1000 and then soldiered the 1500 in place of the blown 1000. Upon putting in back into the PCI slot it fired up, well at least the fan did. Windows doesn't recognize the card however. Is this due to the larger cap, or is the chip on the card the culprit? I'm banking on the nVidia chip being bad, but just wanted some reassurance.

 

If you did all of your soldering correctly, then replacing a 1000 micro-farad cap. with a 1500 will not matter a bit. All that number means is that the capacity of the capacitor is bigger. What WOULD matter is if that capacitor is up to the high performance usage in a graphics card. I am not sure where this capacitor is coming from, but it is possible that the maximum charge/discharge rate of the original 1000 capacitor is greater than the 1500. I am not sure if it is even possible to check this, but it is possible that a capacitor on a graphics card would have to be capable of radio frequencies.

 

Do you think it would be worth my time to try another cap?

 

rather than try an old cap, scavenged from another board, I'd opt for a trip to Radio Shack to see if I could find a NEW replacement.

Those are electrolytic caps, used for DC Voltage filtering and not for timing, so the value would not be really critical.

The board might even work OK without it installed at all.
After removing the old cap, I would have tried the board without it.
If it's still dead, then something additional is wrong.

The traces on those boards are very close together and if you're not an experienced PC-Board repair tech, you could have created a solder bridge between two traces when soldering in the new cap.
That could render the board, in effect, DEAD.
Also those caps are polarized so they must be inserted in the right orientation or they won't work. See the + and - on the side of the cap.

In general, repairing PC boards can become a bucket of worms.
Most boards today are multi-layer and just removing a part can break the bonds between the layers. They are very fragile.

Years ago, I repaired PC-Boards for a living, but today with all the multi-layer boards, I won't even attempt it. It's cheaper in time and effort to just replace, rather than repair.

good luck and Happy Holidays!
Shadow :cool

 

lol fx5500 you would be better off replacing it thats a VERY old card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187041

lol 8400 + pci = wth ...

 

Hey i know this is someone else's thred but i didnt want to start one that was about the some thing. My 8600 GTX just blew a capacitor nd i wanted to know is there any way i can still make my computer work with this card. im only 16 and dont have the money to go out and buy a brand new card right now so ya hope so one can help.

 

I had seen an old 3DFX Voodoo 3500 that was missing a capacitor, tore right out. That thing just kept on going without a problem although it was never really used as a gaming card by the owner he just liked being able to say I have a Voodoo... well back when Voodoo2 was still something to have even more so if you had SLI back then!

I'd make a note of the type and size of the capacitor and search for a match online. Unless you know the layout of the board and know your electronics well enough what your doing play it safe and use the same type and size. Messing around with electronics can and will hurt you if your not careful or it'll hurt your computer or other components attached.

You might also want to check if the card is still under warranty, John_sheppard just in case. A lot of electronics have 1 year RTB (return to base) and an additional 2 years parts and labor which means you pay for shipping there and back they covers the parts and the time to install them.. well least back home thats how it was I assume it's the same here in the US? I'm assuming the old nVidia card is past warranty by now if it is.. I'd just get something newer!

 

16? That could be a problem, and maybe not. It depends on IF you're a Junior Tech or just a gamer. At 16 I was building radios, experimenting with high voltage and I'd already taken a home study course from DeVry Tech.

I just finished replacing a bank of 10 bad capacitors on a eMachine motherboard. Even with my years of experience replacing parts on printed circuit boards, every job presents new challenges. Tolerances were so close that I nearly needed a Microscope to do the job.

If I had that video card here, I'd definitely first remove the old capacitor and see if the board still worked. I'd suspect that it would.
But just removing the old cap, requires a good soldering iron, some Solder Wick and the knowledge of how to do it without trashing the board.

I think if I were 16 and short on tools and technical expertise, I'd call around the TV and computer shops and see if I could find a tech that would replace that cap for me.

Just a thought!

Shadow :cool

PS: For those who need help with a bad capacitor problem, I'd suggest contacting:
www.badcaps.net
I found them very helpful.

 

Hi All,

The guys are right. The cap is probably a DC filter so a larger capacity should be OK. The only question left to ask is if the replacement cap was installed with the polarity correct. I have repaired boards and circuits for over 50 yrs and have made many substitutions.

Good Luck, Jim

 

Replacement caps can be of slightly higher Voltage or Capacity, but don't go too big. The bigger the cap, the bigger the leads. The holes in the mobo are barely big enough to accommodate the caps originally specified.
You can't ream them out to accommodate larger leads, because that destroys the plating that goes all the way thru the board, which can ruin the board.

When I first visited www.badcaps.net I found the "How to remove bad caps" tutorial. I read it with interest, just to see if there was something new that I'd never done before.
Nothing new, but the directions were very explicit and very complete.

My own technique is slightly different but then I have tools that almost no-one would ever have. It took me about an hour to remove ten bad caps, clean up the mobo where some of the caps had ruptured at the bottom, not the top, and leaked out their "stuff" onto the mobo.
Then I had to clean up the old solder around some almost microscopic solder pads and then of course, install the new caps.

All the caps I used had a negative sign all the way down the side of the cap, designating which lead was the negative lead.
Also the motherboard designated the negative side with a white crescent painted on the mobo around the negative lead.

I won't say someone couldn't possibly get it wrong, but they'd really have to work at it.:-D:-D:-D

Again, I'd have to strongly suggest to anyone without the experience and tools to take their cap job to a tech that could do the job without ruining the board.

The cap job I just finished, wasn't a life and death deal.
No trees were felled in the process and no animals were killed!:-D:-D

The little eMachine had been given to me and needed extensive repairs.
Besides the ten leaking caps on the mobo, the caps and fan in the PSU were failing, the CMOS battery was effectively DEAD and the HD was failing.
So once the cap job was successfully done, new PSU and CMOS battery installed and a new HD installed, the little computer is once again up and running like a little champ. Oh, and I maxed out the ram at 2 gigs.

I'll probably donate it to a church, or student needing a PC for their school work. I NEVER sell the computers that are just given to me.

I encourage anyone with a working PC that they don't need, to donate it to a worthy cause.

Wishing everyone a GREAT 2009!

The Shadow :cool

 

Hi Again,

The Shadow forgot to mention that some Electolytic Cap capacity tolerances are something like +100% and -50%. It's been a long time since I sold parts so could be way off. Anyway tolerances are extremely wide so +50 % (1500MFd) should be OK. Inexperienced persons have been known not to know that they are polarized. Seen it happen may times.

Luck to All, Jim

 

That's true.....caps are not real precise on values, but most caps used in computers have a 10% to 20% variance in the printed values.
The voltage rating is not so forgiving. NEVER install a cap with a lower voltage rating than the original. Slightly higher is permissible.

The worse that can happen if an Electrolytic Cap is installed backwards is that it can EXPLODE! Boy, can that ever ruin your day!!!!!:cry

Cheers Mates!
Shadow :cool

I'm off to Circuit City, to see what bargains I can find.

 

All is now well. After gleaning info from several posts in this thread I have miraculously repaired the Nvidia FX5500. The blown Cap was 1500uf at 6.3v but I could only find a 1500uf 10v electrolytic cap from the local Electronics supply. They came in a pack of two for the ridiculous price of $1.00. Paid a lot of care with the removal of the blown cap. It is obvious that these cards are not designed for repair. The size of the original was 8mm diam and 12mm high. The replacement was also 8mm diam. but 20mm high. Therefore instead of mounting it vertically I left enough length on the leads and bent it over to lie horizontally on the card. Problem solved. Cost 50c plus a half hour tinkering. The Nvidia fx5500 lives on.:-D
The card has been running great for over a week, at least 35 hours anyway.
I hope other geeks have the same success.