[chris0147]

Hello guys,

I have a problem with my desktop motherboard, I cannot be able to switch it on after I have smells the smokes in my room. I have looked on the motherboard which it have went off itself and I was worried what it have happened to them. I have switched back on as it was working fine for few mins and then it went off again. I have smells another smoke and I have switched off immediately without taking any notice.

I have left it off for a while and switched it back on. It was working fine without have any problems before I took my final chance and that was it. The motherboard went off again and it will never switch it back on again, I have tried to figured out where the problem was coming from but I couldn't figure out until today.

I have tested the battery and the power supply, all of them are working fine. I have smells around on the board and I couldn't find out where the problem has been coming from. I have disconnected the hardware and cables from the motherboard, so when I switch it on, the cpu fans will start to spins a little bit as half way but it will stop spinning after I have switched on. I am suspected that if the smokes has been coming from the capacitors which they might have been blown, but I am not 100% sure.

Here's the pictures of the capacitors of the motherboard:







If you believes that you can see any of the capacitors has been blown, I would like you to show me the pictures with red circles where you can see the blown capacitors and I will be happy to replace them without have to buy a new board, otherwise if you couldn't see the capacitors has been blown then it looks like to me that the motherboard is dead and I would have to buy a new one which I am really hope not


In this case, I believes the motherboard is fine because when I switch it on, I can see the cpu fans will spins a little bit before it stop spinning again. I know that the motherboard is working but they won't start to boots because there is not enough power to get in the board which is probably why it is not working. I believes that the capacitors are blown. There shouldn't be a problem for me because I can fix it.

I has been using the motherboard for 7 years which it was working great. This is the best one I have ever have and I never has any problems, so I would be sad that if the motherboard is dead.

Any advice would be much appreciate.

Thanks in advance

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The one right by the Ram looks blown to me....could just be the lighting...

Look for ANY bulging on the tops of the Capacitors or "goo"

[Foxxed]

The one right by the Ram looks blown to me....could just be the lighting...

Look for ANY bulging on the tops of the Capacitors or "goo"

[chris0147]

The one right by the Ram looks blown to me....could just be the lighting...

Look for ANY bulging on the tops of the Capacitors or "goo"

Thanks for your replied, so do you want me to remove the right RAM on the board and test with the left RAM to see if the problem could solve?

If not then what I should do? Borrow the RAM from someone I know?

What do you mean by "goo"?

[Digerati]

Those "K" marks on the tops of the caps are actually stress relief points intentionally stamped in the tops of the caps. They are weak spots designed to "blow" or crack open when internal pressures exceed some level. If blown, the electrolyte leaks out the cracks and looks like dried foam and may be white to dark brown in color.

I don't see any that are "blown" - but from here, many look like they are bulging - or about to blow.

I have smells the smokes in my room.
I have tested the battery and the power supply, all of them are working fine.

How did you test the PSU? Jam your nose in the back of the PSU - can you smell burnt smells from the PSU?

If you can smell smoke from anywhere, that means you have a short (zero or very low resistance) circuit somewhere and when resistance goes down, current (and then heat) go up. This is serious as a fire can result, in extreme cases. Certainly, collateral damage is possible.

If you have any data on your HDs you don't want to lose, you should pull those drives and install them in an enclosure, or into another computer as secondary drives (not boot) and copy off your data.

If you want to keep testing, you should disconnect everything you don't need - like extra drives, USB devices, all but one stick of RAM. Continuing to apply power risks destroying all that is connected to that system.

[gorham]

what Foxxed is saying is the capacitor by the ram looks bad not the ram.

As far as the goo look here to get an idea:

http://paulrepair.bl...-is-plague.html

[deggitt]

hi, looking at the picture of your board it looks like your processor cooler is blocked with junk. you could undo the four screws securing the fan unit & clean the fins.

[Digerati]

looking at the picture of your board it looks like your processor cooler is blocked with junk

Good catch! Yeah that looks nasty - got a cat?

If me, I would take the whole computer outside and carefully blast it with compressed air.

[chris0147]

Those "K" marks on the tops of the caps are actually stress relief points intentionally stamped in the tops of the caps. They are weak spots designed to "blow" or crack open when internal pressures exceed some level. If blown, the electrolyte leaks out the cracks and looks like dried foam and may be white to dark brown in color.

I don't see any that are "blown" - but from here, many look like they are bulging - or about to blow.

I have smells the smokes in my room.
I have tested the battery and the power supply, all of them are working fine.

How did you test the PSU? Jam your nose in the back of the PSU - can you smell burnt smells from the PSU?

If you can smell smoke from anywhere, that means you have a short (zero or very low resistance) circuit somewhere and when resistance goes down, current (and then heat) go up. This is serious as a fire can result, in extreme cases. Certainly, collateral damage is possible.

If you have any data on your HDs you don't want to lose, you should pull those drives and install them in an enclosure, or into another computer as secondary drives (not boot) and copy off your data.

If you want to keep testing, you should disconnect everything you don't need - like extra drives, USB devices, all but one stick of RAM. Continuing to apply power risks destroying all that is connected to that system.

I have tested the PSU on another computer and it is working fine, so I have borrowed the different PSU and the problem are the same situation. I have smells my PSU and none of them are burnt, but I can't smells anything on the motherboard.

I am still trying to find out where the trouble are coming from, so when I can find it, hopefully I can be able to fix it if possible. However, I can't still be able to boot up the motherboard as the cpu fans won't start to spins, there is nothing happens when I switch it on. Not sure if the mobo is dead, but I am 100% confirmed that the capacitors are blown, so that is probably why the mobo won't even start to boot up and that I smells the burnt.

what Foxxed is saying is the capacitor by the ram looks bad not the ram.

As far as the goo look here to get an idea:

http://paulrepair.bl...-is-plague.html

Can you show me on the pictures where the capacitors by the ram is looks bad?

I need to know before I will replace them.

hi, looking at the picture of your board it looks like your processor cooler is blocked with junk. you could undo the four screws securing the fan unit & clean the fins.

Nothing to do with the processor, that is pretty stupid things to say. Cleaning the CPU fans will not make any difference as I have tested different CPU and fans, I am getting nothing as the mobo won't boot up when I switch it on. Something must got to do with the low current, I knew that the capacitors have already been blown anyway.

Edited by chris0147, 13 May 2011 - 08:14 PM.

[phillpower2]

Nothing to do with the processor, that is pretty stupid things to say. Cleaning the CPU fans will not make any difference as I have tested different CPU and fans, I am getting nothing as the mobo won't boot up when I switch it on. Something must got to do with the low current, I knew that the capacitors have already been blown anyway.

Picture 1 clearly shows that the HS is clogged full of dust, this will cause the CPU to overheat and shut down, most modern MBs have a built in thermal sensor for such situations to prevent you frying the CPU, constant use in the present gunked up condition will result in either a dead MB, CPU or both, it may already be too late.
Picture 2 shows the CPU fan disconnected, under no circumstance ever run a computer without the fan connected as it will either not switch on at all or it will fry the CPU in seconds.
The further 3 pictures show clearly what you should be looking for when inspecting capacitors.
A priority is to get the CPU fan off and clean all that gunk out of the fins on the HS and fan then reassemble and connect the fan to the header on the MB, remove the Ram, blow out the slots, re-seat the Ram securely and see how it goes.
You havn`t mentioned whether you use an add on video card, if you do have you checked it out, cooling fan working ok or if the HS type card cooler is it clean and secure, provide the add on card details (if any) with your next post.
For what it is worth ignoring the advice given freely by both deggitt and Digerati would be stupid.