Noooo! Not That leaky Capacitor Curse Again

**Jun aka Pekto** · September 25th, 2009 04:39 AM

Figures....... My current gaming box suddenly started shutting down every time I tried to boot an OS*, be it Windows or Linux, on the hard drive or via install disc and Live CD.

Checking the capacitors....... Sure enough, one had started to leak while four are bulging.

I guess I was fortunate to get four years of excellent use. I was hoping it'll last five years before I assemble a new one.

*Strangely enough, my Amiga Forever cd seems to boot up fine. But that's it. Linux and Windows crashed and burned each time.

Gee. My (wife's) Athlon XP 1700+ pc (ASUS A7M266/AMD761 chipset/768mb ram) has outlasted it too.

In the meantime........ Man, this sucks.

**Jun aka Pekto** · September 25th, 2009 04:47 AM

If you have a pc built between 2000 and 2007, ya might want to check this out.........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague#Symptoms

**Horsepower** · September 25th, 2009 05:33 AM

I'm sure you can fix it. Caps are cheap. Just get a good brand of Soldering iron like an original Japan made Goot. I wasted so much money buying lesser brands until I eventually bought a Goot. It's so nice to use. I have also tried Weller (from Fry's) but it's not as good as the Goot.

I was also a victim of this (two same model HP desktops, boards made by Asustek). Replaced the caps and it went well again. ;-)

This problem was borne out of an erroneously decoded formula stolen from Rubicon Japan by some chinese corp spies. New decent boards now come with solid capacitors esp from the likes of Gigabyte. :D

**Jun aka Pekto** · September 25th, 2009 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by Horsepower

I'm sure you can fix it. Caps are cheap. Just get a good brand of Soldering iron like an original Japan made Goot. I wasted so much money buying lesser brands until I eventually bought a Goot. It's so nice to use. I have also tried Weller (from Fry's) but it's not as good as the Goot.

I was also a victim of this (two same model HP desktops, boards made by Asustek). Replaced the caps and it went well again. ;-)

This problem was borne out of an erroneously decoded formula stolen from Rubicon Japan by some chinese corp spies. New decent boards now come with solid capacitors esp from the likes of Gigabyte. :D

I thought about repairing it myself. But, I haven't done any soldering in years (over a decade and a half).

Plus, I'm set on assembling a new quadcore pc anyway.....just awaiting the go-ahead from the boss. She's already suspicious I tampered with it.

**Horsepower** · September 25th, 2009 03:45 PM

There's the six-core AMD and quad-core Nehalem i7 to choose from.

**niky** · September 25th, 2009 03:50 PM

Damn... looks like what happened to my old Sentra's ECU.

I feel for ya, man. Give the girl a good burial.

**Jun aka Pekto** · September 25th, 2009 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by niky

Damn... looks like what happened to my old Sentra's ECU.

I feel for ya, man. Give the girl a good burial.

More like......I need a hammer

There's the six-core AMD and quad-core Nehalem i7 to choose from.

Actually, I'm thinking more of an AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8ghz (Black, Retail) and Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX combo for $169 (after rebate) + 4gb ram $110 = Total: $279 plus shipping. Same case, drives, video card.

FSX is the most demanding game I run. So long as it can maintain a sustained 15-20 fps (maxed out), I'm happy.

**Horsepower** · September 25th, 2009 07:17 PM

So you prefer AMD 770 over 785/790?

**Jun aka Pekto** · September 25th, 2009 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by Horsepower

So you prefer AMD 770 over 785/790?

Oh. Silly me. I've only looked at page 1 of Newegg's bundles with that cpu.

Page 5 has the Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UDH AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX. It's $30 more though.

Page 3 has the ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX. It's $65 more than the original one I posted.

I'm not keen on spending too much for this pc because I'll be passing it on to my daughter the next time I assemble an all new pc. She wants it mainly for WoW.

**rion** · September 26th, 2009 04:06 AM

I experienced that a lot of time... recently I accidentaly put a capacitor on reverse... the shady drawing thing on pcb is iba pala... surprisingly, it was still running, until recently, i had a problem removing another capacitor kasi naputol at naiwan yung pin sa pcb when I attenpted to replace it. I had to go to a pro... at yun may na notice sya na baliktad yung isang capacitor ko. dun ko lang na notice... lol