Is this a blown cap on my motherboard?

While moving my motherboard from 1 case to another, I gave it a look over and saw this:



I know blown caps are an issue, but I've so far avoided it. The motherboard still works, so I dont think it's gone yet, but how long do I have? Would it be better not to use this board, or is that cap even replaceable??

Personally I would say no. I think it is just crusted dust. Look at the inductor coils to the upper right of it. Much like that stuff. IMHO that is

Well, there's definitely dust on it, and I'm not even so concerned about the stuff on the top...but the way the 3 lines are just slightly parted, compared to the caps around it. If you look at them all edge-on, the top of that is slightly bulging above the plastic casing. I knew caps bulged before the failed, but I thought it was bulging around the sides, not the end.

I agree there is dust on it but I am concerned about the center one. The 'darker' dust could be where it is wet from leaking electrolyte. You really need to see it from the side and see if it is bulging at the top, it kind of looks that way from this pic but can't be sure. Look at this pic from an HD100. #3 is normal. 1 and 2 you can see are bulged at the top. I suspect that center one is bulging a bit. You can leave it until the MB fails, or you can just go ahead and be proactive and replace it.

Edit: You replied while I was composing msg. Yes, they bulge from the top. The 'lines' become further apart and at some point they will separate or crack and electrolyte will leak out. Alot of times if you see black, like someone traced the lines with a sharpie, that could indicate leakage. You can look thru the HD100 repair tutorial for some hints on how to replace the cap. It does not look like it will be too hard on that board.

Ya, it's definitely bulging on the top, like those 2 in the photos.

So, if I leave it in, and it finally "goes", is it going to take the MB with it, I mean unreparably? So, I could go ahead and use it, and then if it goes, I could replace the cap and it'll all be good again?

beelzerob said:

While moving my motherboard from 1 case to another, I gave it a look over and saw this..
I know blown caps are an issue, but I've so far avoided it. The motherboard still works, so I dont think it's gone yet, but how long do I have? Would it be better not to use this board, or is that cap even replaceable??

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I had several at work fail (all from that same vendor who name begins with the same letter as my name). Yours looks like it could last for some time. You can just replace the cap... so I would use it till it goes (if it ever does)... and meanwhile find some replacements.

Well, good plan. Thanks for the info and reassurance, guys.

From a cursory glance, it looks like one of my older motherboards might have the same kind of cap, so maybe I have a ready supply onhand already!

I'll continue to use it then and if it suddenly gets flaky, I'll know what to check.

The board has swollen cap syndrome. The center cap is definitely bad and the others will go shortly.
Do not use generic caps. They need to be low ESR types or they will also fail shortly.
Here is a web site devoted to bad caps in any device and yes they are in almost all modern electronics these days.
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/index.php?

About 2 months ago I had a mini-itx board which "appeared" to have two bad caps. It would boot up run about 10 minutes then shutdown. I replaced the two caps in question. After the replacement of the caps (same specs) the MB just gives me BIOS beeps (3 long 3 short) and nothing else. Wondering if something else is bad now on the MB? I am having the same issue now with another of the same brand/style MB. This one though has about 4 bulging caps.

My friend use to get computer that where flaky or not working.
Many times it had swollen caps. All brands Dell, IBM; Gateway.
Replacing the caps fixed the problem.

The boards I purchased were iGoLogic i3368G Industrial Board Mini-ITXs. I have four of these. 2 now have blown caps running them about a year now 24/7. The two still running look OK at this time. I was/am using them as touch screen computers.

I agree that the cap is failing. Usually they bulge out and sometimes pop.

I have a Harmon Kardon DRR2005 and had a DVD-22 which had cap problems. I replaced the DPR2005 memory cap and trashed the DVD player.

THANKS CHINA!

Well, I have absolutely no confidence in my soldering skills, and at this point I'm committed to making this PC be my CQC server and WHS machine.....so I think I'm going to have to take my chances with it. In the meantime, I'll try to track down the cap so I have it onhand, and hopefully it'll just sputter out and not explode.

Most of them pop their rubber bottom seal and maybe spew gunk on the board.
If the motherboard starts getting finicky the others may also be getting weak. Sometimes in early failure they show little physical evidence of failure.

beelzerob said:

Well, I have absolutely no confidence in my soldering skills, ...so I think I'm going to have to take my chances with it.

Click to expand...

It would be a great time to practice up at soldering too. I cheap soldering iron and a little solder is a cheap investment... and very handy to have and use. You can find all the helpful instructions you could ever want on-line.