I can't believe it happened to me.

[Xero (1)ne]

So I was putting my old but trusty E-vga 7900gs with custom bios overclocks in my cousin's computer (he was going to buy it). I felt some resistance while sliding it into the slot as you all are probably familiar with. What I did not notice, however, is how close the capacitors to the CPU are so close to the PCI-e 16x slot. I push down ever so gently more and hear a small pop. I look down and to my distain, I saw that I had pushed down one of the capacitors on the videocard down onto one of these CPU caps and the videocard one had snapped off! :jawdrop:

I've not registered with E-vga for my warranty and if I did it would probably be over by now not to mention that I've replaced the thermal paste and flashed the bios a few times.;-)

Tonight when I redo my server I'm going to attempt to save the card. It's going to be hard though because it's a small cap and one of the pins broke off while it was sitting in my wallet. Good thing that it's the one on the bottom right corner, easy to get to. :-D

Anyone have some tips for soldering small caps back on? :lol: :help:

[PP Mguire]

Ouch dude that sucks. XFX warranty ftw.

[Limbo]

Saw a good post about replacing caps here: How to exchange caps (http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37070) <-- linky

[Xero (1)ne]

Well I got the cap back on although it looked like complete @#$%. I was certain that it would at least work and then my dad comes along and breaks it again. This time both arms are broken off of it. I might just try the card without it because it's being such a pain in the @$$.

Update: It works without the capacitor but I don't have the 6 pin power plugged in nor do I have drivers for the card atm so I don't know how it works at high power but it does display perfectly fine so not all is lost.

[PP Mguire]

Is it a cap or a resis? They have it there for a reason to regulate some sort of power. So even if it does work if you put to much power through it something might fry. And how did your dad break it again? I thought you said you broke both his arms for a second and a lold.

[peti1212]

Oh this sucks dude. I would not use the card without that cap. Just like PP said it is there for a reason.

My dad is an electronic engeneer and he makes circuit boards for robots that take out bombs from buildings and stuff like that. He created the little controller for the Las Vegas fauntain that plays how the music goes.

Well my dad says the same thing that PP does. He says that it will be difficult to put that back, so he told me to tell you that you should check the values V and the Faratt or whatever that is that Caps are measured in and go to radioshack for example and look for the same values. Get one of those older types so you could just solder it back with wires. Maybe get special wires from radioshack as well. Also make sure that you get the right polarity caps. I am not sure what that means, but my dad said that if it is not right you might kill the card forever. I bet somebody can help out at radioshack for this type of thing. Hope this helps and please let me know if I can help out other ways. My dad is a genious here with electronic circuit boards and he can help out a lot sometimes.

[Methious]

Take the old cap down to your local Radio Shack they should be able to hook you up a new one.

I've replaced caps on boards for years, use a sharp soldering tip and approach the solder point with the sharp tip, as soon as the solder starts to liquefy stab the leg of the cap in it, repeat for the other side.

Wal Mart has a cheepie soldering iron, sharpen the tip on that takes about 10 minutes total including heating the iron.

[peti1212]

Thanks Methious for explaining it clearer and more detailed for soldering part, I bet it will help out Xero (1)ne. ;)

[Zenphic]

Talk about bad luck. It should be fix-able though.
I hope your luck turns around!

[Xero (1)ne]

Well I did put the card through its paces last night playing Assassins Creed on my TV and it did quite well. ;-)

I am going to try and find a replacement cap for it(running it without it can't be good for life, right?) but I know for certain that our local Radio Shack is too incompetent to know what a midi adapter is. I know that they don't carry any small electronic components like that. Only a couple RC cars.

The one that fell off has two twin caps on the board. It's 6k 100 EZA and if I can I'll get the same exact one.

Methios, what solder do you recommend because mine doesn't like to stick to some things sometimes.

[peti1212]

Radioshack should have those types of caps. It is a must have for them or else it woule not be a full radioshack store. Every radioshack store I went to even when it was just like a very small store, they still had caps. Well I am not sure of the store cloe to you though. Good Luck!

[trueg50]

FYI, I don't think any company has any sort of point in their warranty against replacing the stock cooler, or flashing the BIOS (as flashing back, even blind is very easy and does not damage the card).

[Xero (1)ne]

Yah Peti, the Radioshack here doesn't have anything usefull. :lol:

[PP Mguire]

Then its not a Radio Shack. All Rack Shacks carry electronic parts. If they dont carry them in store you can order them. Oh and good luck trying to find a replacement cap for your card. I was trying to do the same thing for a G4 TI4600 and it didnt work. Nobody had the exact values i needed and unfortunately without that cap there it would not work at all.

FYI, I don't think any company has any sort of point in their warranty against replacing the stock cooler, or flashing the BIOS (as flashing back, even blind is very easy and does not damage the card).Any XFX card 7900 series and up carrys the double lifetime warranty and they will replace it no matter waht. THats why XFX pwns.

Well my dad says the same thing that PP doesMy dad is also an electronic engineer ;) He tought me some of what he knows in electronics.

[peti1212]

Although what sucks is that my father might be the brightest head at the company that he works at, because he has been promoted many times for his excellent work, but he is not up to date with the new hardware. You can say that he is very good at electronic components but not so much about what you need in a computer to make it good for specific things. let us know Xero (1)ne how your case with the cap is comming along

[wolf2009]

ouch , feel sorry for u .