Fluid coming from my motherboard !

[edalha]

Hi RavantH
If, as you say, your household power varies quite a bit (evidenced by dimming lights) you'll need a power line conditioner. This is an industrial type answer for "mission critical" computers where AC power might not be very stable. Although a spike protected power strip for surge protection will help with high voltage spikes, it cannot make up for low voltage (which is just as harmful to your mobo and power supply as high voltage spikes). Usually a good power line conditioner will smooth out voltage in a range from 90VAC to 130VAC (or if your on 220VAC some similar range of fluctuation). Sorry to hear about your present mobo problem. This is not a simple solution but one that should safeguard your future computing.

Edalha

[edalha]

Hi twabzie,
I mistakenly posted my answer to RavantH though the thread began with you. I hope this suggestion will help although this tends to be a costly proposition as power line conditioners tend to be expensive.


Edalha

[wobly]

I agree with the last post. I use an APC Back-UPS Pro and it has saved my ***. I was pretty mad when the previous one went up in smoke, but it saved my computer. $70 for the Back-UPS or $1500+time+effort+complaining-from-the-wife-while-I-rebuild made it a good investment. BTW, I am in Germany on a military installation and the power flucuates quite a bit with our old wiring. Not as bad as someplace like...oohh...California, but bad enough to warrant an Uninterruptible Power Supply.

[in2golf]

It is probably resign. One of the only things that have fluid in them are Capacitors. The board is probably junk do to the fact that it will cost more to fix than a new one.

[in2golf]

one other thing. If it still works then you probably blew caps not transistors. Transisotrs are flat on at least one side. Caps are usually round and sometimes light blue or black with a negetive symbol on it.

[in2golf]

sorry about the above two comments I did not read down far enough. I would also get a new power supply. It may be damaged.

[shigum]

I recently saw the same thing on three different Abit KA7 boards. They seem to have made a bad batch or something. Two of the boards were dead, but the third is still running, even though you can see a black substance on top of several of the capacitors by the cpu slot. I guess it's only a matter of time til it dies too. And the kicker is that the boards are all at three different businesses that I know of, so I don't think power is the issue.

[edalha]

Well,
the power situation is not quite so dire here now... It just cost an arm and a leg, (a gold-capped tooth, your first born child and a refinance on your home mortgage)!!!!


edalha

[Explorer]

The problem probably wasn't caused by your power supply although it's a slight possibility. More likely, the voltage regulator on the motherboard packed it in. A lot (most newer ones anyway) use 3.3 volts for most of the busses, etc, provided by the voltage regulator stepping-down the 5V lines from the power supply. A jump to 5V from 3.3 represents about an 80% increase with a consequent major increase in current flow, heat etc. Really hard on capacitors.

Not to mention everything else on the board. I'm surprised your CPU survived but it's probably supplied by another regulator.

APC (American Power Conversion) http://www.apc.com/my/products/ manufacturers a wide range of back-up uninterruptable power supplies. Very good surge protection and the battery provides some protection against low voltage swings. But probably quite expensive in Malaysia.

[DualShock]

Hey everyone, here's the lowdown on the KA7 problem:

This is a quite common problem with this board. My board experienced the same thing: capacitors next to the CPU slot are leaking black stuff (the dielectric).

Twabzie, you are not alone. This has been posted many, many times in the ABIT newsgroup alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit.

[LostBok]

Funny! I as reading the whole thing and picturing Capacitors while reading transistors...

Chances are if it is a well known manufacturing problem, then they will replace it free of charge, whatever the age...

Once you've got a woking system, I suggest you seriously conside a surge supressor board and a UPS system after that. Surge supressors go for $10-$30 and UPS systems are anythign from $50-$500.... Try a "Liebert Powersure Proactive 700Va" for about $150 or a "Liebert Powersure Personal 300Va" for about $60... that way you fry a cheap board on most power spikes and not the UPS, then the UPS will smooth out the more extreme power fluctuations and protect the system.... plus get a decent 300W dual fan PSU to make sure....

Of course you'll probably be fine once you've replaced that mobo...

[DualShock]

It's not a matter of the power entering the computer, it's a matter of CHEAP CAPACITORS. According to some users in the newsgroups, it seems ABIT used a lower quality capacitor for this board.

ABIT will repair/replace the board for free if you still have your original sales invoice. If you don't, it will cost $25. Send an e-mail to technical@abit-usa.com (if you're in the USA).

Some newsgroup users have said they replaced the capacitors themselves. Search the newsgroup alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit to see how they did it, if you want to go that route.

[twabzie]

Thanks guys for your suggestions and advice.

Not many people in my place uses UPS. It's not common here as the prices are quite high. I will be replacing the power supply to a 300W soon and they cost about RM100 which is about USD26. Is this the pricing that you guys get in the US ?

I have an old UPS lying around. It's by PhoenixTec. Anyone heard of it before ? I don't think it's working. I have already replaced the board with another Abit board . A kt7a. Still sticking to Abit even after the first board The old board is beyond repair and the capacitors cannot be replaced without some machinery. The solderings too fine to be done by hand. That's according to what my local vendors say.

Thanks again to everyone who gave suggestions and advice and for reading

[RavantH]

Isn't Phoenix the people that make the bios?

[jdogstarman]

Electrolytic Caps (short for capacitors) are very easy to repace yourself. The values are listed clearly on the component (assuming they aren't browned or blown up). If you are steady of hand you can do it yourself with a $10.00 soldering iron and about $5.00 worth of parts.

Capacitors act like little batteries, i.e. current storage devices. They serve to smooth and filter the voltage levels on the mobo expecially around other chips and on the voltage input . When continually heated up and cooled the rubber gasget on the lead end gets hard and electrolyte leaks (this is why electronics last longer if left on all of the time--caps don't like varied duty cycles). You will notice they are scored in an "X, Y or K" pattern on the top. This is to make them blow "up" out of the top instead of out--they make quite a mess. You can replace them with higher voltage components as well.

You might want to get a new mobo and experiment with this one--definately not worth having someone else work on!!!