Craziest thing

Raz

My girlfriend was playing Starcraft at the weekend on an old Duron 700 machine with an Abit KT7 motherboard. Not the most hardware intensive game and a system that is well able to handle.
Thats why we were hugely suprised at the loud bang that came from the computer case. Nothing happened with the display, everything kept running fine. Shutdown the PC anyway though (As you might expect) and opened her up to have a look for any visual signs of where the bang came from.
As I looked around the CPU I noticed bits of what looked to be cardboard lying around some of the components.
I then noticed a vertical cyclinder of the same rolled up cardboard stuff at the end of a row of capacitors below the CPU. I then copped that this was the inside of a capacitor. Sure enough I found the casing of the capacitor rooled into a corner of the case.
So what must have happened was that the capacitor exploded, the loud bang being the capacitor casing hitting the case panel.
At first I was concerned but the system seemed to keep running fine after the initial explosion so I decided to risk plugging it in again.
So the system is back up and running with no troubles except for an uncovered capacitor sticking out of the motherboard. I didn't want to remove it because I don't know what effect the remaining open circuit would have (It may just be shorted now).
Everything seems to be running fine but if anyone thinks they can tell what the operation of the capacitior was it was labeled EC11 (The first in a row of 5 I think, below the CPU) or if anyone feels the urge to impart any warnings feel free.

Bemused,
Raz

Tivoli

jammy navan man, when that happens at work the pc has to be replaced, as they just keep rebooting

caps normally have a cross cut in the top of them to stop it exploding with a pop, guess yours don't

liamo

Hi Raz,

This article explains what's happened and why. It makes for very interesting reading. I don't know if you can get the Motherboard changed based on the material in the article but it may be worth a shot.

Regards,

Liam

Raz

Well it had the impression of a cross but I guess it wasn't cut deep enough.
Must remember to change my "location"!

BioHazRd

More than likely a smoothing capacitor blew. While rare, it can happen, particularly as the cap gets old. You're system may appear to work fine, but I wouldn't risk it. That capacitor is for regulating the "ripples" on the power supply, and now that it is gone, your motherboard may be experiencing unwanted artifacts on the power lines. In short, other stuff may fail as a result. I would look at replacing your mobo asap, or if you are feeling adventurous, try replacing the cap, or get someone with the electronics knowhow to do it. There is no guarantee that the mobo would work after this, as most motherboards are multilayer pcb's and can be tricky to work on.

Bio

Raz

Thanks for the article Liamo. Very intriguing. Going by the article I may be able to get the motherboard replaced, though it doesn't seem to need it. I'm also under the impression it's out of production so maybe they'd give a newer model

liamo

I'm also under the impression it's out of production so maybe they'd give a newer model

Now that would be a good result.

Raz

BioHazard:
I thought about replacing the capacitor myself. I'm reasonably handy with a soldering iron (which reminds me, I'm out of solder!). I didn't really considerit too long though because I've destroyed pads before and I wouldn't want to do that on a motherboard.
Thanks for the advice about other stuff failing, I think I'll be sending Abit an e-mail this afternoon

Raz

I've posted below the e-mail I sent to Abit about the issue. I'll be interested to see what their response is and I'll post it here when I get it.



To:technical@abitcomputer.co.uk
Subject: Problem with Abit KT7 motherboard

Hi,

Over the weekend just passed (14th August 2004) a capacitor exploded on an Abit KT7 motherboard I have in my appartment. The capacitor (labelled EC11 on the board) appears to be used for power smoothing. This I believe may now cause the power to (most likely) the CPU to be unstable and may cause further damage.
I mentioned this to a friend of mine and he pointed me toward this article,

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/feb03/ncap.html

It appears the problem is due to the incomplete formulation of the electrolyte in the capacitor. This was a problem faced by Abit at the time of the production of the KT7 motherboard (which I believe is now out of production).
I was happy to read that Abit acknowledged the problem and took steps to deal with it.
I was hoping that those steps were still in place and that you would be able to help me with my problem.
At the moment the motherboard is still working but I would like to try and get it replaced as soon as I can to prevent further damage to other components within the system.
Please let me know if you can help with the replacement of the motherboard.

Regards,
Raz
Electronic Engineering Undergrauate,
Dublin,
Ireland

Tivoli

mukki wrote:

jammy navan man, when that happens at work the pc has to be replaced, as they just keep rebooting

caps normally have a cross cut in the top of them to stop it exploding with a pop, guess yours don't

and quote from that website

So far, the only motherboard maker to admit to the problem is ABIT Computer Corp. (Taipei), and the only major PC maker to acknowledge being affected is IBM Corp. But the problem is likely to be more widespread. Indeed, those who have repaired the damaged boards say that they have encountered crippled motherboards from Micro-Star International, ASUSTek Computer, Gigabyte Technology, and others.

now try and guess where i work!!!!

Raz

I've gotten a reply to the Abit e-mail. Not much in the way of customer service.
Here it is,

From:mickey@abitcomputer.co.uk
Subject: RE: Problem with Abit KT7 motherboard

I am afraid to repair your board may cost you more than a new board.
The cost to repair your board is £35.25 after discount, plus delivery charge
plus VAT.
We usually only cover U.K. therefore, the cost to delivery this board to you
may as high as £25 plus VAT.

Technical Dept.
Abit Computer Corp., Ltd. U.K.

I'm not one for guessing games mukki. I guess IBM.

astrofool

i've had 3 kt7's go the way of leaking capacitors. Unless its within warranty, they won't do a thing other than repair it for more than the board is worth. The trouble is finding a motherboard that takes the same chip/ram.

Raz

I'm just about to send this response to them. It's a tad longwinded.

TO:mickey@abitcomputer.co.uk
Subject: RE: Problem with Abit KT7 motherboard

Hi Mickey,

I cannot see how you can justify charging £35.25 for replacing a single capacitor on a motherboard. That's equivalent to €52.57 plus the delivery fee of £25 brings it to €89.85 and that's not including vat which I'm going to neglect.
Considering I have the casing to the capacitor this provides me with all the ratings necessary to buy a replacement myself. This would cost €0.50 tops. If I were to buy solder (How about cored solder, the expensive stuff) to attach the replacment to the board it would cost €5 tops. I could even buy a brand new soldering Iron and solder sucker for about €40.
This would be all the equipment I would need to replace the faulty part and I wouldn't have to invest in any training to learn how to solder as I have thankfully had the chance to undergo the necessary training through my university degree programme. Therefore the grand total of the repair, were I to perform it myself with brand spanking new equipment, would be €45.50 which equates to £30.51p, almost £5 less than what you're charging for the repair alone ... excluding VAT ... excluding delivery.

Now I'm aware that not everybobdy is in the same position as I am and can repair their hardware if necessary, and you do have the cost of labour and other things I'm sure but either way £35 is excessive. Had you quoted £35 that included delivery and VAT I would have considered this reasonable, after all it would take an experienced person only 10 or 15 minutes to complete this repair and maybe another 15 minutes to plug in the board and test that it was working.

In the interest of providing good customer service I would have expected one of the following in order of increasing merit,
1. Free repair of the board including free delivery.
2. Free replacement of the board to ensure no further incident could occur with the remaining capacitors on the board.
3. Free replacement to a newer model board to ensure no further incident.

The free repair or replacement is expected because the Abit product has suffered from faulty workmanship. The process of sending the board to Abit would leave me with an inoperable system for the duration and is ample reason for the cost free repairs.
The free repair or replacement would also be expected because of the fact that Abit have acknowledged the presence of faulty components used in their products at the time of the production of the product I am currently in possession of. This fault in manufacturing should therefore not limit the option of free repair or replacement to within the warranty period.
I would also expect the fact that I am resident in Ireland to have no bearing on the situation as the Abit website, ( www.abit.com.tw ), notes technical@abitcomputer.co.uk to be the technical support e-mail address for both Ireland and the U.K.

I am interested to hear your response to this but I expect no further action will be taken on the part of Abit without some form of payment from myself.

Regards,
Raz,
Electronic Engineering Undergrauate,
Dublin,
Ireland.

I wonder what they'll say.

Raz

Again there customer service response is pretty bad. Maybe it's just the person this got assigned to.

From:mickey@abitcomputer.co.uk
Subject: RE: Problem with Abit KT7 motherboard

1, Whichever articles you have read were dated. At that time the KT7 may has only 12 months old.
2, I can give you the capacitors free of charge provided you send the
stamped address jiffy bag to us.

Technical Dept.
Abit Computer Corp., Ltd. U.K.

Unit 3 , 24-26
Boulton Road
Stevenage
Herts SG1 4QX

Free capacitors as long as send them the stamped addressed bag! Wow! "We'll pay about €1 while you pay the postage from Ireland and back."
Also, this is the sum total of his response after I sent such a detailed e-mail. Twice the replies avn't done any justice to the preceeding e-mails. He only addressed the bare necessity of the points and refused to be appologetic in any way. Whatever happened to "The Customer Is Always Right"?

Anyone else care to throw out their opinion on this?

Big Nelly

Ask them to send you a customer complaints address or the next level up.....TL or Manager! only way to get anything done in this world

Syth

Maybe part of the reason it's so dear is because they have to cover themselves. If you did it and you messed it up, you're screwed and have noone to turn to. If they do it and it gets messed up, they are responsible. It's a weak reason though.

And another thing, how do they expect you to get english stamps?