R.I.P SE6 :-(

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Hi!

I feel somehow that I'd like to share this with you.

I have a SE6, which has served me good for three years now, I bought it
second-hand somewhen in 2002. First it ran a P3 500E, then P3 650E, some
time later a P3 800E and then I got a P3 1Ghz to install on it. When doing
that, I noticed that ALMOST ALL the caps were either bulging, leaking or
both. I set the FSB to 100MHz to reduce the CPU speed (and power
consumption), left the side plates open to let it cool better and started
looking for a replacement board. I have no idea how long the caps have been
in such a bad condition, but there were never any visible signs of a failing
board, other than a blue screen crash now and then, but I blamed the old
Win98SE for them. Now, after running the replacement board (Intel Desktop
Board D815VFE) for a few weeks, it seems like I have gotten rid of the blue
screens. I decided to go for the Intel board, as it is an i815 chipset one
and I didn't want to install all my software again. So, basically I just
unplugged the leads on the SE6, removed the cards (just a NetGear ethernet
card and a nameless Radeon 7500 vidcard), ripped the SE6 out, installed the
Intel board and replugged everything back.

I have one question regarding this: how bad can the caps go before the real
troubles begin? How come there were no more serious indications other than
the beforementioned occasional (once per two weeks, maybe) blue screens?

Another one: the onboard sound seems to be working on the Intel board pretty
well as installed on the SE6, but the sounds disappear mystically from time
to time, especially when running UT (the original one). What's it with this
issue? They come back after visiting the control panel and playing a sample
sound.

--
gt

 

[TomG]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

eventually, things are going to get unstable and the system will either
become a crasher, or will refuse to boot reliably (or at all...) or both.
you could even hear an alarm sounding which would indicate that the bios has
detected a problem with a critical voltage.

you don't *have* to get rid of the board... there are folks out there who
replace the caps. In the US, a guy that goes by Homie was doing it but I am
not sure he is still doing the repairs... in the UK a guy named BigBadger
is doing repairs.

--
Homie and BigBadger repair boards and have many happy
customers:


Homie (AKA Capman), in the US, at:

http://www.motherboardrepair.com/
gary<at>motherboardrepair.com

(look for posts from BigBadger if you're in the UK or try him at
Big_Badger@btinternet***NO-SPAM***.com with the obvious
spam protection removed...)



--

Thomas Geery
Network+ certified

Due to a rat in da hood,
no longer running servers on Cox...

(even though someone turned me in,
what can I expect for violating the AUP, right?)


"GinTonix" <GinTonix@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:dfov13$g6j$1@phys-news1.kolumbus.fi...
> Hi!
>
> I feel somehow that I'd like to share this with you.
>
> I have a SE6, which has served me good for three years now, I bought it
> second-hand somewhen in 2002. First it ran a P3 500E, then P3 650E, some
> time later a P3 800E and then I got a P3 1Ghz to install on it. When doing
> that, I noticed that ALMOST ALL the caps were either bulging, leaking or
> both. I set the FSB to 100MHz to reduce the CPU speed (and power
> consumption), left the side plates open to let it cool better and started
> looking for a replacement board. I have no idea how long the caps have
> been
> in such a bad condition, but there were never any visible signs of a
> failing
> board, other than a blue screen crash now and then, but I blamed the old
> Win98SE for them. Now, after running the replacement board (Intel Desktop
> Board D815VFE) for a few weeks, it seems like I have gotten rid of the
> blue
> screens. I decided to go for the Intel board, as it is an i815 chipset one
> and I didn't want to install all my software again. So, basically I just
> unplugged the leads on the SE6, removed the cards (just a NetGear ethernet
> card and a nameless Radeon 7500 vidcard), ripped the SE6 out, installed
> the
> Intel board and replugged everything back.
>
> I have one question regarding this: how bad can the caps go before the
> real
> troubles begin? How come there were no more serious indications other than
> the beforementioned occasional (once per two weeks, maybe) blue screens?
>
> Another one: the onboard sound seems to be working on the Intel board
> pretty
> well as installed on the SE6, but the sounds disappear mystically from
> time
> to time, especially when running UT (the original one). What's it with
> this
> issue? They come back after visiting the control panel and playing a
> sample
> sound.
>
> --
> gt
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

TomG wrote:
> eventually, things are going to get unstable and the system will either
> become a crasher, or will refuse to boot reliably (or at all...) or both.
> you could even hear an alarm sounding which would indicate that the bios has
> detected a problem with a critical voltage.

Been there, seen that, heard that. But the point was that (well, almost)
no signs of the plague were visible this time. Was I just lucky or what?

>
> you don't *have* to get rid of the board... there are folks out there who
> replace the caps. In the US, a guy that goes by Homie was doing it but I am
> not sure he is still doing the repairs... in the UK a guy named BigBadger
> is doing repairs.

I know. I was thinking of saving the mobo as a hobby one to do some
soldering later. OTOH, I already have a BF6 and a Socket A MSI board to
"do some soldering later"...

--
gt