Zdenek Sojka said:Hello,
can be these caps reason for my PC instability? Even on 1.85V is my
Duron
1300 producing faults at Prime95...
http://www.volny.cz/smatt/caps/
MB is Abit KT7, VIA KT133.
Thanks
Zdenek Sojka
Vanguard said:How old is the Abit motherboard (from when you bought it)? Abit got hit
by a class action lawsuit to make them replace bad caps. They were the
only one to openly announce that some of their motherboards had bad
caps. MANY other mobo makers had these bad caps but they denied the
problem. It was a case of espionage gone bad as only half the formula
got stolen. They extended the 1-year warranty to 3 years. A couple
months ago they got slapped with a class action lawsuit to force them
what they already volunteered to do (except, I believe, they now have to
pay for return shipping). See
http://www.pcstats.com/NewsView.cfm?NewsID=40744 and
http://snipurl.com/ggroups_abit_caps. For opening up about the problem
and graciously helping their customers, their reward was to get slapped
in the face. But they don't do that again and instead will let follow
the lead from the other mobo makers: screw the customers that sue even
when you go beyond what all other mobo makers are doing. Obviously if
you send them a mobo that does not have bad capacitors means they will
return the motherboard and charge you for shipping (both ways) because
you wasted their time for non-warranty service.
So what makes you believe the electryolytic capacitors are at fault?
You could use an oscilloscope to look at the voltage levels and also
check for the amount of ripple on each voltage line across the caps. If
the caps aren't bulging (on the normally flat top) or leaking out (which
looks like a black stain) then my guess is that you read something and
incorrectly associate that problem with whatever is your problem.
Is you PC unstable when it just sits there after the POST but you do NOT
load Windows (or any other operating system)? Is it unstable when you
use a bootable floppy to go into MS-DOS? Is it unstable when you boot
into Recovery Console mode? Is it unstable if you boot using a bootable
CD that loads a different operating system? And just WHAT do you mean
by unstable? Hell, that could be because you used an underpowered power
supply, or got a cheapie that can't manage to put out more than 75% of
its bogus rated output, or you have added lots more drives and other
internal devices and simply loaded the power supply beyond the original
configuration for the box. Maybe you have a virus, like the one that
forces a shutdown. Maybe you installed software that is generating a
BSOD (blue screen of death). Maybe you installed a crappy device driver
or the wrong one (i.e., not for the operating system that you use).
Saying it is unstable is like going to the car shop and saying, "It's
broke." Extremely vague.
Hello,
can be these caps reason for my PC instability? Even on 1.85V is my Duron
1300 producing faults at Prime95...
http://www.volny.cz/smatt/caps/
MB is Abit KT7, VIA KT133.
Thanks
Zdenek Sojka
Zdenek Sojka said:I didn't say 'Its unstable', I exactly said 'Even on 1.85V is my Duron
1300 producing faults at Prime95...' - it is not overheating, at most
70C
(at this voltage).
The PSU is a 400W Fortron.
I think, there should be seen at
http://www.volny.cz/smatt/caps/P3180010.JPG
how bad it is...
Well , the MB is some 7 zears old, but I have some 486 working for
over 15
years...
Zdenek Sojka
I have keyboards that can withstand severe pounding, but they don't
build them that way anymore. Used to be you couldn't flex a keyboard
but now they are flimsy. Cost cutting, bottom dollar, and consumers
going for the cheapest despite lack of quality has driven computer parts
into the bargain bin for price and quality. I like Fortron PSUs since
they usually under-rate the power output available; however, for the
variable-speed fans, they need a better provider.
Did you run it under a clean install of whatever operating system you
use that Prime95 supports, or are you running it on your production host
that has a myriad of programs, services, and other stuff running
concurrently? Could be you are running something or a suite of
processes that causes interference or conflicts.
Are you overclocking any components, like upping the clock for the
memory? Did you tweak any of the BIOS settings to the memory, or did
you configure it to use SPD (serial presence detect) to run at the
settings that the memory reports for it?
From the photos in your URL link, it is hard to tell if some of the
electrolytics are bulging on the top or if it just the angle of the
light and the reflection off their metal tops. From the photos, it
looks like some are bulging. Doesn't look like there is any leakage,
though. They do look like the green ones that I've heard about that
went bad.
It's too late to enter the class action lawsuit noted in the link in my
other post (and at http://www.abitsettlement.com/).
In the alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit newsgroup, there's a guy named
Homie who posted that he repairs these mobos with bad caps (if you're
not feely lucky or don't have the expertise to do the unsoldering and
soldering yourself although, at this point, you don't have much to
lose). Don't remember what he charges (recall it was around $25), and
you'll probably have to pay the shipping both ways.
Zdenek said:"Vanguard" <use_ReplyTo_header> píse v diskusním príspevku
news:[email protected]...
On which models?
Many of them use NMB, maybe a few Nidecs... premium fans
bested by no others. I do note that sometimes the fan speed
seems optimized more towards good cooling rather than lowest
noise, but on the other hand I have a Fortron 460W that is
among the quiestest PSU I've ever had, per "X" load on it,
as shipped/stock configuration.
On the other hand, some models have Yate Loon fans- low end
crap with so-so sleeve bearing.
On the Aurora model which uses a fan that I only remember had a brand
name starting with "Y" (maybe Y S Tech although I thought it was a
one-word brand name). In some of those models, I've had to replace the
"Y" fan in about 3 months because it started to make noise. Not super
loud like most fans when their bearings get worn or get out of balance
from wear around the pin shaft. Oiling it didn't help. It would be
loudest when cold and get quieter after it warmed up many minutes later.
It was loud enough in a very quiet office to be irritating even when
setting the potentiometer for a fan speed at its slowest setting (the
PSU will still up the speed based on temperature beyond what user sets
using the pot). I believe they discontinued the FSP350-60PN Aurora
model because of problems with the potentiometer and the PCB to which it
connects.
You can see a pic of its guts at
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article106-page2.html. It shows a clear
fan but mine was opaque black (and no blue LED, either, as I couldn't
give a gnat's fart about a blue hue inside my opaque case). I haven't
had a problem with the units with the clear fans (2 of them), only with
the ones that had the black fans (3 of them). It was easy enough to
open the PSU to replace the 120mm fan (but I recall having to watch its
thickness to make sure it was skinny enough to fit).
Yeah, that was the brand. Yates Loon. I don't know about the quality
of that brand because I never buy that brand. It seemed a bit chintzy
in quality to be used in a Fortron PSU.
After replacing the Yates Loon fans in the Fortrons, the hosts got real
quiet. Now the big noisemaker is the fan in the 2kVA 120-pound monster
UPS on the floor. I tried replacing it but being an 8cm 24-volt fan
limits my choices. I got a replacement thinking it would be quieter but
it was an industrial-grade fan and made just as much noise. Oh well,
it's a new fan so I don't have to worry about it for awhile (and I
replaced the batteries about a year ago so the UPS should work okay for
a few years more without repair). Unfortunately, it was only a 2-lead
fan (the old one was a 3-lead so it had RPM sense) and I had to disable
the fan speed alarm in the UPS.
Know of any good sources for 24 volt (that's 24-volt, not 12 or 5 volt)
8cm fans that are also quiet? Panasonic has their 24-volt Panaflow
FBA08A24L1A with hydrowave bearing rated at 21 dBA but I could find
anyone selling it (that I trust for online purchases).
UPDATE: While writing this, I just found the Panaflow FBA08A24L1A at
digikey.com for $8.25.
Don't know why I didn't look there before. Sure
beats the $25 that I paid for the industrial quality but noisy
replacement that I used before. I just can't tell, however, if this is
a 3-wire fan from its specs (at
http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/appliance/pdf/fba08a.pdf) which say
the third wire is optional.
LOL, we must be thinking on the same wavelength today...
I'd mentioned the Panaflo before reading the whole post and
then went to Digikey before seeing what you wrote.
Well for the benefit of others I'll link it while on my
clipboard,
http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?PName?Name=P9739-ND
I don't think it does have the 3rd lead but i could be
wrong. Even so, if it has RPM lead but you need rotor lock
then there's another variable too. Rotor lock does seem to
be more common feature on 24V fans and equipment that only
needs to know if fan stops, not it's actual RPM... but for
your purpose I wouldn't hazzard a guess.
I would suspect that the UPS wants a 24-volt 80cm fan that uses rotor
lock instead of RPM. This UPS doesn't show the fan's RPM when using its
front LED panel and there is no RPM metering shown in the NT service and
control panel applet for the UPS. The spec for the Panasonic Panaflow
says, "Optional third lead wire signal (Locked rotor alarm sensor,
2PPR)" so it looks like it should work - if the fan actually includes
the "optional" feature. The photo in the PDF doc shows a 3-pin header
yet the dimensions diagram shows a 2-wire pair pre-attached to the
housing. So I'll probably have to call them to ensure they give me the
3-wire version (so it has the rotor lock sense).