E510 Goes Black When Desktop Comes Up

Boris wrote in
09.88:

dg1261 wrote:
In fact, it occurred to me my wife is still using a E510. Her
computer is still running fine, so I hadn't put two and two
together and didn't consider whether the E510 might be susceptible
to the bad cap problem, but I suppose some E510's could be.

That's when I decided to go take a peek inside her E510. Guess
what? She's got two bad capacitors!!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx...TJOQU4ySUFXdzA
[...]
I'll have to put it on my to-do list to pick up a pair of 820uf
electrolytics and replace them on her motherboard before they
fail completely.


I have 6 bulging, and some starting to leak, capacitors. Here's
pictures of 5 of them:

https://postimg.org/gallery/2kvyq5leo/
[...]
I've spent lots of time the last week or so on desktops/laptops
(I thought it would be a day), and I've got to get back to other
things, since the holidays are coming fast. I'm going to put
repairing this machine on the list of things to do, and will try
to get to it after the new year. I've never done solder work on
a motherboard, but I'm will to try.


I got around to replacing the two bad capacitors on my wife's E510 today.
I added a few more photos to my google drive gallery (see link above).
The final photo shows the two new, black caps in place of the original
brown caps.

For Boris' benefit, I'll detail my experience. (Sorry, Boris, but I
didn't think to take photos of the middle steps in the process.)

I used a fine tip soldering iron. The old caps were removed by applying
sideways pressure with a finger to the top of the capacitor so one leg
would start to pull out of the board when the iron melted the solder from
the bottom side. Then finger pressure was applied in the reverse
direction to start pulling out the other leg. By slowly heating alternate
pads and carefully rocking the cap back and forth like this, I was able
to walk the old cap's leads out of the board. For best results, wipe and
re-tin the iron's tip frequently while doing this. That facilitates
remelting the solder more efficiently as you go back and forth from one
pad to the other.

To install the new caps, I first trimmed the capacitor's legs/leads to
about 6mm long--short enough so they wouldn't bend easily but long enough
to be sure they'd go completely through the board. Solder still filled
the holes on the board, but from the component side I could see where the
center of the holes were, so I positioned the capacitor with the legs
against the solder-filled holes and held it in place with a finger on top
of the cap. (Fortunately, the dimensions of my replacement caps were the
same as the old caps.) Then the iron was applied to one solder pad on the
board's underside to melt the solder until I could feel the leg sink into
the solder. Then the other pad was heated until that leg starting sinking
in. A few more back and forths with the iron and the cap was fully seated
against the board. As above, re-tin frequently to remelt the solder more
quickly.

The pair of capacitors cost me $1.80 and the entire project took a little
over an hour. Most of that time involved disassembly/reassembly to get
the motherboard in and out, including repasting the CPU. Actual soldering
took about 20 mins. (I do consider myself a very experienced solderer,
though, having started by building and repairing audio amplifier circuit
boards almost 50 years ago.)

Replacing six capacitors would take longer and perhaps I work faster than
Boris, but in my case $2 and an hour's time was well worth the effort. It
would have taken much longer to transfer all my wife's programs and data
if I'd had to replace her computer.

On Tuesday, December 27, 2016 at 2:25:51 AM UTC-5, dg1261 wrote:
Boris wrote in
09.88:

dg1261 wrote:
In fact, it occurred to me my wife is still using a E510. Her
computer is still running fine, so I hadn't put two and two
together and didn't consider whether the E510 might be susceptible
to the bad cap problem, but I suppose some E510's could be.

That's when I decided to go take a peek inside her E510. Guess
what? She's got two bad capacitors!!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx...TJOQU4ySUFXdzA
[...]
I'll have to put it on my to-do list to pick up a pair of 820uf
electrolytics and replace them on her motherboard before they
fail completely.


I have 6 bulging, and some starting to leak, capacitors. Here's
pictures of 5 of them:

https://postimg.org/gallery/2kvyq5leo/
[...]
I've spent lots of time the last week or so on desktops/laptops
(I thought it would be a day), and I've got to get back to other
things, since the holidays are coming fast. I'm going to put
repairing this machine on the list of things to do, and will try
to get to it after the new year. I've never done solder work on
a motherboard, but I'm will to try.


I got around to replacing the two bad capacitors on my wife's E510 today.
I added a few more photos to my google drive gallery (see link above).
The final photo shows the two new, black caps in place of the original
brown caps.

For Boris' benefit, I'll detail my experience. (Sorry, Boris, but I
didn't think to take photos of the middle steps in the process.)

I used a fine tip soldering iron. The old caps were removed by applying
sideways pressure with a finger to the top of the capacitor so one leg
would start to pull out of the board when the iron melted the solder from
the bottom side. Then finger pressure was applied in the reverse
direction to start pulling out the other leg. By slowly heating alternate
pads and carefully rocking the cap back and forth like this, I was able
to walk the old cap's leads out of the board. For best results, wipe and
re-tin the iron's tip frequently while doing this. That facilitates
remelting the solder more efficiently as you go back and forth from one
pad to the other.

To install the new caps, I first trimmed the capacitor's legs/leads to
about 6mm long--short enough so they wouldn't bend easily but long enough
to be sure they'd go completely through the board. Solder still filled
the holes on the board, but from the component side I could see where the
center of the holes were, so I positioned the capacitor with the legs
against the solder-filled holes and held it in place with a finger on top
of the cap. (Fortunately, the dimensions of my replacement caps were the
same as the old caps.) Then the iron was applied to one solder pad on the
board's underside to melt the solder until I could feel the leg sink into
the solder. Then the other pad was heated until that leg starting sinking
in. A few more back and forths with the iron and the cap was fully seated
against the board. As above, re-tin frequently to remelt the solder more
quickly.

The pair of capacitors cost me $1.80 and the entire project took a little
over an hour. Most of that time involved disassembly/reassembly to get
the motherboard in and out, including repasting the CPU. Actual soldering
took about 20 mins. (I do consider myself a very experienced solderer,
though, having started by building and repairing audio amplifier circuit
boards almost 50 years ago.)

Replacing six capacitors would take longer and perhaps I work faster than
Boris, but in my case $2 and an hour's time was well worth the effort. It
would have taken much longer to transfer all my wife's programs and data
if I'd had to replace her computer.

You are clearly a glutton for punishment. Working E310s are a dime a dozen.. Given the work needed to remove the motherboard (I've scrapped a lot of the older Dell systems with BTX motherboards), the soldering job, and getting it all back together again has to be considered a labor of love. And there is always the possibility of other invisible damage to the motherboard in addition to the caps, at which point the time to tear apart, solder, and put together would be a loss... Ben Myers

Ben Myers wrote in
:

You are clearly a glutton for punishment.


Well, considering it took me less time than it would have to acquire a
replacement machine and transfer all her data and special programs, I would
have to disagree.

dg1261 wrote in
. 209.88:

Boris wrote in
09.88:

dg1261 wrote:
In fact, it occurred to me my wife is still using a E510. Her
computer is still running fine, so I hadn't put two and two
together and didn't consider whether the E510 might be susceptible
to the bad cap problem, but I suppose some E510's could be.

That's when I decided to go take a peek inside her E510. Guess
what? She's got two bad capacitors!!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx...TJOQU4ySUFXdzA
[...]
I'll have to put it on my to-do list to pick up a pair of 820uf
electrolytics and replace them on her motherboard before they
fail completely.


I have 6 bulging, and some starting to leak, capacitors. Here's
pictures of 5 of them:

https://postimg.org/gallery/2kvyq5leo/
[...]
I've spent lots of time the last week or so on desktops/laptops
(I thought it would be a day), and I've got to get back to other
things, since the holidays are coming fast. I'm going to put
repairing this machine on the list of things to do, and will try
to get to it after the new year. I've never done solder work on
a motherboard, but I'm will to try.


I got around to replacing the two bad capacitors on my wife's E510
today. I added a few more photos to my google drive gallery (see link
above). The final photo shows the two new, black caps in place of the
original brown caps.

For Boris' benefit, I'll detail my experience. (Sorry, Boris, but I
didn't think to take photos of the middle steps in the process.)

I used a fine tip soldering iron. The old caps were removed by
applying sideways pressure with a finger to the top of the capacitor
so one leg would start to pull out of the board when the iron melted
the solder from the bottom side. Then finger pressure was applied in
the reverse direction to start pulling out the other leg. By slowly
heating alternate pads and carefully rocking the cap back and forth
like this, I was able to walk the old cap's leads out of the board.
For best results, wipe and re-tin the iron's tip frequently while
doing this. That facilitates remelting the solder more efficiently as
you go back and forth from one pad to the other.

To install the new caps, I first trimmed the capacitor's legs/leads to
about 6mm long--short enough so they wouldn't bend easily but long
enough to be sure they'd go completely through the board. Solder still
filled the holes on the board, but from the component side I could see
where the center of the holes were, so I positioned the capacitor with
the legs against the solder-filled holes and held it in place with a
finger on top of the cap. (Fortunately, the dimensions of my
replacement caps were the same as the old caps.) Then the iron was
applied to one solder pad on the board's underside to melt the solder
until I could feel the leg sink into the solder. Then the other pad
was heated until that leg starting sinking in. A few more back and
forths with the iron and the cap was fully seated against the board.
As above, re-tin frequently to remelt the solder more quickly.

The pair of capacitors cost me $1.80 and the entire project took a
little over an hour. Most of that time involved disassembly/reassembly
to get the motherboard in and out, including repasting the CPU. Actual
soldering took about 20 mins. (I do consider myself a very experienced
solderer, though, having started by building and repairing audio
amplifier circuit boards almost 50 years ago.)

Replacing six capacitors would take longer and perhaps I work faster
than Boris, but in my case $2 and an hour's time was well worth the
effort. It would have taken much longer to transfer all my wife's
programs and data if I'd had to replace her computer.



Wow. You are to be commended!

On Wednesday, December 28, 2016 at 12:34:26 AM UTC-5, dg1261 wrote:
Ben Myers wrote in
:

You are clearly a glutton for punishment.


Well, considering it took me less time than it would have to acquire a
replacement machine and transfer all her data and special programs, I would
have to disagree.

Well, if the E310 goes belly up again, get another E310, remove the hard drive from the dead one, put in in the live one, make sure the replacement has at least as much memory (move memory from the old one), and off you go. Total time to replace: 5 minutes or less. The time would be spent, instead, finding and acquiring a living and breathing E310... Ben

Ben Myers wrote in
:

On Wednesday, December 28, 2016 at 12:34:26 AM UTC-5, dg1261 wrote:
Ben Myers wrote in
:

You are clearly a glutton for punishment.


Well, considering it took me less time than it would have to acquire
a replacement machine and transfer all her data and special programs,
I wou
ld
have to disagree.

Well, if the E310 goes belly up again, get another E310, remove the
hard drive from the dead one, put in in the live one, make sure the
replacement has at least as much memory (move memory from the old
one), and off you go. Total time to replace: 5 minutes or less. The
time would be spent, instead, finding and acquiring a living and
breathing E310... Ben



FTR, it's an E510 rather than an E310. Nonetheless ...

The fact is I already have one that's living and breathing, so why should
I waste my time finding and acquiring another one? And who's to say
whatever replacement I find wouldn't arrive with defective capacitors?
After all, mine was working fine despite the bad caps.

No, if I'm going to replace this E510, it will be with something a little
more modern. And that would involve a greater investment of time to get
it setup and running the way she needs.

Until then, I'll keep this one going with a minimum of cost and time. For
me, replacing the bad caps wasn't difficult and was the easier and less
time-consuming route.

I now have a living, breathing E510 that I know has no bad caps. There
would be no assurance of that if I traded it, sight unseen, for somebody
else's E510.