Actually yeah, if you need a board I have an MSI that's still good. Has a nice copper ThermalTake cooler, Socket A, XP 2100+ Thoroughbred-B CPU, 1GB of PC-2700. You'd need a video card, but it has onboard 100mbit LAN (VIA Rhine) and AC '97 sound. KT400A/VT8235 chipset IIRC, everything works under Linux at least. Be something to play with if your repair doesn't go well *shrug* Let me know. I probably have a VIA chip based SATA card if you needed one, too.

-Frank

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Clyde C Cottingham" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 9:27 PM
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [mhvlug] Power supply? Capacitor repair?

Answers are:
Yes, yes, yes, & maybe.
What processor[s] are/is in the mb.
What form factor is the mb.
I have a ton of mbs/boxes around here that I would be happy to give away though rather primitive.
clyde
----- Original Message ----- From: Adam
 To: [email protected]
 Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 8:21 PM
 Subject: [mhvlug] Power supply? Capacitor repair?


 Hi again, everybody.  I'm still working on my "second computer" project,
 as a spare time minimal cost fun thing, to try out four different
 distros without affecting my main computer.  A few days ago I gave it a
 mild stress test, and when I woke up it had powered down and there was
 the familiar smell of Magic Smoke.  Pressing the power button again
 caused the power LED to flash amber and then it would shut down again,
 with the smell of smoke again.  After that, pressing the power button
 would do nothing until several hours had gone by, then pressing the
 power LED would flash amber again, and the whole cycle would repeat.  My
 guess was a power supply problem, so the next day I /carefully/ took
 apart the old power supply but didn't see any major damage inside,
 except for one possibly burned out coil.

 I bought a new power supply and installed it today, but it's the same.
 When I press the power button, the power LED flashes amber and then it
 shuts down.  Pressing the power button has no result until several hours
 later, when pressing it makes the power LED flash amber, then it shuts
 down, and the pattern continues.

 This model of motherboard is known for having capacitor problems, so I
 then looked at the motherboard more closely and discovered that two
 adjacent electrolytic capacitors on it were bulging a little on top.
 IIRC they're all supposed to be flat on top, like all the other
 electrolytics there.

 So my questions are: Could the problem be those two slightly bulging
 capacitors?  If so, would I probably be able to replace them with just
 an ordinary soldering iron?  Could I try to reassemble the original
 power supply and return the new one for a refund, or is that something
 for experts only?

 As mentioned, this is a minimal cost "fun" project, and already way over
 its limited budget.  If it meant buying a new motherboard, I'd just
 scrap it for parts instead, and put my money toward a new primary
 system.  Thanks /very/ much in advance for any advice or suggestions on
 this!

 Adam

 _______________________________________________
 Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group                  http://mhvlug.org
 http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug
 Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm)                         MHVLS Auditorium
   Jul 1 - Linux High Performance Computing
   Aug 5 - TBD
   Sept 2 - Linux and HDTV
_______________________________________________
Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group                  http://mhvlug.org
http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug
Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm)                         MHVLS Auditorium
 Jul 1 - Linux High Performance Computing
 Aug 5 - TBD
 Sept 2 - Linux and HDTV

_______________________________________________
Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group                  http://mhvlug.org
http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug
Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm)                         MHVLS Auditorium
 Jul 1 - Linux High Performance Computing
 Aug 5 - TBD
 Sept 2 - Linux and HDTV

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