My, I ask about the replacement of a capacitor on a mother board of a working computer? This capacitor is leaking a very small amount, out of 1 end. The local computer guy said no, describing, as I understand it, the small battery in the PC needs to keep the circuit power up all the time. This is a win XP Pentium 4 PC, that has software that I know well & don’t want to retrain to new software.
Does anybody have any thoughts?
From your comment about leaking from one side I assume you mean a physical leak and not an electrical leak. If it is leaking electrolyte the capacitor is most likely bad. The decision to replace it has to do with what it does and how difficult it is to replace. If it has to do with the hold-up battery circuit it might drain the battery when the power is off. The battery keeps the real-time clock and some dynamic RAM for boot up. Sometimes there is an electronic capacitor to keep the clock time long enough to replace the battery.
@frogman, many, many thanks, and yes originally jell-like, now looks crusty tan, the can is swelled up, has not split the “X” built in the top, this capacitor is about 7/16″ diameter. Very close (1/2″) to where the power supply connects to the mother board, if a fix is possible or need a picture I will upload & supply a link. The battery was replaced 9-22, has been unplugged from 110 power for a few months. Is there hope? If it powers up, I plan to save all the important files, unless too late.
Your suggestions are warmly welcomed, many thanks.
@novice01 If you can’t get the computer to work pull the hard drive and get a USB to IDE and or SATA adapter. Then you can transfer the files through another computers USB port.
The adapter runs around $20 US. Here is what it looks like https://imgpile.com/p/iAZ5veP
@rs-electron, many thanks, that adapter looks very promising, I will read up on! As noted in my screen name, (novice) I am relucent to move forward with anything other that seeing if it will power up to transfer the files I plan to save. If there is a good chance to save the software (the one CAD program, specifically) should I order the replacement part 1st, so the mother board is w/o power for the shortest period of time?
Many thanks, suggestions warmly welcomed.
Rs Electron, thank you! Over the weekend I ordered an adapter like you suggested, this should arrive the 24th. In the meantime, my plan is to get the capacitor ordered, so some disassembly will be required so I can see the number to order by. I will study to see if the motherboard will move enough so few cables will need to be disconnected.
Many thanks.
@novice01 You really don’t need to worry about that battery on the motherboard. It’s just there to preserve the clock setting and possibly some volatile memory. It won’t affect your installed operating system or any of the software on disk. Worst case you’ll have to reset the clock again.
Additionally, the backup battery should not be affected by any electrolytic caps anyway. Caps of that type are used for bulk filtering of the main supply to the board (5 or 12 volts likely), replacing it shouldn’t be a problem as the battery is in a different circuit. In most cases for computers (especially high hour) all those caps will have high ESR and slowly fade away into nothing and generally swell like that. If it were to be used regularly, it would really benefit to replace them all even without seeing physical leakage.
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Many thanks to all who have provided comment & or made positive suggestions. My USB to IDE and or SATA adapter, should arrive today. Thanks to John Barron, for the how to get imgpile pic to post, let’s see how I made out.
In the pic you can see the capacitor in question, the side reads: HN(M); H0510; & 105*C (the “*” = degree).
Is the part classification, the HN(M), or the H0510 part, or all of this? I have not looked for this capacitor, but I am thinking contacting mouser, unless other supplier is preferred?
This is link to pic: https://imgpile.com/p/5nScBHwhttps://imgpile.com/p/5nScBHw
Many thanks, all suggestions welcomed.
@ovi4, thanks. What numbers do I use to find a new capacitor? My apologies to John Barron, obviously I was not successful when I uploaded the pic. Many thanks!
@novice01 ant what (capacitance) value > Well is best to fit a like for like capactior but it doesn’t have to be the same make. Tip: If you cannot see the value and the voltage rating because of iother things in the way is best to desolder it of the board (first) but take notes of the polarity direction first. Or tke many pictures from various angles to make sure you’re not going to fit the new one in reverse (by mistake). Then have a look at the capacitance value (it should be in the order of microfarads) and see the voltage rating. When choosing the new cap. keep the voltage rating the same or higher. As for the temp. rating keep it the same too (105 degrees celsius). As for where to purchase it from…is best to go with the big known suppliers.
@ovi4, thanks! Yes, after looking closer, I see the 100 microfarad & 10 volt markings in addition to, HN(M); H0510; & 105*C. I plan to order just this 1, the rest of the caps all look very good. I think the bad 1 was manufactured, imperfect.
Many thanks, I will keep posted when I get confirmation of delivery.