:weighs the choices:
One hand:
Old HP Vectra VL400 PC originally purchased early 2000? (“Designed for Windows 98!”)
Other hand:
Tower that RabidMonkey has laying around. Or for that matter, ANYTHING that RabidMonkey has to give me.
yeah, I will happily take ANYthing that Monkey has to offer!
RabidMonkey is my new bestest friend!
It probably wasn’t your power supply that did it, Catz. Motherboards draw the amount of power they need from the PSU on demand as they need it, it doesn’t get force-fed to the motherboard by the PSU. So you didn’t fry your computer just by putting a beefier power supply in it.
What really happened is that Foxconn, your motherboard’s manufacturer, bought electrolytic capacitors from the lowest bidder. When you use cheap capacitors to filter the incoming power in modern power-hungry computers for long periods of time, they begin to heat up. After a while, that beat builds up to the point where the electrolyte solution inside the capacitors actually begins to boil. That causes the insides of the cap to expand and the top to bulge, eventually to rupture. Once the top ruptures, the electrolyte will boil off and you’ll be left with a dead capacitor, resulting ultimately in a dead computer because power is no longer passing through that component to the rest of the circuit.
Besides the bulging, want to know how you can tell if you have crappy capacitors on your motherboard? Read the brand name. Every bulging cap I’ve ever seen has had the brand name “CapXon” on it. In fact, I noticed yesterday while I was dusting out my computer that one of my motherboard’s capacitors is starting to bulge. So I got a dental mirror and a flashlight and had a closer look: yep, CapXon.
Looks like I get to buy a new motherboard myself before the year is out. :fffuuu: Probably what I’ll really do is try to replace the bad cap first, then buy a new mobo if that doesn’t work out.
Back on topic:
No, it is possible to replace your exact motherboard. It’s just that even the least expensive replacement is probably going to be prohibitively expensive for you.
Incidentally, this crappy capacitor phenomenon is so ridiculously common in computer hardware that many motherboard manufacturers are now using “High quality capacitors!” as a selling point for their higher-end products (like this one). Crappy capacitors are also the culprit behind dead LCD monitors 90% of the time, and I’ve salvaged quite a few of those (including my own) just by replacing those caps with higher quality ones.
Listen to this man, he speaks the truth.
You mean… you mean you can actually replace those cute little pop cans? Dare I hope my problem is so easily solved?
Again, you are talking to a hardware NOOB so speak slowly.
It’s possible, but difficult to do on motherboards due to their complexity. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper to replace a few $3 cap cans than to buy a whole new motherboard, that’s for sure. The motherboard is already dead, right? So what have you got to lose by trying?
What you need is a soldering iron, solder, some de-soldering braid, replacement capacitors, and the basic knowledge about electronics and soldering that it takes to do the actual work. Sounds like a job for your IT-savvy next door neighbor, but not for Catz.
That is EXACTLY what happened to my last computer. We managed to save the harddrive without a problem, but the capacitors were bulgy, just like you said.
But seriously Catz, put up an amazon or paypall or whatever-company-does-it donation link in your signature. You’ll probably get a little help. Aiding a needy (in a not-bad way) dev of BM would make so many of these forum-goers epeen feel bigger than ever before. Kinda gross, but probably true.
I honestly WOULD have sent you my old computer (complete with lower-end-of-the-high-end video card and all that jazz) had this happened like… four months ago. All it needed was a new harddrive cuz mine exploded (or something, I walked away from it and when I came back my computer was speaking, so I restarted it, and it never restarted). A new hard-drive fixed that thing up and I gave it to my sis. Who would NEVER give it up now, lol…
EDIT: Man, I didn’t know you could replace them. If I had known that, I probably could have saved the entire setup rather than just the videocard… I love soldering! If you happen to be in the Western-end-of-NY area, I’d help, lol.
She’s in Colorado, man. I’d help her myself, but Anchorage Alaska is just about as far away from her as you are lol!
Stupid Colarado being so far away from either of us.
I would have to illegally sneak that shit across the border but I live kinda close…
Anyway don’t bother trying to replace the capacitors, they might not be the only components damaged.
Rabid Monkey is only 5 miles from me and he is coming thru for me!
Glad to hear it, Catz! Sorry we couldn’t be more help. 
Great news. Nice to know that things are gonna be resolved.
oh you have no idea how happy ya’ll have made me. Knowing everyone was willing to offer advise, help, components and whatnot; it does my heart a load of happiness!
Well, if Rabid doesn’t work out, I have an old P4 lying here… the only thing you got to do is switch the harddrives (and preferably pay the send costs, since I too am a bit broke)… 
I’m glad that things seems to be on a good way. I’m so upset that I’m so far from you and can’t help locally 
Anyway I can send you C2D E6600 and 1GB Corsair 1066 RAM. I have Commando motherboard too, but it’s killed three of RAM modules (same situation after computer started-black screen and nothing at all) and its working stable only with one module inserted now. I’ve upgraded whole PC so I can send that components with 36GB Raptor HDD. I will be very happy if I can help in any way. Just PM me ;o)
All is well with the world! I am staring at my newer tower from RM and waiting with anticipation for my IT tech neighbor to get home. =-)
He kindly left the video card in their too. Which is better tho?
GeForce 7900 GS DDR3 256MB PCI-E
Radeon ATI X1600 Pro 512M PCI-E
The Radeon is probably the better card, though it’s a very close comparison. The GeForce has Nvidia PhysX support, while the Radeon is slightly faster and has twice the memory. If you have two PCIe slots in that machine, I would put both in and just use the GeForce as a dedicated PhysX card. If not, then I’d probably go with the Radeon.
That particular series of GeForce doesn’t have CUDA or PhysX support; it’s the 8xxx series and later, just to correct taylor-madeak.
The 7900GS is the higher-end card and also more powerful.
I stand corrected, I thought the GF7 series had CUDA as well. Could’ve sworn my 7950 GT had PhysX support, but maybe my memory is faulty…
Anyway, which of those two cards is pretty much open to speculation. The GF7900GS has the better GPU (even a GF7600 outperforms the x1600, so a GF7900 is definitely better) and DDR3 VRAM, but the ATI has twice the video RAM even if it isn’t DDR3. That could make enough of a difference to make a benchmark necessary to tell which one is better.
Of course, I’m a nVidia fan, so I’m really just trying not to be biased against the ATI card out the gate. In this situation, I would carefully inspect both cards for defects and dust buildup, and especially for fan functionality. It won’t do you any good to use that higher end card if the fan is seized up and doesn’t spin under power!
I’m biased but I used to have a GeForce 7900 GS (until just recently) and it was a fantastic card 
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