Blown capacitor on mobo....need help...

[Malus]

Hey everyone, well I knew this day was coming. My girlfriends HP pavilion died yesterday, and being the great boyfriend that I am I offered to fix it for her (even though the first thing out of my mouth was, you should just buy a mac).

After turning it on and not seeing the windows screen, I knew it was either the HDD or the Mobo. Once I looked inside of it, it was indeed the mobo, having one blown cap on it. I told her that I would take it home and make sure that this was the problem and it was.

Now my question is this, is there anyway to just take that one cap off and replace it? I'm sure its possible, I'm still new to fixing motherboards. If so, how hard would it be? I know soldering would be required....


Thanks everyone!!

 

[someguy]

If you can solder, I believe it can be replaced. I wouldn't know much more than that in terms of how to go about it though.

 

[lamina]

Use a desoldering braid to leech off the solder from the bottom of the motherboard where the blown capacitor is, then remove the capacitor, and replace it with a capacitor with the same specs.

If you haven't soldered before, I'd recommend practising on an old radio. Use a low-powered soldering iron (below 45 watts), or you might destroy the board... trust me... modding xboxes teaches you a lot.

 

[CanadaRAM]

My bet would be that the OP destroys the motherboard no matter how careful they are with the soldering iron. Without expensive temperature-controlled irons and good technique, it is IMO a lost cause.

Buy the GF a Mac....

But before you touch that board, contact HP There may be an extended replacemnt programme in effect, as faulty capacitors was in issue industry wide.