I think a silver capacitor came off my old GF4 Ti4200 video card!

[ant]

Hello!

I was removing my old dusty Leadtek GeForce 4 Ti4200 video card out of my computer case. I heard and saw something fell off.

I looked at the piece and it looked like a silver capacitor with its black base part came off. Under the black base part were two circular recentangle shapes (conduction?). It doesn't look busted or anything. I think it just needs to be reglued(?)/resoldered(?) back on to the board. Or can I use the card without this piece?

The top said label said:
2 6
1000
6 A

I believe I found where it came from on the video card because there was an empty spot with the same two circular recentangle shapes. Also, I noticed some old glue (dark orange/brownish color) on them too. Next to it has a label: C2302.

I wonder this is what caused that one incident for my Linux lose video signal one time a few months ago (almost like my XFX card incidents). See http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=70516 (GF4 Ti4200) and http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72859 (XFX GeForce 6800) for details. I assume heat caused this to occur because my room is always hot (can be up to 90F degrees!).


Is it safe to reuse this video card? What do I need to put this piece back?

[CaptNKILL]

Can we get some photos? It might be repairable, but its also likely that it isnt. If the capacitor is damaged, you might as well forget about it. Seeing how they dont just "fall off" its probably damaged. They tend to pop and the casing can fall off the board.

If it did fall off in one whole piece though, I guess it could be soldered, but you should post pics here first.

[ant]

Can we get some photos? It might be repairable, but its also likely that it isnt. If the capacitor is damaged, you might as well forget about it. Seeing how they dont just "fall off" its probably damaged. They tend to pop and the casing can fall off the board.

If it did fall off in one whole piece though, I guess it could be soldered, but you should post pics here first.I don't have a digital camera. Even if I had one, I doubt I can get a good shot of it.

Now to think about it, I might have accidently knocked the capacitor down while removing the card from the motherboard. Are capacitors supposed to be easy to remove?

[ant]

Can we get some photos? It might be repairable, but its also likely that it isnt. If the capacitor is damaged, you might as well forget about it. Seeing how they dont just "fall off" its probably damaged. They tend to pop and the casing can fall off the board.

If it did fall off in one whole piece though, I guess it could be soldered, but you should post pics here first.I sort of found a photograph online: http://www.sewers.dk/Wuvidia/index-filer/WuVidia_CAPACITOR.jpg (a little taller than that).

[ant]

Also, is it possible to safely use my video card without this piece?

[ant]

In http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/8651/leadtekwinfasta250lemyvivoundamagedqn5.jpg ... I circled the cap that fell off (found a photo online). http://www.earthv.com/images/073002_gf4ti4200/073002_gf4ti4200_04.jpg shows its label says 2 2, not 2 6 like mine. Odd.

It is interesting that both photographs show the top right corner color cap as black, not green like mine.

Odd. I hope that helps!

[ricercar]

Should be safe to use the card without that capacitor. When I worked at NVIDIA, the engineering samples I played with often did not have those upper-right capacitors populated. Image quality may suffer, but the card won't burn.

[ant]

Should be safe to use the card without that capacitor. When I worked at NVIDIA, the engineering samples I played with often did not have those upper-right capacitors populated. Image quality may suffer, but the card won't burn.Suffer? How much? I know my old OmniCube KVM 2-port switchbox degraded my video quality (blurrier) in Matrox G400, GF4, and GF6800. Are you saying it is worse than this?

[DataMatrix]

Bite the bullet and get a new graphics card.

7600's are pretty cheap:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.asp?CatID=15&Category=Graphics+Cards&ThumbNails=Yes&FilterKeywords=&FilterMinPrice=&FilterMaxPrice=&FilterCategories=436&OrderBy=3

Perhaps a 7300 for even cheaper:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.asp?CatID=15&Category=Graphics+Cards&ThumbNails=Yes&FilterKeywords=&FilterMinPrice=&FilterMaxPrice=&FilterCategories=30&OrderBy=3

[ant]

Bite the bullet and get a new graphics card.

7600's are pretty cheap:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.asp?CatID=15&Category=Graphics+Cards&ThumbNails=Yes&FilterKeywords=&FilterMinPrice=&FilterMaxPrice=&FilterCategories=436&OrderBy=3

Perhaps a 7300 for even cheaper:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products.asp?CatID=15&Category=Graphics+Cards&ThumbNails=Yes&FilterKeywords=&FilterMinPrice=&FilterMaxPrice=&FilterCategories=30&OrderBy=3I am probably am. Probably a GF 5200. This is for my Linux workstation, not gaming box. Man, I don't know why I am having bad lucks with my video cards failing. I have a XFX 6800 that is on its second RMA and second week, waiting. :(

[ant]

My hardware friend came over to check out my old Leadtek GF4 Ti4200 MyVIVO card. It still worked (we didn't go to Linux/Debian though) without its fallen cap. However, my friend noted some minor orange leaks and a cap buldged that I noticed earlier. I decided not to fix and keep using this card, but get a cheap GeForce FX 5200 card for basic video stuff in Linux/Debian. I didn't want to risk more problems with the video card.

[DataMatrix]

Don't buy a GeForce FX, just get a 7300, they're like £30.

[ant]

Don't buy a GeForce FX, just get a 7300, they're like £30.Too late! How much is that in U.S. dollars? I got FX for $30. I don't even see this model on newegg.com. Like I said, I don't need a fancy card for my Linux box.

[DataMatrix]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010380048+1305520548+1067920725&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=48

It will last you longer then an FX (note that those are PCI-E).

[ant]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010380048+1305520548+1067920725&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=48

It will last you longer then an FX (note that those are PCI-E).I can't use PCIE remember? ;) ALl my motherboards use AGP. I am planning to move my 6800 AGP card (hurry up, XFX!!) to this Linux box when I upgrade my gaming box's motherboard with a PCIE slot probably after Vista is released.

[Blakhart]

If the caps short out as they fail, you will lose the card.