Burned vid card resistor... :(

leSLIe

leSLIe

Fisting is Too Mainstream for Me
Joined
Oct 18, 2004
Messages
13,966
My vid card, an XFX AMD Radeon HD7970 apparently died... at least one resistor blew up.

I turn on my PC and saw a little spark near the vid card (which is watercooled btw; case side panel is always open) I immediately unplugged it. Then I checked the vid card, and I didn't notice anything wrong, I end up thinking that the spark was from a 120mm fan that was right next to the vid card. So I removed the fan, boot up and everything was fine, 3 days later, my PC shutdowns and when I turn it on, I get BIOS beeps of video error.

I remove the vid card from the water loop, remove the GPU block, and check it again, then I notice a burn resistor right next to the vid card power connectors.

Can this be fixed, by just replacing the resistor?
If so, what is the OHMs of that resistor and where can I get a replace? Warranty is off btw

9LwV89q.jpg


yXAVoVG.jpg


The back of the vid card is clean
Evpq0k0.jpg


Cliffs:
-Burned vid card resistor
-Want to replace resistor, but dunno if it can be done

If you need more pics of the vid card just ask ;)
 
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A capacitor? Oh boy! And can it be replaced?
 
Jorona said:
I don't see why not, but I'd be worried about what caused it to fail. Not a typical failure point.
Click to expand...

How can I know what is the capacitance of that particular capacitor.

Well I have a Corsair TX750W, it's almost 4 years old.
 
well you would have to find another c1021 capacitor, unsolder it and measure the capacitance, ... if you have a tool for that, some multimeters do but not all,
maybe you had a water leak, had a short and it blew, there could be more damage than just this one cap, but i guess it's worth trying to save it
 
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i don't know if you ever tried to solder those before but if you haven't, i recommend you let someone with experience and the right tools to do it, because it's really easy to lift the traces when unsoldering the old parts, and possibly damage it beyond repair, if it isn't already that is
 
Vielgus-Kutas said:
i don't know if you ever tried to solder those before but if you haven't, i recommend you let someone with experience and the right tools to do it, because it's really easy to lift the traces when unsoldering the old parts, and possibly damage it beyond repair, if it isn't already that is
Click to expand...

I have done it. It's also a pain in the ass to do. the trick is to get the resistor not to move when trying to solder.

leSLIe, can you clean up the area and take a pic?

Is there a reason why the card is out of warranty? Edit: I forgot you are not in the US, guessing that's why.
 
LOCO LAPTOP said:
leSLIe, can you clean up the area and take a pic?
Click to expand...

ok

LOCO LAPTOP said:
Is there a reason why the card is out of warranty? Edit: I forgot you are not in the US, guessing that's why.
Click to expand...

Yep, over here, we have warranty but for less time than in the US.
And, there was a "void if removed" sticker on the screw of the heatsink fan that I remove to install the water block :p
 
Cleaned
2t1Gi8F.jpg


Apparently, the other two smaller resistors or capacitors are fine
hpVBGR2.jpg


The number on that capacitor (C1021) could indicate order and not necessarily a different capacitance...hmm...
 
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Are you not able to RMA it back to XFX for that? Why is the warranty off? XFX comes with double lifetime warranties...

I had a cap like that blow on my MSI 6970. I sent that back to MSI and they sent me a 7970 Lightning...
 
those are resistors, not a cap. That number correlates to a location on the pcb. It doesn't directly refer to the resistor itself
 
lavaheadache said:
those are resistors, not a cap. That number correlates to a location on the pcb. It doesn't directly refer to the resistor itself
Click to expand...


Those are more than likely capacitors. I've replaced many capacitors that look like this. Depending on the capacitance of this capacitor its more than likely under $1 to fix. The issue is to get the specs on that component. I'd contact XFX technical support and ask them for the specs on component number C1021. If you get me these specs and post back, I'll be able to point you to the right component to replace it with. Unfortunately, I don't own a 7970 and my 7950 pcbs look a bit different otherwise I'd desolder it and post back the capacitance.

The repair is pretty simple if you have solder skills.
 
Ide like to see if you fix it. I had a 9800gx2 that did the same thing and only used for 2 months. It was a folding card. Had 5 of them. I still have it and although the card is not fast anymore ide still like to see if I could repair it.
 
1/2 bent said:
Ide like to see if you fix it. I had a 9800gx2 that did the same thing and only used for 2 months. It was a folding card. Had 5 of them. I still have it and although the card is not fast anymore ide still like to see if I could repair it.
Click to expand...

I've been doing some research, and it would be fairly simple.
I'd just need the specs on that ceramic chip capacitor, some solder paste and an hot air gun

1st: desoldering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYBxA9zJybE

2nd: soldering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x6ACO7iR0A
 
if you gonna use a hot air gun then yeah, you can probably do it, dont do it with a soldering iron
 
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Vielgus-Kutas said:
if you gonna use a hot air gun then yeah, you can probably do it, dont do it with a soldering iron
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A soldering iron can easily replace that capacitor. I'd use a soldering iron over a hot air rework station for that capacitor. I'd use a 40 watt or so iron and could remove that blown capacitor and then clean the board and resolder a new one on. Would take less than 5 minutes between removal, cleaning, flux, solder, and then cleaning flux off.
 
Definitely understand the failure cause otherwise it might happen again. In some of the pics there are obvious signs of green rust from moisture.
 
mi7chy said:
Definitely understand the failure cause otherwise it might happen again. In some of the pics there are obvious signs of green rust from moisture.
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Duly noted. I live next to the sea, so that's pretty much unavoidable, the card is two-years old too, so...
Still, I'm replacing my PSU, just to be sure
 
lavaheadache said:
those are resistors, not a cap. That number correlates to a location on the pcb. It doesn't directly refer to the resistor itself
Click to expand...

I disagree, it would be prefaced with an R were it a resistor

looks to me like it may have failed short from the solder blob in the nice macro shot

can you test continuity between each end of the component and report?
 
leSLIe said:
Duly noted. I live next to the sea, so that's pretty much unavoidable, the card is two-years old too, so...
Still, I'm replacing my PSU, just to be sure
Click to expand...

More than likely, the PSU isn't the culprit nor the corrosion. Capacitors like this can blow for any reason, but in my experience it's usually do to age and usage of the component. The expected life span of a component can decrease significantly by overclocking and running more current through the capacitor due to overclocking the card.

I for one don't think its really a result of overclocking being that more capacitors like this haven't been seen blown. I'd chalk this one up to a defective capacitor.
 
JJ91284 said:
A soldering iron can easily replace that capacitor. I'd use a soldering iron over a hot air rework station for that capacitor. I'd use a 40 watt or so iron and could remove that blown capacitor and then clean the board and resolder a new one on. Would take less than 5 minutes between removal, cleaning, flux, solder, and then cleaning flux off.
Click to expand...

the soldering iron can but not someone who never soldered this kind of caps before
 
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