I broke a cap off =[

U

u8myrice

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
2,155
I was trying to put on an aftermarket heatsink for my 9800SE so I can softmod it to 9800PRO. I accidentally broke a cap on the left side off. I tried to solder it together, but I dont have a tip small enough to do a fine job.

Will my card work without this cap?
Is there someone who can solder this back for me for a small fee?


 
same thing happened with my x850xt and I ended up selling it to Talonz. He got it working, but I believe it took some tricky solder work.
 
-(Xyphox)- said:
ouch, if you cant get it to work i have a 9800 256 Pro 256mg for sale, ;)
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Yea, at this point with a 9800 ANYTHING, its time to look at getting a new card. You are 3 generations behind and even with the 9800 still being an OK card, it is going to start really showing its age in the next little while.
 
lloose said:
Yea, at this point with a 9800 ANYTHING, its time to look at getting a new card. You are 3 generations behind and even with the 9800 still being an OK card, it is going to start really showing its age in the next little while.
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yeah, you can mod this card, unlock the extra pipelines and with a nice cooler can play oblivion just fine, had a intern do it to his card. Mine has never been overclocked
 
That's an SMD (surface-mount) electolytic cap. Breaking it off the base meant that you most probably damaged the inside beyond repair.

That capacitor is pretty crucial for supplying enough stable power to your card's GPU and memory, as well as acting as a noise filter.

Your card is far from dead, though. Repair is a simple replacement procedure, you don't even need to unsolder the existing base, if you use a normal electrolytic cap.

You need to find an equivalent capacitor (polar electrolytic of the correct uF rating) and solder it back on, taking care to orient it in the correct polarity.

I'd do it for ya but I'm in South Africa, unfortunately.

Anybody?
 
Damnit. If some1 can do it for me, I'll pay ya a small fee. I'm kinda broke at the moment.

And It's not that I'm behind on technology. I'm just waiting for Conroe, DX10 and Vista. This was my old card, and I was hoping it would hold me off until then.

Someone help me!!!
 
u8myrice said:
Damnit. If some1 can do it for me, I'll pay ya a small fee. I'm kinda broke at the moment.

And It's not that I'm behind on technology. I'm just waiting for Conroe, DX10 and Vista. This was my old card, and I was hoping it would hold me off until then.

Someone help me!!!
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Take it to any electronics repair place and for less than $20 you can get it done there.
 
Thing is, I've never even heard of those stores. The only thing remotely close to what you're talking about is Best Buy, and they don't quite fix these kinda things.
 
look in the yellow pages under tv repair or electronics. there might be a small place nearby. also, if you have a local pc shop, someone there might be able to do it.

if you are not much of a solder person, try this.solder about 3cm of light guage wire to each leg of the capacitor. only strip back about 3 or 4 mm of wire. this cap is polarized. you will have to find out how it is oriented, it might be printed on the pc board. if not google image a pic of that card and check it out. before soldering on the first leg, mask off the pad you will not be using with electrical tape. when you solder this leg, remove the masking and carefully mask off the completed leg before soldering. make sure that it is in a position where it wont intefere with other components, or get caught on something, and gently wrap it all with masking tape.
quick and dirty, but should last for a little while if you can keep from screwing around with it.
 
I tried that just now, and I can't get my solder's tip close enough to make the solder points. The tip is too big. It's not pointy or fine enough.

I guess I'll try a local repair shop, unless someone here has a fine-tip soldering iron and wants to help me out.
 
I'll do it for the cost of return shipping and $5 in the box.

Shoot me a PM, heat under diredesire if you're worried about getting scammed.

I can't guarantee the original cap will be re-attached, but i'll put an equivalent cap on. I've got a dead Ti.4200, which probably has a similar cap. You seem to have broke off the legs, which would prove extremely difficult to get the original back on.

-DD
 
diredesire said:
I'll do it for the cost of return shipping and $5 in the box.

Shoot me a PM, heat under diredesire if you're worried about getting scammed.

I can't guarantee the original cap will be re-attached, but i'll put an equivalent cap on. I've got a dead Ti.4200, which probably has a similar cap. You seem to have broke off the legs, which would prove extremely difficult to get the original back on.

-DD
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You are really nice :) I guarantee that best buy would have charged 20 bucks if the geek squad were remotely competent. I think they charge $15 for a video card installation?
 
Monkey_feces said:
You are really nice :) I guarantee that best buy would have charged 20 bucks if the geek squad were remotely competent. I think they charge $15 for a video card installation?
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Geeks Squad... *snickers*
 
Monkey_feces said:
You are really nice :) I guarantee that best buy would have charged 20 bucks if the geek squad were remotely competent. I think they charge $15 for a video card installation?
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Heh, probably. They charge what people will pay, so no hate on them. I do a bit of DIY electronics as a hobby, so it won't be horrible. That job should take about a minute if i have to salvage a cap from another card.

:D

-DD
 
diredesire said:
Heh, probably. They charge what people will pay, so no hate on them. I do a bit of DIY electronics as a hobby, so it won't be horrible. That job should take about a minute if i have to salvage a cap from another card.

:D

-DD
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I envy you. Whenever I try to do a DIY project that involves anything sharp or hot, I burn or cut myself(and sometimes after I cut myself, I burn myself). What can I say, I'm a product of the American Public school system like most of the best buy geek squad.
Edit: I didn't really go to public school, I'm just clumsy.
 
Tzzird said:
Geeks Squad... *snickers*
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That was the first place I stopped when I broke mine off.. they wanted at least $100 plus a "service fee".. I was like what the fuck?? Service fee? You going to service me with a blowjob or something, cuz your sister charges less and is a little better looking than you.. I was escorted out. :cool:
 
I used to work at Geek Squad. Me and my co-worker called it the "Weak Squad".

It's basically a hell hole. Glad I got out of that place.
 
Man thats sucks.. i remeber back when i just got my 6600gt from newegg. while removing it from my computer unpluging a HD molex connector. my hand flung back with force hitting the card and ripping one of the capacitors off also. i popped it back on. and everything worked flawlessly for 6 months till i sold the card.
 
740-2005-09-04-1125816650-med.jpg


Join the club.
 
FiestaMan said:
That's an SMD (surface-mount) electolytic cap. Breaking it off the base meant that you most probably damaged the inside beyond repair.

That capacitor is pretty crucial for supplying enough stable power to your card's GPU and memory, as well as acting as a noise filter.

Your card is far from dead, though. Repair is a simple replacement procedure, you don't even need to unsolder the existing base, if you use a normal electrolytic cap.

You need to find an equivalent capacitor (polar electrolytic of the correct uF rating) and solder it back on, taking care to orient it in the correct polarity.

I'd do it for ya but I'm in South Africa, unfortunately.

Anybody?
Click to expand...
wow - good info.

diredesire said:
I'll do it for the cost of return shipping and $5 in the box.

Shoot me a PM, heat under diredesire if you're worried about getting scammed.

I can't guarantee the original cap will be re-attached, but i'll put an equivalent cap on. I've got a dead Ti.4200, which probably has a similar cap. You seem to have broke off the legs, which would prove extremely difficult to get the original back on.

-DD
Click to expand...
yay for good samaritan gesture.

+1
 
lloose said:
That was the first place I stopped when I broke mine off.. they wanted at least $100 plus a "service fee".. I was like what the fuck?? Service fee? You going to service me with a blowjob or something, cuz your sister charges less and is a little better looking than you.. I was escorted out. :cool:
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Wow, you have brass balls. Did you get sued?
 
u8myrice said:
I was trying to put on an aftermarket heatsink for my 9800SE so I can softmod it to 9800PRO. I accidentally broke a cap on the left side off. I tried to solder it together, but I dont have a tip small enough to do a fine job.

Will my card work without this cap?
Is there someone who can solder this back for me for a small fee?


Click to expand...

There are people who can repair it, I believe i could if I knew what kind of cap it was, it'd be ghetto looking but it'd work :p.
 
If you don't end up shipping it to whoever said they would do it as others have said try like a tv or stero repair shop. One of the smaller ones. You could prob get them to do it on the cheap if they have a replacement cap they can drop on. With a new cap that is an easy job.
 
Monkey_feces said:
You are really nice :) I guarantee that best buy would have charged 20 bucks if the geek squad were remotely competent. I think they charge $15 for a video card installation?
Click to expand...

$15? Try $40! It's rediculous what they get away with charging.
 
Monkey_feces said:
That is corporate robbery. How can someone make a $40 profit just by inserting tab A into slot B?
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Think about it this way. Hourly rates for repair are 65 to 90 bucks an hour or so in most places. You have to verify the system works(at least boots up), turn it back off, take it apart(some cases can be a bitch but most are very easy), remove old card and install new one, put the case back together, boot/load drivers, quick check to make sure it works. They are figuring about a 1/2 hour job. Which is about right. Since they have to stand behind the work they do somewhat and with everything elce 40 is not unreasonable.

The thing is best buy would only replace the card, they are not going to solder shit.
 
Geek Squad charging $40 for installing a video card is crazy to us, but the average consumer does not know what to do and therefore has to have someone else do it for them.

I've heard a joke/story that holds true to most professions.

A companies network printer stops working. They call the repair man and he comes out to look at it. He looks over the copier and notices that a screw is missing. He goes into his toolbox and puts a new screw in. He then charges the company $200. One of the employees of the company looks at the bill and says "All you did is replace a screw and it's $200!?!?" The repair man says "It's 10 cents for the screw and $199.90 for knowing where to put the screw."

It's all about knowing what to do. Thats what you are charging people most of the time.
 
SWMeierkord said:
Geek Squad charging $40 for installing a video card is crazy to us, but the average consumer does not know what to do and therefore has to have someone else do it for them.

I've heard a joke/story that holds true to most professions.

A companies network printer stops working. They call the repair man and he comes out to look at it. He looks over the copier and notices that a screw is missing. He goes into his toolbox and puts a new screw in. He then charges the company $200. One of the employees of the company looks at the bill and says "All you did is replace a screw and it's $200!?!?" The repair man says "It's 10 cents for the screw and $199.90 for knowing where to put the screw."

It's all about knowing what to do. Thats what you are charging people most of the time.
Click to expand...

Thats the truth, many stories like that out there
 
SWMeierkord said:
Geek Squad charging $40 for installing a video card is crazy to us, but the average consumer does not know what to do and therefore has to have someone else do it for them.

I've heard a joke/story that holds true to most professions.

A companies network printer stops working. They call the repair man and he comes out to look at it. He looks over the copier and notices that a screw is missing. He goes into his toolbox and puts a new screw in. He then charges the company $200. One of the employees of the company looks at the bill and says "All you did is replace a screw and it's $200!?!?" The repair man says "It's 10 cents for the screw and $199.90 for knowing where to put the screw."

It's all about knowing what to do. Thats what you are charging people most of the time.
Click to expand...

I did that the other day. Got a call that someone could not send email out. Went onsite(which at the consultant firm I work for is 1.5 hours min) and looked at the machine. Verizon was not letting her send out via outgoing.verizon.net or whatever it was. Set the smtp server to the company that hosts the mail for them. Was done in less then a minute.
 
Poor guy...You broke off a capacitor off your video card. It's dead now. While it may work at reduced speed I don;t advice putting that thing back into your system as it can catch fire or even short out your motherboard. Be more careful in the future. Were you adding a new fan to overclock your card or cut down on noice or both? I Wish you luck in the future. :D
 
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