Knocked off capacitor!

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Spare-Flair

Supreme [H]ardness
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Apr 4, 2003
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Oh oh! My friend accidentally broke off one of the legs of a capacitor on my card when the heatsink slipped out of his hands and dropped onto the videocard so it's hanging on by one prong.

The card is still running perfectly but I have to use electrical tape to hold on that side of it to ensure contact between it and the board.

My question is, how can I go about re-attaching it? There is a rubber washer between the capacitor and the PCB. Any soldering iron would cause the rubber to melt and my iron is too thick and hot for delicate work like that anyway.

Is there some sort of cold solder or liquid solder I could use? The break is clean between the leg and the trace.

Any suggestions?

-edit-
It's now completely severed. Check the next page.
capacitor.jpg


help.gif
 
if you listen to anything people tell you ..here is some advice ...

Find someone that can do pin point soldering .. ask them to do it for you if you know jack about soldering .. also

don't overclock it until its fixed ... thats a must .. and i mean overclocking anyway ..core/memory or AGP bus .. just to be safe ..

otherwise if you know some soldering then get a pen soldering iron .. and some silver solder .. conductive flux helps too .. but its gonna be a bitch to do it without screwing up ..
 
My suggestion; same as above, find someone who can do it for you.

Otherwise...

Get a pen soldering iron. Get the smallest tip you can find(I think they come in .4mm), remove the rubber washer, get the lowest temp electronics grade flux core solder you can find, and *BE CAREFUL*. It would be wise to practice on something else first, maybe an old video card or something. Knock off a cap, solder it back on, and see if it works. If so, then move onto the big boy :p
 
clip the other prong, forget about the rubber washer, and mount the cap on the backside of the board being sure to keep the polarity correct. This way, you don't worry about the washer, and it's a bit easier to work with anyway.

OR find another cap EXACTLY the same, and replace the whole thing.
 
How about this for a simple solution (for a cheap guy like me)...

since the leg actually still contacts the board fine when the capacitor is held down... Could I just put a dab of superglue on the rubber washer and glue the whole thing down? I'm basically doing the same thing right now, holding it on with electrical tape.
 
If you intend on keeping the card, fix it right. Superglue aint gonna do it.

It may work for awhile, but the problem is still there, its still broken and the connection isn't stable. Get it fixed or fix it. It isn't that hard.
 
have your friend hold it together for you feel its time for a new card. I'm sure you can get another year out of that one right?
 
Glue won't work. If the card's too hot, the glue will just go to other places, clog other things. Solder. I have seen a person do with a metal paper clip-but its fragile.
 
there is a reason people dont use glue, some of it gets under the connection you are glueing, insulating the path and preventing contact.
 
Originally posted by emorphien
have your friend hold it together for you feel its time for a new card. I'm sure you can get another year out of that one right?
Click to expand...

Well it's a perfectly good card that I was hoping to sell pretty soon because I just bought a 9800. I want to do a good job on the repair. I don't want the recipient to have a problem with it.

Will heat affect Cyanoacylate? I really don't know anybody who could do a good job on this so if I go the solder route, I'd have to take it on myself. I suppose I could find a needle-nose soldering iron but any tips on soldering technique in order to get the solder in such a tight place?

Could I solder from the bottom in order to keep the capacitor flush with the top of the board and to protect the washer?
 
I would replace it outright. A repair of that cap will only ensure it will break again. And make sure you put the thing on the correct side of the board (whoever told you to put the cap on the other side does not know what he's talking about) and please triple check the polarity (unless you like getting shot with a cap as those things explode when hooked up backwards).
 
I have the exact same MSI Ti4200 in my other rig... and I fail to comprehend HOW your friend coulda done that man... I believe MSI make the most well made Nvidia chipset video cards.

oh well, good luck in getting it fixed.
 
You'll be surprised to be informed that super glue is a conductor. Yes, even after it dries.
 
Originally posted by M4d-K10wN
You'll be surprised to be informed that super glue is a conductor. Yes, even after it dries.
Click to expand...
That's interesting, I see a lot of guides for filling the laser holes in the athlon xp w/ superglue and assumed it was a conductor. Never actually tried that. Maybe brand matters.
 
Both brands i have are conductors, it seems. Just tested it with a LED. Also, when using super glues, either wear a gas mask, or do it outside; the fumes cause heart disease. I had to buy a gas mask :cool:
 
Sigh...Update

The metal-fatique was worse than I thought. Unfortunately, the capacitor was hanging on very loosely and today, it fell off due to a slight bump.

capacitor.jpg


The negative leg is still intact. Unfortunately, the positive leg has completely snapped off. Am I totally SOL now?

I really am at my wit's end. Do I have to find a replacement capacitor now? Even then, I don't know how I would be able to solder it on because the original connection was made to a soldered trace that was actually to the right of the holes. If I buy a replacement, can I solder it directly into the two holes?

Any other tips or suggestions? I guess I'll check some electronics repair shops. I don't want to solder it to the back of the card or dangle it by wired extension because I want to do a good job on it. I was actually just about to put the card up for sale because I need the money when my buddy dropped a big copper heatsink onto it. Is it possible to do a mostly invisible repair job?
 
you can buy a new capacitor, and either shove it in there, or solder it on. Just make sure it's the right kind, they come in several sizes.
 
The problem is that the solderpoint on the trace is only on the top layer of the PCB. There's no equivalent on the bottom. Do I clip the legs and solder them right onto the top?

There's also the issue of the insulating washer that goes between the capacitor and the PCB.
 
Maybe do a sideways solder? The cap doesn't have to stand up, so lay it down and you won't have to bend the pins as much and you'll get a bit more room to work with.
 
What do you guys think about soldering in a new capacitor and then using a drop of epoxy to insulate it against the PCB? (because I won't be able to put the rubber base/washer back in).

Also, I don't have any experience soldering something so delicate. What sort of an iron do you recommend? About 15w? Are there needlenose irons? Use silver and flux? Any techniques I should be aware of? I really want to do this well.
 
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