Replacing capacitor?

[Suicidal Insanity]

Would it be feasible to replace a damaged capacitor on an older mobo, I once broke one of the legs when I used the nice case tray to slam the board against the HDD cage, since then I have fried a HDD with the board, I am assuming due to the damaged capacitor.

 

[Elledan]

Of course you can replace it. Use a good soldering iron, a steady hand and a replacement cap with the same Farad (uF/nF) rating and the same or higher Volt rating.

 

[Steel Chicken]

yes, and some caps are polarized (meaning they only go in one way)
check if there is a little "+" label on the old one some where...if there, I hope you made note of which way it was pointing

 

[trust_no1]

To indicate polarity, caps usually have a strip of a different color in front of one of the legs, usually gray or black, that indicates the negative side. Just match that to the old cap polarity, and you should be good to go (like mentioned before, get the same size cap with the same Farads rating.)

 

[Elledan]

yes, and some caps are polarized (meaning they only go in one way)
check if there is a little "+" label on the old one some where...if there, I hope you made note of which way it was pointing

Often the polarity will be indicated on the PCB (mainboard) as well (silkscreen).

 

[Suicidal Insanity]

isn't the shape of the pad indicative of the polarity? I just am afraid of damaging other layers or shorting something on accident.