BP6 Mobo

[Derek]

Do you own a BP6 motherboard?

Well? Do ya? Punk!

[InactiveX]

What's a BP6 motherboard?

[Derek]

Honestly, I was going to add that option to the poll At the last minute I decided against it.

[headseed]

Yes, the question is, how many? LOL
wow, my sig is badly outdated

[Derek]

Yes, the question is, how many? LOL

Ooooo... Good point.

Can you believe that I only have one? It has never failed me! Ever!

[Dave Rave]

one
hmmm
u velly sad man

[InactiveX]

I bought my BP6 in 1999.

They sent me two by accident, but I sent one back. I'm too honest for my own good.

The one I kept is still working like a champ.

[davd_bob]

In a slowly evolving and upgrading forest of about 80 servers, my employer is still using a 486 for our email server. Thankfully we have locally hosted profiles and a peer to peer network. I thought about turning them on to used BP6s, but....

Hey, I will ask if they have any and I can trade something more-better for any they have.


BTW, I am using FireFox for the first time as my main browser. So far I don't dislike it. I noticed my mouse wheel doesn't scroll the page though and most objects are loading slower then IE6.

[tenchimuyo93]

BP6? whats this BP6 you speak of?

new lingo these kids use nowadays...................


but i have just my one, and just recently got my hands on an old DELL P3 board.

[InactiveX]

BTW, I am using FireFox for the first time as my main browser. So far I don't dislike it. I noticed my mouse wheel doesn't scroll the page though and most objects are loading slower then IE6.

Have you had any problems with CPU going to 100% when you have lots of tabs open, and everything grinds to a halt after about an hour's use? It was noticeable with FF v1.5, but became unbearable for me with v2.0. I've since switched to Opera and am really enjoying using it. This is on Windows XP.

Incidentally, my scroll wheel has always worked in FF.

[apw6270]

I've owned and used a BP6 since 1999. I'm using it right now.

It's a bit poorly though. It doesn't shut down properly (I have to hold in the on/off button), and sometimes it doesn't power up - I have to take everything out and replace it all piece by piece.

Some of the capacitors look like they're standing on stalks (overheated and popped?).

Strangly, it seems faster that most other PC's I know, even those with more memory and faster modern processors.

[davd_bob]

apw6270,
You discribe the clasic "bad capicator" issue that is muchly discussed. You can restore the board to full operational ability by replacing the caps. If you can do it yourself then I recomend getting free replacements from Jackson. They fit and are the right kind of caps.

Heres a link to kind of guide yourself through the choices.
viewtopic.php?t=2706&highlight=

[Dave Rave]

((((((

I wanna know why he's had a BP6 since 1999
but has only been a member since early 2005

and this is his first post !!!!!!
very poor form by a BP6 user standard


))))))
( enuff brackets ? )

[Derek]

((((((

I wanna know why he's had a BP6 since 1999
but has only been a member since early 2005

and this is his first post !!!!!!
very poor form by a BP6 user standard


))))))
( enuff brackets ? )

Who knows? Maybe he was around in '99 and had to re-register?

I'm such a killjoy, eh, Dave?

[Derek]

I almost forgot!



(((((((((((((((((((


)))))))))))))))))))

[apw6270]

Who knows? Maybe he was around in '99 and had to re-register?

Indeed Derek, I was and I did.

An anonymous email of mine was one of the first on this site, and is in fact still on this site as a piece of advice, so perhaps Dave should learn to control his tongue.

Thanks for the link dave_bob. My mobo is rev 1.0 and does not appear to suffer poor voltage stabilisation, but a number of the capacitors clearly need to be replaced. Non of them show signs of leaking electrolyte, rather they are just bulging like crazy.

I found a web site from this site that sells a BP6 capacitor pack, but they only ship to the USA and Canada – I’m in the UK. I’ve been trying to source my own caps but haven’t yet found an appropriate supplier. There is a Maplin just 10 minutes from me but they don’t appear to sell the appropriate caps. Another problem is that there appears to be a difference of opinion as to what values to use. Perhaps I should just replace them like-for-like.

Either way, I've got lots of reading to do.

I’ll let you know what eventually happens.

[Dave Rave]

Who knows? Maybe he was around in '99 and had to re-register?

Indeed Derek, I was and I did.

An anonymous email of mine was one of the first on this site, and is in fact still on this site as a piece of advice, so perhaps Dave should learn to control his tongue.

tehe, that'll never happen

[apw6270]

Here's the latest.


badcaps.net suggest the following caps:

12 x 1500uF 10v
12 x 1000uF 10v
1 x 470uF 16v


motherboardrepair.com seem to suggest all 1500uF


One BP6 user seems to have used the following:

12 x 2200uF 10V
12 x 1000uF 16V


The main caps on my BP6 are:

12 x 1500uF 6.3v
12 x 1000uF 10v


There is discrepancy also about the EC10 cap: "The 1200uF cap is for the EC10 mod. Some swear by 1500uF, and others swear by 470uF... I've tried them all, and have found that 1200uF or 1000uF is the most adequate."


I emailed Abit UK late last night to ask if they could supply the caps or suggest a source. They replied this morning asking me for a stamped jiffy bag and a list of caps and they will send me the caps for free! Top customer support Abit! Fantastic!

So the simple question is what should I ask for? Unless someone (other than Dave Slave) suggests otherwise, I figure I need the following:

12 x 1500uF 6.3v
13 x 1000uF 10v

[apw6270]

The caps arrived this morning. All are exactly as specified - capacitance, voltage, physical size. All are gold and green with short leads.

Looks like I've got some soldering to do this evening! Wish me luck ol' chaps, I'm going in.

[tenchimuyo93]

good luck, im still waiting on mine to show up before my slowing fading caps go out completely.

[apw6270]

WAHOO! Back again!

Mobo still works (obviously) after replacing 24 caps!

I decided not to replace the EC10 cap since my mobo is rev 1.0 not 1.1.

I found that cap EC11 was loose – the negative lead was not soldered properly and so the cap was free to move!

I didn’t have any major problems during the work, but things didn’t go entirely as expected:

Capacitor removal
I had difficulty in melting the solder on some of the caps because they had a very small amount of solder around the legs. Perhaps my iron wasn’t powerful enough to transfer heat via the legs or perhaps a smaller bit would have helped.

Hole clearing
I had trouble cleaning the solder from the holes. I used a de-solder pump as advised, but solder remained. I had no option but to drill out the solder using a 0.8mm drill bit. A WORD OF WARNING – small studs are used to which the solder makes electrical contact and these MUST NOT BE DRILLED OUT. The drill bit used was smaller than the studs so some solder was left in. I vacuumed the mobo afterwards to remove all traces of solder burr.

Capacitor soldering
I used sellotape to hold the caps in place until they had been soldered. I had to use more solder than was removed, and the result was a small bubble of solder around each leg rather than a tiny concave meniscus. This is fine so long as the solder is not a big bubble that extends onto nearby tracks.


Once I had finished, I decided to first boot using only one CPU, one stick of memory, no HDs or CDs, no adapters except VGA, and boot to floppy. All was fine so I then installed everything.

One of first thing I noticed was the group of four caps near the CPUs are now no longer running red hot – no really, I once burnt my finger on them!

A big thanks to Abit for supplying the caps.

[InactiveX]

Good work apw6270! The BP6 lives.

Hmmmmm. "Meniscus". I like that word. Must use it more often.

[davd_bob]

Good work apw6270! The BP6 lives.

Hmmmmm. "Meniscus". I like that word. Must use it more often.

OK, did I miss something?




apw6270,
Sorry but I was offline since last year.
You got the right caps IMO and sounds like you did good enough work on the soldering. Let us know how things work out. The biggest thing I noticed after replacing both "4 pack" cap groups was my system temp dropped in a BIG way.

[apw6270]

Thanks InactiveX.

Yep, davd_bob, my system temp is down by 15-20 deg C.

I'm usually good at soldering so I dunno why this soldering wasn't better. Perhaps it was the very small contact area, perhaps poor solder, perhaps an under powered iron, or perhaps I was subconsciously timid with the solder and/or iron.

All caps are now running at a reasonable temperature, and none are bulging or standing at an odd angle. In fact my BP6 looks quite pretty again.

Everything is still working fine, as is evidenced by this post.

I hope this gives others the confidence to make the change.

[apw6270]

I've just noticed that both CPUs are running within 2 deg C of each other rather than 10 deg C as before.