AIW 7500 AGP dislodged board component, can it be repaired?
 

15 years ago I bought a brand new 7500 AGP, and when dismounting a hard drive to afix the card, I managed to dislodge what looks like a mini canister capacitor. Being the Last Of The Big Spenders at the time, I just bought another 7500 and left this damaged copy in its retail box all these years. Just uncovered it a week ago. It has never been used.

The image below shows where the component was knocked off its moorings (yellow arrow, lower right):

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...1&d=1467389194

A closer shot of the same area and part:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...1&d=1467389276

Do you have a photo of the damaged card? Also I hope you still have the part, whats there isn't labeled at all and would be difficult to replace. It should be repairable if the pads didn't get ripped off the board.

Two pics of the card and the part are in post #1. There's no other problem. I've never tried to mount the card, just drove right out and got another one the same day.

The pink arrow in the posted image points to a mounting pad qbout 1/16" in height, which I assume is part of the bottom of the small cannister -- i.e, the component was sheared off its mount, being swiped by a corner of the hard drive being pulled out. The fact that the cannister has lost its bottom makes me think I should just as well send this card to its final rest. Possibly the fan is salvageable.

It's definitely a solder job.

Did I tell you all about the ATI AIW PCIe card that I had about 2 years ago, when building my first post-stroke capture box? It popped, sparked, and caught the board on fire. It may not be that exact chip, but it was in that area of the card for sure. Though noting that AGP and PCIe cards are laid out differently.

It was bought from eBay. ATI AIW + eBay = less than 50% chance the card is good (like SVHS VCRs).

After I started a fire in (approx) 2011, trying to fix a component with solder work, I started to just toss stuff in the recycle box. Cards are worth about $2 each. And not just fire, but it tripped every breaker in the place.

Don't throw it away, and I'm not trying to scare you. Just be careful!

And better than I am! :oops:

The part sitting next to the card is a SMD capacitor. It doesn't go in that spot indicated by the arrow. It looks like it was mounted just above the bigger 470uF cap in the extreme upper right hand corner of the close-up picture. The pads are intact, so all it'll need is some solder and flux to clean up and likely a new capacitor depending on the condition of the legs of the broken off part. As far as orientation, the black side of the cap is the negative terminal. That card is salvageable.

Thanks, Ls and NjRoadfan. I can be more certain of the cap's position by bringing the spare PC with the other 7500 up from storage and comparing cards. That will take a couple of days.

NjRoadfan I see what you mean about the cap's legs, but I think only one leg is intact. I figured some soldering would be due but I don't trust myself with precision soldering setups for parts that small. Any shop bench techs I used to know are long gone now. Maybe a closer look at the top of other caps will give a clue to its value. I could have swore at the time that I saw exactly where the corner of the hard drive made contact, but you're probably right about its original location. Time for me to research and update what I used to know about reading parts values in my Heathkit days.

I started to just chuck it, box and cables and all, but can't force myself to do it.

Okay, this weekend I did what I should have done in the first place, unmount the good card and compare with the wounded copy. Below, a pic of the good card and the position of the intact SMD cap on the left, the position of the dislodged cap on the right (arrows).

Good card (left), wounded card (right):
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...1&d=1467725253

Now, two closer shots to get an ideas of SMD values. Below is the good card showing that the small SMD cap's value is, as near as I can figure, 10uF/16volts. I figure the "1FN" is a series or batch number and the "S" in "16S" is a tolerance indicator.
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...1&d=1467725435

Below, the wounded card and the depopulated solder joint. The bigger SMD cap to its left appears to be 100uF/16v with a "N2" series number. The bigger cap looks a little skewed, but it's soldered securely on the bottom side as well and doesn't budge. On both cards there are a couple parts similarly placed.
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...1&d=1467725648

Below, two closeups of the dislodged cap (top markings on the left, bottom side on on the right). Looks like two sharply sheered feet on the bottom side. I take its value to be 10uF/16v, with a batch number "1CN".
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/atta...1&d=1467725791

I don't have a precision pencil iron or decent place for this kind of work, and don't trust myself with soldering DIY. This is a far cry from working with parts in my ancient Heathkit and Dynaco days. I could probably find a bag of this part somewhere on the 'net and hire a tech to make the repair. And just in case, I'll try to find a copy of the bigger skewed cap and replace that as well.

The skewed 100uF cap is likely sloppy soldering on ATI's part. 10uF 16v SMD caps are common and easily sourced.

I can help you out with this for free if you want to salvage that card. I currently have a similar issue with my AIW 9000 -- the little 6.3v 47µ SME in the bottom right just literally fell off (see pics). In my case it was electrolyte leakage from a bad cap that killed the leads. This card is a spare but I'm going to fix it anyway as I like to keep these cards alive as long as possible. I've done a lot of small SMD work the past few years, so its not a big issue for me. This card is very salvageable for like $1 + shipping. I just got some SMD caps in from Mouser today and plan to get this one up and running tonight. If you want help, just let me know. :congrats:

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OOOPS! Not ignoring you, somehow your post fell thru the cracks. I went into a medical procedure that kept me off my PC most of the time, and I somehow missed your generous offer. Sorry for that. I acquired a small bag of caps, borrowed a precision pencil iron setup, and finally managed it myself. Yeah, took me back to my Heathkit and Dynaco days (I still have my Stereo 400 from 1979).

Thanks again. Sorry I missed this the first time around. :salute: