Abit VP6 Capacitor Problem.


Update 11-2-2002: Looks like this problem may be more widespread than just the VP6
the inquirer article 'Dodgy components threaten mobos, modems'

Below is information about replacing the capacitors on your VP6. My system
began to become unstable after about 1 1/2 years of 24/7 operation. A little searching
on the internet turned up a problem with the 1500uF 6.3V capacitors. Rather than
send my board in, and wait, I did the job myself. In total, I replaced 15 capacitors.
During my searching, I read about someone sending their board back to Abit to be fixed. When
it returned, it had all of the 1500uF 6.3V parts replaced with 2200uF 6.3V parts. DigiKey
was my source for the parts. I ordered part #P10204-ND. They arrived 2 days later, and I broke
out my soldering iron.
Note: Abit apparently uses a high temperature solder. My regular iron had
a hard time melting it. I used a more powerful iron and the parts came right out.
The location of the 15 capacitors are as follows:
8 in an L pattern near the power connector
3 on the chipset side of the memory slots
1 in the corner of the board by the memory slots
2 on the CPU side of the AGP slot
1 on the PCI side of the AGP slot
My system has been running for 2 days now with no problems. I have run the Sandra burn-in wizard
for approximately 5 hours. I have ripped CD's, and converted a DVD to DIVX. No problems.
The picture's are below.

Old bulging capacitors

Here you can see the old Jackson capacitors starting to bulge. Original parts
were 1500uF 6.3V



She's gonna blow

Look at the bottom of this one.



Here are the new parts

The new parts installed. After reading about Abit replacing the old parts with
2200uF 6.3V parts, I headed to DigiKey and ordered 15.



New parts here too

Three more replaced. DigiKey part #P10204-ND


Two more parts.

Two more. Abit replaced all 1500uF 6.3V caps, so I did too.



Be careful about this one.

This one could pose a problem depending on your AGP card. The added height might interfere
with parts on your AGP card. You can see here that it just clears the Rage128 chip on my
All in Wonder. This might be a good place for an exact replacement.





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Use this information at your own risk. This procedure worked for me. I assume no responsibility
for anything you do with the information listed here.