Epox SUXORS! (used to Roxxors, now SUXORS AGAIN!)

muddocktormuddocktor
edited May 2004 in Hardware
My frigging 8KHA+ board smoked yesterday, all the big caps are either swollen or burst. Plus, one of the power mosfets is cooked too. :mean: I just hope it didn't take out my proc too, which is an unlocked 2500 I had modded to a 16 multi.

This definitely pisses me off, damn bad cheap caps. :rarr: I'm trying to get in touch with a friend right now to see if he still has a Biostar nf2 board that he had pulled out of his rig for a Shuttle nf2 board. If so, I'll borrow it and see if anything else is fried due to this damn Epox board. The damn board wasn't even 2 years old before this happened. :(
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Comments

  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited April 2004
    It cant be RMAed? Surprises me that you dont have a board to put it in. You are always buying hardware.;)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Ah, finally another succumbs to the horrible ****tiness that are EPoX products. I was burned once (Unsourceable death), thought it a fluke, then was burned twice on the same pretense. Never again!

    Sorry for your loss, Mud.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited April 2004
    I sent my last spare board for SM20(KG7-R), when the Gigabyte board turned up fuxored.

    I'm pretty sure Epox only warrantees their boards for 1 year.:(
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    But I thought that some of the manufacturers were extending special circumstance warranties for those leaking caps - wasn't there some debacle about the supplier of those caps giving a bundle of those to all the major mobo manufacturers of the day? I know Abit still honors RMAs of even old boards with leaking caps, such as KT7-era boards... Those caps were not the fault of the mobo manufacturers.
  • FormFactorFormFactor At the core of forgotten
    edited April 2004
    That sux. I too have had a few problems with Epox boards.


    What are these caps you speak of?
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited April 2004
    The 10 big capacitors to the left of the cpu socket, 6 in a row by the socket itself and the 4 by the power circuitry, which are blown big time. I looked closer at the board, since I just pulled it out of the case and definitely 2 of the 3 power mosfets are cooked also, along with the caps. I also noticed that the ATX connector on the mobo is discolored around where the 5v lines feed in, so it must have been drawing a hell of a load on the 5v rail when these caps were crapping out. I just filed an RMA request with Epox and I'll see where this goes. Who knows, maybe they will warrantee it. The old board was doing great right up until I let the magic smoke out of all those caps and mosfets. :usflag:

    I got in touch with my buddy and he's supposed to swing by the house tomorrow and drop off the Biostar board for me to use. :rockon: Hopefully it didn't fry anything else.
  • res0r9lmres0r9lm Florida
    edited April 2004
    I got a couple of those boards too. took a look at my spare and it has a couple of caps that look swollen. is that at the top of the caps? I'm afraid to check the one in use but pot on psu is turned up to give me 5.05 i'm not going to complain too much becuase I only paid $35 for each board but my next board just be an abit
  • pseudonympseudonym Michigan Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Man, McBain and I must be the only ones who never have problems with ours. This thing sits here running 24/7 and OC'ed and never has ever given me a problem.
  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited April 2004
    The suppliers bought bad caps that used bad solution from a company in China that stole the formula for the electrolyte but missed a chemical. I'm serious!

    http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/feb03/ncap.html

    I remember this vividly because it sparked off a huge debate and forum discussion in a number of IEEE forums / channels. This really should be cause for a class action lawsuit against the board manufacturers if they don't offer replacements or are jerks about it.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited April 2004
    pseudonym wrote:
    Man, McBain and I must be the only ones who never have problems with ours. This thing sits here running 24/7 and OC'ed and never has ever given me a problem.

    Yeah you gotta wonder about these guys! :D 10 great Epox mobos and counting. I'm running FAH on a 8KRA2 & XP-M 2500+ and have 3 8RDA+ in boxes waiting to go into systems.

    As for Abit nice boards but my 3 NF7-s v2 were pains in the a$$. Not one would do over FSB210 (with either Corsair, HyperX PC3500 and OCZ PC4200)

    Luck of the draw I guess ;D
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited April 2004
    res0r9lm wrote:
    I got a couple of those boards too. took a look at my spare and it has a couple of caps that look swollen. is that at the top of the caps? I'm afraid to check the one in use but pot on psu is turned up to give me 5.05 i'm not going to complain too much becuase I only paid $35 for each board but my next board just be an abit

    Yeah Res, that's the most common sign that the cap is bad, so don't use that mobo until you replace all those large caps.

    Omega, I thought I'd lucked out with my KHA+but it died, just like most of them. I know that the bad cap issue has haunted many different manufacturers though, I have seen boards from Soyo, Abit and now Epox die from them. The Soyo died the quickest and the Abit boards lasted the longest, but they died nonetheless. Anyone with a 8KHA+ board really needs to check them out monthly if their board is over 1 1/2 years old and is running a high speed XP proc. BTW, the board performed flawlessly right up to the time I started smelling the magic smoke.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited April 2004
    Well, I just got a reply from my RMA request from Epox and it is already approved! :clap::clap::clap: That's some fast work by Epox and kudos to them for RMA'ing a board that's better than 1 1/2 years old. :D All they want for shipping and handling is $14, which I believe is cheaper than Abit's RMA policy too! :rockon:

    Now I need to have someone change the thread title to "Epox Rocks!" :celebrate
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited April 2004
    Doesnt take much to change your mind does it?;)
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Glad to hear it :) I changed the thread title for you ;D
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited April 2004
    Doesnt take much to change your mind does it?

    Not with response like this. Service on my RMA this fast needs to be known and talked about. This is really good news for folks like keebs, who is running an 8KHA+ board. As long as they have a copy of their invoice, they're good to go. Luckily I had bought my KHA+ from Newegg and was able to just go print up that invoice again a few minutes ago.
    Glad to hear it:) I changed the thread title for you

    Thanks, Brian. I don't feel nearly as bad about the whole incident now, with the positive response from Epox.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited April 2004
    Of course, ASUS has the best RMA policy (for boards under warranty) IMO...

    Free shipping** both ways


    **ASUS pays shipping back to you, and shipping to them is free because I can just drive up to their RMA HQ and drop it off, and my parents pay for my gas, insurance, and maintenance :D
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    I think my parents bought me gas once.... I can't remember ;D
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2004
    Since we're already well on the way to a threadjack: :vimp:

    MSI - you pay to ship the bad board, they pay for the return trip
  • rykoryko new york
    edited April 2004
    Well, i don't have an EPOX board............but my SOYO TISU s370 mobo with 1.2ghz tualatin just up and died today after a case swap.

    Upon closer inspection, 2 caps are swollen badly and look like they are ready to pop off at any second. What totally sucks is that it was working fine until i switched cases..........it won't even power on now. :grumble:

    And they won't honor my RMA request :mad:

    And an Ebay s370 replacement just isn't worth it............
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2004
    ryko wrote:
    ...Upon closer inspection, 2 caps are swollen badly...And they won't honor my RMA request...
    You might be able to replace them yourself with a couple bucks worth of parts and a soldering iron. I'd replace them all, not just the bulging ones.
  • rykoryko new york
    edited April 2004
    What wattage soldering iron is safe to work on mobo's? I think the one i have now is too much. Will radioshack have replacement caps?

    Wow, this might be great......
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2004
    I've had good luck in my soldering endeavors, but the key word is luck.

    I'm sure that someone who really knows what they're talking about can help you.

    I seem to recall hearing that one company wouldn't take them as RMA's, but would send you a free pack of capacitors if you wanted to DIY.
  • res0r9lmres0r9lm Florida
    edited April 2004
    After look at the caps on the 8kha+ I have in service there in perfect condtion. :thumbsup:
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    primesuspect wrote:
    But I thought that some of the manufacturers were extending special circumstance warranties for those leaking caps - wasn't there some debacle about the supplier of those caps giving a bundle of those to all the major mobo manufacturers of the day? I know Abit still honors RMAs of even old boards with leaking caps, such as KT7-era boards... Those caps were not the fault of the mobo manufacturers.

    You think they'd fix the leakers on my BP6?

    -drasnor :fold:
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    ryko wrote:
    What wattage soldering iron is safe to work on mobo's? I think the one i have now is too much. Will radioshack have replacement caps?

    Wow, this might be great......

    If you're getting a normal pencil iron, a 15W or 20W will be sufficient for doing board work on thru-hole components. If you're doing surface mount work, you need a special point for your 15/20W iron. If you're removing PCI slots or stuff like that, you need some special equipment to melt all the solder pads without destroying the board. I believe that tool is an infrared soldering gun, but I'm not sure.

    I use a 50W temperature-controlled pencil iron. It has a closed-loop control that measures the tip temperature and continually cycles the power off and on to maintain the selected temperature. Very nice, never have to wait more than 30 seconds for it to warm up, not very cheap.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited April 2004
    drasnor wrote:
    You think they'd fix the leakers on my BP6?

    -drasnor :fold:

    I imagine they would for $25, which is their standard cost for out of warrantee repairs.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited April 2004
    EPOX ROCKS BABY!!
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    drasnor wrote:
    If you're getting a normal pencil iron, a 15W or 20W will be sufficient for doing board work on thru-hole components. If you're doing surface mount work, you need a special point for your 15/20W iron. If you're removing PCI slots or stuff like that, you need some special equipment to melt all the solder pads without destroying the board. I believe that tool is an infrared soldering gun, but I'm not sure.

    I use a 50W temperature-controlled pencil iron. It has a closed-loop control that measures the tip temperature and continually cycles the power off and on to maintain the selected temperature. Very nice, never have to wait more than 30 seconds for it to warm up, not very cheap.

    -drasnor :fold:


    NOT at all cheap. Especially if you have a Weller solder\desolder station that is digitally controlled (wish I had one of THOSE, myself, make do with less expensive things). I use a 25 W and\or 15 W (Ceramic stabilized heating element) soldering pencil, myself, and a solder sucker or very small solder wick to get solder up. EXTRA fine tips on both. The 30 W I have not touched in years-- it is an old Radio Shack pencil type iron. The 40 W I use for silver solder, or for electrical lines I need to solder to prevent corrosion.

    I use the thinnest solder I can get, typically .022 or .032 rosin flux core solder-- thinner bead heats real fast, low wattage iron works with it. This means I use more length, but it is very hot very fast and I am not bothering with thicker solder taking more heat. Tinning the tip and wires helps if electrical, also-- thin layer of solder of that sort tins iron tip neatly. For cleaning, dip hot iron in rosin flux, wipe around in brass wool bunch I have in a metal cup with a non-skid rubber footpad on it to get the solder buildup and rosin residue off. THEN I wipe it on a wet sponge. Shiny silverish tip on iron solders lickety split, untinned iron holds solder to itself until you have WAY too much dripping on things at once.

    John D.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    Mine is a Weller analog 50W soldering station (no desolder unfortunately). The thermal probe is embedded in the solder tip, and the threaded barrel cover makes swapping tips easy (once you let the iron cool down, anyway).

    I've had to tin a box full of Radio Shack pencil irons that looked like someone had tried to use them with hot-melt glue before (entirely likely), and for that task I just sat down with a bastard file and took all the crap off until I could see shiny copper. I then warmed up the irons and fed thick-gauge solder onto them until the entire tip was nice and shiny and making little solder splashes on the floor. I flicked the excess solder into a utility sink and scraped up all the little splashes for disposal. Those irons never gave me or my physics teacher problems again.

    That's a good suggestion for cleaning the tip! I usually just go straight from soldering to a few wipes with the sponge.

    I prefer the narrow-gauge solder as well. It's much easier to control how much you're using and make nice little solder spots instead of huge globules. You also want to use lead-based solder: the environmentally-friendly stuff doesn't wick as well.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited April 2004
    Well, I ended up having to go to my friend's shop yesterday evening to get the Biostar mobo I'm borrowing, he had too many service calls to come to New Iberia with it. I installed the mobo in the case and had to take the SLK800 off my Abit rig to use on this damn Biostar board because it doesn't have the 4 mounting holes around the socket, hense my Alpha wouldn't work with it. I swapped the hsf's around on those 2 boxes, got the Abit back up and then started putting components on the Biostar. I booted up and the proc was fine and not fried, as well as the psu and then tried booting up with the old Epox install of Win2K, which was a wash. The repair console couldn't even correct the boot problem so I just did an overlay install of Win2K back on the rig so I wouldn't lose the WU the machine was working on when the board died and the last hour or so I've been doing updates and driver installs. Anyways, my 2500 is back up and folding and I didn't even lose the WU it was working on when the board died. :clap:

    This Biostar board isn't too bad for a cheapo nf2 board, has decent bios selections for overclocking. If it had the holes around the socket it would be better but if someone is looking for a cheap board for a folding rig it isn't a bad choice. It is a M7NCD Pro, BTW.

    Tomorrow I send the KHA+ back for RMA.
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