This doesn't look good at all.
This doesn't look good at all.
Yea, looks like the caps have shat themselves. The seller of this board said along the lines of it booted but windows was unstable. Yea no sht its unstable considering the cpu power delivery looks like this Im just gonna let it sit till tomorrow to make sure the damn thing is dry then ill see if i can get it to post This is a g31m es2l that i got for ~3$ so considering that it somewhat works then it should be less risky then fixing a full dead board, not to mention itll do ~440fsb max unlike its asus g31 counterpart that only does 400 due to hdd detection issues Is it just some incredible amounts of filth or were the caps leaking? When i first checked before spraying the crap out of it with isopropyl alcohol the middle cap in the picture looked like it had crystal looking things of some sort sticking out of it
you could place it on some paper towels (upside down) for a few hours and observe if any leakage occurs... but it seems likely it’s dead, jim. I’m not comfortable with these types of caps, but from what I see, it probably isn’t working. I haven’t dealt with similar problems before—an old ASUS board would boot into Windows, showing temperatures around “2C” before it crashes or starts looping.
I have a completely dead g31m ESP32, so I might just remove the caps and leave it that way. Anything else I need besides solder, flux, and a 40W iron?
Seems like theres a crap ton of dust upon closer inspection, i think ill do some cleaning while waiting for the damn board to fully dry Yea 96% isopropyl kinda sucks cause it takes quite abit longer to dry compared to 99% isopropyl alcohol, well atleast it doesnt burn my nose as much so alot less annoying while cleaning
I've thoroughly cleaned the board and removed most of the dust from those tight spaces. I found a charred-looking SMD component and tried to clean it, but it came off without desoldering. That was the solder pad it used. The SMD itself is fine. These things are really small, but a replacement shouldn't be too difficult given I have that "dead" G31M ESP32. I think it's better to salvage the whole unit instead of trying to fix it. Could a soldering iron help? Maybe I could just place the SMD on the pads and apply solder paste if it's not a big deal. If it's not critical, I might just overlook it.
that's actually quite small, but I've soldered many similar tiny parts before. I believe the key is using good pliers—probably just comfortable ones—and maybe a microscope for better visibility. Thin solder will be tricky, but not impossible. Since it's so small, you'll need to be careful not to damage it. If that's the situation, I think it might not work out, though I checked the pad in the photo and it looks manageable. It should be easier to see in real life.
If you're serious about the process, focus on flux and a small soldering tip. (And sure, a good solder and iron are essential too.) The best approach is using solder paste along with a hot air soldering station. You can learn more by watching Louis Rosmann's PCB repair videos. Edited January 7, 2022 by HanZie82 Added link to his YouTube channel.