VP6 Problems

[Steve_Watkins]

I have a Abit VP6 motherboard that has been running P3 700@988 for the last year with no problems. Starting about two months ago I noticed that whenever I had to restart the system I could not get the machine to post without several starts. When it did post everything was fine until the next time I had to shut down. I took the time to trouble shoot the system and after changing out the memory, vid card and removing all other cards and devices I was still having the same problem. Only after removing one of the CPU's did I find that the system booted on the first attempt. I switched the cpu's and found that it did not matter which CPU I used, the system would boot. IF I tried to use both CPU's it would fail. So to keep things running until I had more time I just used one of the CPU's. On Sunday I came home to find the system frozen and I could not restart the system.

Today I recieved a replacement VP6 and found that I could only make the new MB start with one cpu ! It looks like the replacement MB might have been installed before, but I am not sure.... Its the only one Power UP had in stock and I am unlikly to get another one as Abit has stopped making that MB.

Anyone have any ideas on what might be wrong and a fix for the problem?


P.S. I have tried both CPU's in both sockets and it does not matter which CPU is in which socket. The system will post if only one CPU is installed.

[ColinT]

Wild Guess:

Flash a new BIOS, then pray.

[Alpha_7]

Its crazy, but try insulating the motherboard screws that connect it to the tray

It may not work, but mine does a similar thing, and its meant to be the problem with it..

its worth a try if nothing else works..

[NeonBlack]

it sounds like a power issue to me, especially if it works fine with only one in. have you tried them at stock speed ?

[Steve_Watkins]

This is what I found on the Ars hardware board...


Quote

I had exactly the same problem with a VP-6 here at work. Here is what I wrote to Abit:

"Recently, the computer (running Mandrake 8.0 Linux) with the VP-6 board started crashing frequently after functioning perfectly for 10 months. After removing all of the components except the RAM, and CPUs, I discovered that the board would rarely (about 25% of the time) POST with 2 CPUs installed. Either PIII (1 Ghz) that we have works fine in either CPU socket, but if 2 CPUs are present, the board will only POST about 25% of the time and will usually crash soon thereafter. The CPUs and RAM have been tested in other computers and appear to be functioning properly. I believe the motherboard has gone bad and I would like to receive a replacement."

I didn't think my problem was related to the power supply, because the board behaved the same with all cards removed and all drives disconnected. I also noticed that some of the capacitors on the board were bulging and some had a brownish residue on top of them. I received a replacement board from Abit that is working just fine now. I would try and get a replacement board from Abit directly.

You can also try and remove everything except the RAM and CPUs and try and boot. Listem for the beep to determine whether the board is posting or not. If it does not, it is probably not a power supply issue.



I have tried running at reduced speeds and it does not make any difference. Also tried different power supplies.

[Steve_Watkins]

heres a thread on 2cpu (http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16525)

[MTP]

I think I spoke to you before about this issue.
Your best bet would be to try to ask over at my web-site (http://www.vp6-board.com) as it is dedicated to the VP6 and everybody there has dealt we every issue that has surfaced with this board.

I've been running a VP6 since they came out and ran dual 700@1050 for a year on it before I went and bought true PIII 1G cpus for it.

I've never had an issue with it running or rebooting. It runs mostly 24/7 crunching, but for awhile I was shutting it off every day due to high ac bills and trying to prove to my wife it wasn't from my computers.

[Steve_Watkins]

Thanks MTP I forgot all about your website :(

this is what I posted over there .......


I fixed it!!!

Thanks to the 2cpu.com thread I have started looking at the caps....

Vp6 #1
I have the old MOBO because I don't think they will replace it because of its age. IT has 7 caps that are near the power connection that look to be swollen. They are all the Jackson Caps and every cap on the board is that brand. This is the board that I described in the above post.

Vp6 #2 is a replacement that I bought from Power Up three days ago. It will not boot with two CPU's but runs fine with one. I can not see any large swollen caps. I see a smaller cap that MIGHT be swollen a very small amount, but it is really hard to tell. This board has a mixture of two brands of caps with most of the Jackson brand caps that are swollen on Board #1 replaced with a larger, but same rating, blueish cap that I can not read the makers name on.

I am going to try to replace the caps on #1 board and see what happens




I am shocked!!!

IT WORKS AGAIN!!!!

I called a few places and finaly found one that had the caps. I had 7 suspect caps , all surrounding the power connector area, that were swollen. Only one of the 8 caps in that L shaped area looked normal but I pulled all 8 and replaced them.

It was a tough job! To start with the mother board was a little different than I am used to working with. It had multi layers and the + and - legs connected to areas on the top and bottom of the board. The + connection had its traces on the top of the board and the - was on the bottom. The holes were very hard to clean and I ended up using a # 5 drill bit to clean them of old solder before inserting the new caps... I was very afraid of my soldering job as I thought I might be shorting out the motherboard. Another problem was the new caps were just a little fatter that the old caps and after playing around with their placement it looked like a 4 year old had repaired the board!
I was very much in doubt about my work and didn't think it would work due to the difficulty of soldering the caps back into place.

As the first test I hooked up a power supply to the bare board.... NO SMOKE! this was a very good sign! I then shorted the power switch pins and the PS fan started up! Looking even better... I finally said "what the heck", and put the computer back together and to my shock it posted first time!!! It's now back to its main job of Genome@home and I am a happy man!

Thanks to everyone that offered advice and led me to this website...

Steve

[Darkness Productions]

Do you have pictures??? I wanna see this four-year old handiwork :)

[Steve_Watkins]

now just to figure out how to post them here :)

[Steve_Watkins]

Man that is a good camara ! the fans were running when I took that shot :) 5000 RPM's and not ever blured.

The caps I replaced are right above the lower left cpu.... they are not lined up straight and easy to see....

[Alpha_7]

Your right, thats a sweet photo :)

And I'm glad you got it all to work again :)

Very nice story!

(I love happy Endings) :D

[Steve_Watkins]

I have take in another sick VP6.. its going to be a hard job and the chances of fixing it are slim...

Heres a shot of the bad caps.....

Monday I am going to purchase a smaller tip soldering iron and see if I can do a better job....

[Steve_Watkins]

VP6 =0
Steve_Watkins =2 !

The Second vp6 has been repaired and is up and running!

This time I used a 6.3 volt 2200 mf cap and they fit in the correct space. Looks professional now :)

I also bought a very small 25 w iron and an assortment of fine tips. I was having trouble removing all the solder from the holes when I removed the old caps. The solder Abit uses seems to be very hard compared to the wire solder I am using. It was very hard to make the holes clean enough to allow the new leads to pass through the holes. In an effort to make the job easier, and not damage the Mother Board, I purchased the smallest tip I could and then filed the tip small enough to pass through the holes on the Mother Board. I re-tinned the tip and it worked very well. I was able to clean the holes and install the new parts very easy. I then used an unmodified tip to make the new connections.

I recommend that anyone wanting to repair their VP6 purchase and modify a small iron to do the job. It’s a wonder my first VP6 survived the operation :D

The board has been running for 12 hours with a couple of P3 700’s @ 933. When I return from work I will try to increases the speed back up to 988.

[mr_mann]

wanna work ur magic on some of my problems? :D

[Steve_Watkins]

What kind of problems are you having.....

[Steve_Watkins]

Hers a shot of the repaired vp6 with its new 2200 mf caps.

[Daza]

good job....... is that a digital camera of a scan job?? either way im impressed with those pics :)

[Steve_Watkins]

it is a sony Mativa 97 ( I think ) ,, a truly great camara!

[Daza]

is that the one with a floppy drive in it??:offtopic: :D

[Steve_Watkins]

Yep thats the one...
link to camara (http://www.steves-digicams.com/2001_reviews/fd97.html)

[ulv]

Hey Steve

I want to ask you for advice-> the case: I have the VP6, running with PIII- 700@933. Fired it up 1 1/2 years ago, and it's been on 24/7 since that day, crunching G@H for over a year. A month ago it started to freeze, then the boot problems, had to clock it down to 700. Went through all possibilities, power, memory, CPU's, heat, the raid 0, graphics card, network, then I saw your thread.

So: I got these Jack(s)on caps, but I can't tell by the looks that any could be bad. The biggest read 6,3V- 1500uF and 16V- 1000uF. What would you do- heh I can blame you later- replace all the big ones, or start with one type.

Also I noticed that you used 6,3V- 2300uF, was there a reason for not going with the original specs?
And I read the threads in 2CPU and VP6-board.

I would be grateful if you replied.

[Steve_Watkins]

HI.

On the last three vp6's I have seen all the large caps were the problem. The 8 I have replaced on the last two boards were the bad ones.


The larger value caps were used because they fit better on the board. The first board I repaired use the same value caps but they were too big and I had to wiggle them onto the board :)


Good luck

Steve

[ulv]

Thank you for answering, Steve. Well, I didn't have to replace the caps because the shop where I bought it gave me a new one at once. I sent them a mail with explanations of the problem and linked to your threads, and they gave me a new board at once.

Everything is back to normal, crunching at 933 Mhz and no freeze or boot problems.:D

Hope it will last more than one year this time- same type of capacitors.

[Bananaskin]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Steve_Watkins
[B]VP6 =0
Steve_Watkins =2 !

The Second vp6 has been repaired and is up and running!

This time I used a 6.3 volt 2200 mf cap and they fit in the correct space. Looks professional now :)

[Rest Deleted for Brevity]

I note from my board that the capacitors used are JACKCON 1500uf 6.3v variety. I am unable to get this manufacturers components online in UK. Could you please tell me whether the capacitors that you used were either "RADIAL TYPE" or just "Aluminuim Low Impedence" capacitors :)

Cheers....

[Steve_Watkins]

I am not really sure what type they are.. I am just a paramedic with a little soldering iron :)

On the last VP6 I repaired I have had another three caps fail. I replaced them and it is back up and running fine.

Steve

[Bananaskin]

Will try ordinary capacitors and see how that goes, they are relatively cheap anyway. I agree with you regards the hardness of the solder, just as well I have a nice gas soldering iron that can get significantly warmer than my 25w electric ;)

[Steve_Watkins]

I have tried something different when I repaired the last vp6.

I really have had a hard time makeing what I consider a good solder joint on the motherboards. You are working with such a small solderpad, or contact point. on the motherboard that it is really tough to make it work well.. Last time I removed the top of the cap and left the leads in place. I then shortened the leads on the new cap and soldered them to the existing "posts" looked not as nice but was very easy to do!
.

I would try that method first. you can always redo it later.

Steve

[Steve_Watkins]

Heres a picture of the cap that have gone bad since the last time I repaired this board.

[Steve_Watkins]

And heres a shot of the repaired board. I think I will use this method of replacing the caps from now on. It is not as pretty but I feel that I have a better repair. The old caps are very easy to remove off the board by pulling the tops off. This leaves the two cap wires still soldered in the mother board and I just shortened the new caps wires and bonded them to the old wires.