Broken Blizzard PPC component

[sweetlilmre]

Hi,

I just installed my new (recently received) Blizzard PPC card, and it seemed to be behaving strangely. I took it out to make sure that the heatsink was seated properly, and that is when I noticed a small component (a capacitor?) was angled strangely.

Further inspection revealed that one leg was completely detached from the board. The components is marked: J106 it is a small black rectangular component with a white stripe on one side (I'm assuming a polarity marker).

I took a (bad, can't find my real camera) picture of where about the component was: http://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image011wr9.jpg

and marked it with a red circle (bottom, middle of the pic).

I'd appreciate if someone could identify this for me, possibly providing a picture of a board with the component attached (so I can determine polarity when I find a replacement).

Thanks in advance
-(e)

[sweetlilmre]

Hi,

The traces are fine, in fact the problem is that the legs of the component have sheared at the case, leaving almost nothing to solder to (one side is particularly bad). Hence looking for a replacement I suppose I could dremel the bad side extremely carefully to expose more of the leg, or will that destroy it?

I need to know what it is at this point. I need to find my camera! There are many other identical components on the board, which would probably help identify it.

I have a digital, temperature controlled soldering station and light / magnifying rig. What temperature would you recommend for SMT work?

Thanks
-(e)

[sweetlilmre]

Hi,

Thanks for the info! I will post a better picture, plus a pic of an identical component on the board (Found the camera! see below).

Also thanks for the temperature info. I'm quite good at soldering, but crap at electronic theory!  :lol:

Luckily I don't need to scrape any traces as the legs are still attached to the board so the replacement soldering will be easy. I still need to determine the placement of the cap. (polarity).

EDIT:

Pic of identical component:
http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0502lu4.jpg

Pic of where it broke off:
http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0503is5.jpg

Pic of the entire board:
http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0505iv8.jpg



-(e)

[sweetlilmre]

Hi,

Thanks for the excellent information. I am off to the local electronics store to get a replacement!

-(e)

[sweetlilmre]

Hi,

Thanks to all of you I have made the repair which seems to work, or at least doesn't seem to be any worse.

I found out what the problem with the blizzard was (or at least a way to make it go away). Turns out that the card is picky about which bank the ram (128Mb module) is installed in. In desperation I switched the ram to the other bank and suddenly everything started working!!!

Previously I was getting a flashing red screen of death.

YAY!  :-D  :-D  :-D

Thanks once again for the assistance, muchly appreciated!
-(e)