Loose capacitor on a new motherboard.

[teaandcigarettes]

Hey guys. I have just finished putting together a new build and while installing the GPU, I have noticed that one of the capacitors on my motherboard (Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0) appears to be loose and wobbles when touched. In fact, it is so loose that I fear that touching it any harder would make it fall off.

During the boot, there are red lights flashing on each part of the motherboard. Each LED lights up for about one second and then it moves to another one. Once this happens for all LED's, the red LED's no longer light up and computer boots up normally. Is this the expected behavior on Asus motherboards? Or is it an indication that something might be wrong?

Apart from these issues, the PC seems to be running fine. I have finished installing Windows and so far haven't seen any problems.

Since it's a new build, I feel that it would be best to send it back and get a replacement, just to be safe. I have bought it on Amazon, but have no experience with their return process, or Asus's warranty. Would they honor it? Or is it something that they could claim was caused by mishandling the motherboard? I honestly can't tell if the fault was there when I received it, as I noticed it only after the whole build was finished.

I would be really grateful for some advice here. Thanks!

 

[techgeek]

I am assuming the cap you're referring to is a radial electrolytic capacitor and not a SMD cap. If the cap isn't soldered close to the motherboard, the legs will bend fairly easier. Can you see underneath the cap? If so, make sure that one of the legs isn't broken.

As for the LED's, I can't see specifically, but I would bet that each lights up during POST. If the board fails to POST, the LED left on will give you an indication of the problem keeping the motherboard from POSTing. This behavior should be detailed in the motherboard manual.

As for returning the motherboard, I would certain tell you to do so if one of the cap legs are broken. If it's not, but you are really concerned, then return it. Obviously it's not going to flex or break if you stop touching it, so it's really up to you.

 

[teaandcigarettes]

Thanks for the reply techgeek!

To be honest, I probably shouldn't have called it a "capacitor". Frankly, I have no idea what it actually is. It has a black plastic cap and copper sides. Here's a photo of it.

As you can see it appears slightly twisted. You can't see it from the top, but it seems like one of its sides is higher than another. It's difficult to say if one of its legs is broken or not, due to it being really small. But from touching it earlier I could tell that if I were not careful, I would have been able to lift it up, which makes me think that one of the connections is probably broken.

 

[techgeek]

That is a coil / choke / inductor. Essentially a wire wrapped around a ferrite core. On motherboards they are used to filter power or used in crystal oscillator circuits. It looks like the later since I can see a crystal right below it. It probably supplies the clock signal to that Realtek IC right above it. The Realtek IC is likely your sound chip.

It may have been soldered with one leg out more than the other which is why it moves. As long as the leg isn't broken you should be alright. However you could always send an e-mail to ASUS with your picture and explain what you've found and see what they have to say. I have never personally had to deal with ASUS technical support, but I've heard that e-mails can go unanswered.

Let us know what you decide, and if you do decide to e-mail ASUS, let us know what their response is or lack thereof.