Using a BoardViewer  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: M1ch4L
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 04, 2020, 12:03:52 am
content: Hello.I need help. A friends notebook with motherboard X553SA rev 2.0 it´s completely dead. No power light, no charging. I checked the MB and found some bad smd caps on it … BUT I cant identify them … by the way I must say I am a beginner in repairing … so I was looking around on the net and found BoardViewer , this shows all the components on the MB with Pins and some more Info, Data … I was so happybut only for short timeMy first question is what means this info /NBS_C0805_H57_000S/ about the capacitor? What I know 0805 is the measurement … Is there somewhere a table about about the voltage and farad?Next question is how can I use the check points on the board? I see when I sign one check point in the BoardViewer, some other points, pins are lighting up too … Thanks!I attach one picture with this bad cap on BoardViewer:

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2020, 12:23:56 am
content: Board viewer only shows the layout, you also need a schematic.But in this this case you can see that the cap is between the ground and voltage line of the DDR. It can probably be safely removed. If something does not work without it, then it is likely something else is broken too.

author: M1ch4L
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 04, 2020, 12:57:04 am
content: Thanks for your fast reply!I try to find the schematic ...So probably the notebook can work normally without this NBS_C0805_H57_000S capacitor?The next bad one is this:

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2020, 01:36:58 am
content: It is hard to guess from the signal names.But generally for digital electronics if the capacitor goes to ground, it is likely that is alone is not important for the operation of the device. As long as you don't just remove all of them.Also, how do you know they are bad?

author: M1ch4L
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 04, 2020, 08:35:21 pm
content: Ok, thanks for the lesson.I checked the capacitors only with continuity test /beep test/ but now that you ask I have a feeling that its not the right way to check them … or?

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2020, 08:52:59 pm
content: Quote from: M1ch4L on February 04, 2020, 08:35:21 pmCapacitor is open to DC, so continuity tester will not show anything useful apart from the possible initial blip when capacitor is charging. But for small capacitors you won't see anything.If the meter shows that capacitor is shorted, for example, then there is a chance that it is bad. There is also a chance that it is actually across some low resistance circuit.If you have a reason to suspect the capacitor (visual indicators), and it shows as shorted, then it makes sense to remove it and measure the PCB again. If the short goes away, then capacitor is at fault. If the short stays, then capacitor was fine.Generally fixing laptops without a schematic is not going to lead anywhere. And even with the schematic it may not be trivial.

author: thinkfat
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 04, 2020, 09:10:30 pm
content: How do you know the other capacitor is also kaputt, did you already remove the first one? Is it "a wire", as Jessa from IpadRehab would call it? If both the capacitors are on the same line, you cannot tell with just diode mode or continuity tester which one is bad. Do you see any sign of damage on the capacitors?