"h.godavari" wrote in message
...
Is there an easy way of testing the capacitors on a motherboard (without
elaborate equipment)? These are electrolytic caps on a computer mother
board(MS 6380E). thanks for your help.
regards
hg


Aside from the rated capacitance value, the ESR (Equivalent Series
Resistance) is probably the single most important characteristic of a
capacitor used in a switch mode power supply/regulator.
I heartily recommend that you invest in an ESR meter. There are a number of
different models and types available. Bob Parker designed and sold a
well-known and widely used kit a number of years ago, one of which I have
been using for several years with great results.
Here are a few links to get you started:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/esrmeter.htm
http://mainelectronics.com/esrkit.htm
http://www.flippers.com/esrktmtr.html
http://www.howardelectronics.com/ieinc/cwinfo.html

Different people aspire to different models, depending on personal
preference, but in the end, they all do the job quite well if used properly.
While there is no absolute value for the ESR of a particular type and value
of capacitor, some manufacturers do publish the maximum ESR values of
certain lines of their capacitors. You'll have to surf the mfr's sites to
find those.

Good luck!
--
"In theory, there isn't any difference between theory and practice. In
practice, there is." - Yogi Berra

Dave M
masondg44 at comcast dot net