Do you agree this capactor is leaking? (pic included)

[chookey]

If you decide to replace the caps go for good quality ones with a low ripple current. I tend to favour those from Panasonic.

Also make sure you use 105° caps rather than the 85° ones.

However, imo this is unlikely to effect a repair for your problem. Leaky caps usually result in a reduction of power being available to the relevant circuit. Your hard drive going up in smoke seems to indicate a short, overvoltage or electrical spike.

[pcpickup]

We only replace caps in special situations as mentioned to save from reloading windows. As long as the machine was just having issues such as BSOD replacing caps usually works. But if the caps have been bad for a while I assume that the value of the caps changing as they went bad caused damage to the circuits making changing the caps pointless.

[joydivision]

I am probably just going to suggest a new build and use his almost new hard drive in it, there will be over a year warranty remaining so I could use that and still provide a full warranty on the machine.

I agree its not worth fixing the board or replacing it, because I would want to change that damn Colors IT PSU too.

[Knightsman]

If this is a custom PC, you can swap in a new board and not void Microsofts agreement. I forget the links, but I check it everytime I need to do it. I have multiple business customers that I have setup with OEM copies of windows, and have verified it was within the agreement.

If your referring to an OEM in a sense of HP, Sony, Dell, Toshiba, then yes, you have to stick with same exact hardware.

actually, here is a good link:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...b-d8d9003f9246

[Cadishead Computers]

You can replace the mobo Ian, and have it activated.

It does not need to be the exact same chipset etc. Chances are as you have stated that you cannot get the same chipset.

M$ would not class this as a upgrade, as your replacing the board due to a fault on the mobo. Not like, you want to upgrade the mobo because you can.

From memory, it has to be the same chipset, but in cases such as yours where this is not possible, as long as it is not a major upgrade your fine, and the activation will proceed with no issues.

The only thing I can forsee, is ensuring that the new boards front panel connectors are in the same place, else a new case may also be required.

[joydivision]

Spoke to my client and I think money is not really an issue so he wants me to go ahead with a new build using the nearly new hard drive

It was a custom built PC with the cheapest crap of everything.

He wants a nice new I5 system .

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

Glad to hear it is working out for you. Now build him a high quality rig you can stand behind!

[joydivision]

Always do, nothing but Asus/Gigabyte boards, Corsair Power supplies etc >

The box shifters want a lot of money for desktops too atm, so there is decent profit in it, for the first time since around 2005, the only problem is the market is now very limited.

[Mr.Mike]

Congrats on getting the new build job!