First post, by Kahenraz
- Rank
- l33t
I had ordered some memory from eBay and one of them had a missing SMD capacitor. But looks can be deceiving! With a close inspection under a microscope I also found that a second capacitor had also been damaged and was separating from the board.
It's impossible to know the correct value for SMD components but there was a good chance due to its location that the missing capacitor would match the value of the one which was damaged but still connected. I was able to lift the damaged component from the board and measure it with a capacitance meter to closely match 100nF (0.1uF). This was most likely the correct value even though it was slightly damaged.
Due to how ceramic capacitors are constructed in layers, the loss of a layer due to minor damage will not always cause a dead short but simply lower the capacitance. This is not always a guarantee so the component should always be measured and its value considered with good judgment.