What is a Capacitor?

A capacitor is a component made of two or sets of two conductive plates with a thin insulator between them and wrapped in a ceramic and plastic container. When the capacitor receives a DC (direct current), a positive charge builds up on the plate (or set of plates) while a negative charge builds up on the other. This charge, which is measured in microfarads on a computer capacitor, remains in the capacitor until it is discharged. In the image, is an example of what a capacitor may look like on a computer motherboard.

Electrolytic capacitor on a computer motherboard-

Another common type of capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor, a higher capacitance capacitor in a smaller package. The picture to the bottom right is an example of these types of capacitors.

Like any other component in a computer, capacitors can fail, and when they do can cause the computer or the component to fail. When a motherboard capacitor fails the computer will no longer boot. Either the capacitor needs to be replaced or a new motherboard needs to be put in the computer.

The picture below is an example of an ABIT VP6 motherboard with blown capacitors and one example of how a capacitor may fail. Blown capacitors can be replaced, but for most users replacing the motherboard is often the easiest solution-  

Socket-

When referring to a processor, a CPU socket or processor socket is a connection that allows a computer processor to connect to a motherboard. For example, the Socket 370 is an example of such a socket. The picture shows an example of what a socket may look like on a motherboard. Although there were computers that used the slot processor, most computers today and in the past have used socket processors.

Why would I need to know the socket on my motherboard?

The processor socket helps determine what computer processors your computer motherboard can accept. For example, a socket 1 processor is not compatible with a Socket 370 because of the pin layout and the technology differences used in each socket.