* Bob Proulx <b...@proulx.com> [121211 00:51]: > How old is your * motherboard? Could it be suffering from the bad > capacitor * problems of the last decade? Are any of the caps bulging? > This * has been a terrible problem for many motherboards and LCD > * monitors. There were several years there that were very bad. Older * > were fine. Newer after they addressed the issue is fine. But * within > those years there were huge problems with bad caps.
Was that only a decade ago? I recall a number of front-page and cover articles on the subject in "Electronic Engineering Times", "EDN", and "Electronic Design". And the problem involved some of the most reputable motherboards of the day, including Tyan. When I picked up the old-style (linear regulator) wall-mount power supply of an ADSL modem, I heard a rattle inside, so I suspected that the supply had become a fire hazard. Rather than simply tossing the supply into the dumpster, I sawed open the case. Inside, I discovered a radial-lead (that is, parallel-lead) electrolytic which had bulged on the bottom (at the rubber seal), rather than tearing open at the score marks on top. (The score marks are not decorative; they are designed to act as a pressure-relief mechanism.) The pressure exerted by the bottom of the capacitor against the circuit board caused the capacitor leads to pull out of the solder globs on the circuit board, leaving a pair of open holes. The rattle was caused by the capacitor, which was loose inside the case. RH -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20121211011216.ga5...@gospelbroadcasting.org
