[olug] Bad Caps = Bad Motherboard = OLUG Downtime

[Rob Townley]

How did you find out about this?
Was it that obvious that something was wrong with the capacitors?
Did the capacitors smell?

On 5/27/05, Jon Larsen <relayer at levania.org> wrote:
> Back in the late 1990s, a formula for a new electrolyte for capacitors
> was stolen from a superconductor manufacturer.  It was used to make
> capacitors, many of which wound up in many popular motherboards.  The
> formula was not complete, and was flawed. Over time, the 'faulty'
> capacitors started to exhibit behavior of producing incorrectly, or
> erratic voltage to the CPU (as the caps are used mostly in the voltage
> regulator module or VRM).
> 
> The Capacitors bulge and leak electrolyte over time.  One indicator of
> this is the toroid choke in the VRM may show scorching or heat stress.
> 
> The motherboard from the OLUG box had such capacitors, which caused the
> failure last Sunday night.
> Pictures can be viewed at <http://www.olug.org/albums/badmobo/>
> 
> So, one thing to take away from this is when you do your regular dusting
> and clean out of your PCs, check the caps, choke, and board surface for
> any irregularities.  You may save your data.  You do clean out your PCs,
> right?  If not, check your fan exits and intakes, plus your CPU heatsink.
> 
> A good resource:
> http://www.badcaps.net/
> 
> 
> But, backups are always your first line of integrity.
> 
> Jon L.
> 
> --
> Jon H. Larsen  - relayer \at\ levania \dot\ org
> Omaha Linux Users Group - http://www.olug.org/
> AnimeSunday.org - http://www.animesunday.org/
> ICQ#: 10412618 - http://www.levania.org/~relayer/
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