The problem of bad capacitors which essentially swell up and vent their electrolyte all over the board, sometimes damaging it, is a known problem with many motherboards, using many different brands of capacitors. The problem started sometime in 2001.
I thought the problem had been fixed by 2003, but a Dell GX270 at work--which is only a year old--had capacitors which had vented. That motherboard was replaced recently. Dell admitted that these motherboards have the bad capacitors.
As a result of that motherboard replacement, I did a Google search and found http://www.badcaps.net -- and discovered that it's not just motherboards, other electronics such as DVD players and TVs have this problem too.
So I took my DVD player apart to check it.
One of the capacitors on the power supply board has a bulging top. It's on the verge of venting. This DVD player is only about 3 years old. Once that capacitor vents, the DVD player isn't going to work right.
I've already ordered new capacitors of a reputable brand (Nichicon) and will be replacing them. I need to replace about 6 capacitors, they were about 80 cents each.
Reportedly, the story behind the bad capacitors is that some companies decided to steal an electrolyte formula from a competitor, but the formula wasn't complete. The formula is apparently missing components which prevent gas-buildup, resulting in the capacitor venting, ruining it. These problems mainly show up in low-ESR/low impedance capacitors of the type used in switching power supplies.
Cost-cutting resulting in cheaper electronics was supposed to result in the decline of component-level repairs, but in this case, component-level repairs are often the cheapest and quickest repair. The capacitor problems are nothing but the result of cost-cutting...and it's interesting just how many different off-brand capacitor manufacturers have the same problem.
I thought the problem had been fixed by 2003, but a Dell GX270 at work--which is only a year old--had capacitors which had vented. That motherboard was replaced recently. Dell admitted that these motherboards have the bad capacitors.
As a result of that motherboard replacement, I did a Google search and found http://www.badcaps.net -- and discovered that it's not just motherboards, other electronics such as DVD players and TVs have this problem too.
So I took my DVD player apart to check it.
One of the capacitors on the power supply board has a bulging top. It's on the verge of venting. This DVD player is only about 3 years old. Once that capacitor vents, the DVD player isn't going to work right.
I've already ordered new capacitors of a reputable brand (Nichicon) and will be replacing them. I need to replace about 6 capacitors, they were about 80 cents each.
Reportedly, the story behind the bad capacitors is that some companies decided to steal an electrolyte formula from a competitor, but the formula wasn't complete. The formula is apparently missing components which prevent gas-buildup, resulting in the capacitor venting, ruining it. These problems mainly show up in low-ESR/low impedance capacitors of the type used in switching power supplies.
Cost-cutting resulting in cheaper electronics was supposed to result in the decline of component-level repairs, but in this case, component-level repairs are often the cheapest and quickest repair. The capacitor problems are nothing but the result of cost-cutting...and it's interesting just how many different off-brand capacitor manufacturers have the same problem.
