[OPLINTECH] Dell motherboard issues

[Chad Neeper]

Colleen,

To refresh myself on some of the details of the whole bad capacitor
saga, I followed some of the external links provided by Wikipedia. I was
disappointed to discover that this issue may have been around since as
early as 1999 and that the reason why we're still seeing the problem,
even on newer equipment may be because the bad electrolytic formula may
still be in production with some less reputable component manufacturers.
...and perhaps even more disturbing...some of the manufacturers we trust
to buy our equipment from are still buying bad caps from these
untrustworthy component manufacturers.

To the defense of the OEM manufacturers, they would have had absolutely
no idea they were being sold bad capacitors at first. However, if this
has been an issue since 1999 (I know from my own experience that it's
been around for at least five years) and these OEMs are still buying
from component manufacturers known to be selling bad components...
What's that old saying?  Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice,
shame on me.   Why are the OEMs still buying from these component
manufacturers?

Sadly, I predict we're going to be seeing this same problem for many
years to come. The only thing I can suggest is to do what I do: Whenever
you open up a computer for whatever reason, make it a habit to check the
capacitors. It's fast and usually very easy to see a current or looming
problem. The capacitors should look like a miniture 55-gallon drum
sitting on end:  round with a flat top and bottom. Capacitors with a
vent (sometimes an X or a line or a K, or some such stamped on the top)
will tend to bubble and leak at the top. (Hint: If you're not, and it
hasn't leaked, you can sometimes feel a slight bubble with your finger.)
That's an obvious sign of a bad component. Caps without a vent may
bubble at the bottom, causing the capacitor to sit at an angle on the
circuit board. This is another visible sign to watch for. Of course, you
can still have a bad cap even with no visible sign, but in my
experience, usually the bubbling will precede the
crashes/lockups/freezes/etc. when it comes to bad caps on computer
mainboards.

If you see the bubbling and your computer is still under warranty, get
it fixed before your warranty expires. Even if you haven't had any
computer problems yet, you will!


I hope this post helps someone out there avoid some headaches.

Chad

-----------------------
Chad Neeper
Senior Systems Engineer

Level 9 Networks
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

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