A very common problem I see with computers that are more than a year old is blown capacitors. OK Paul, what the heck is a capacitor and how does it blow up?
Capacitors are electronic components found on motherboards, power supplies, LCD monitors, video cards and other components in the computer. The Capacitors actually have metal and liquid inside to store electricity. The capacitors store electricity, then discharge, then store and so on. They take a beating.
The capacitors also get hot as they run, and over time that also takes its toll. Capacitors have an estimated life, rated in hours. What happens, as the computer ages, the hard working “caps” (as we call them) get tired and run down.
The tops of the caps are scored, so when they decide to fail, instead of exploding, the top pops open, like a jiffy pop container. Many times you can see an oozing of the liquid after it dries. Many times is looks red/brown/orange and kind of rusty.
The rusty ooze, and the rounded over top, all make it very easy to see and know right off the bat if that is the problem. Every computer that comes into the shop gets a full visual inspection “under the hood” and a good thorough cleaning to get the dust buffalo out.
The one problem is that they do not always show on the top that they failed. They can fail on the bottom, or just internally and they have not yet oozed their death certificate. I have a new tester that will test even the “good looking” caps and make sure they have not gone bad.
Capacitors can be replaced, but it is costly to remove the motherboard, unsolder all the caps and replace them, then reassemble everything. You really need to replace all the same type caps because the rest of them will probably go soon, and why not just replace them all while you are in there?
Since the systems this is happening to are usually several years old, putting a couple hours of labor into an old machine is not really economical. The problem is, you fix that issue, then in a couple months the power supply goes, then the hard drive.
There is nothing really to prevent this from happening; it is really a manufacturing defect. The one thing I have found is that the cheaper motherboard brands, many found in the HP, Dell, Compaq computers are usually suspect to this problem. Using higher quality motherboards and parts goes a long way in extending the life of a computer.
Some of the symptoms of the Capacitor Plague; spontaneous rebooting, computer locks up in the middle of doing stuff, blue screen of death, bad video, memory errors, and the computer won’t even boot up.
For those of you who feel a little geeky now, there is even a name for this. Capacitor Plague! I kid you not. If you really want to get your geek on, check out more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
Capacitors are electronic components found on motherboards, power supplies, LCD monitors, video cards and other components in the computer. The Capacitors actually have metal and liquid inside to store electricity. The capacitors store electricity, then discharge, then store and so on. They take a beating.
The capacitors also get hot as they run, and over time that also takes its toll. Capacitors have an estimated life, rated in hours. What happens, as the computer ages, the hard working “caps” (as we call them) get tired and run down.
The tops of the caps are scored, so when they decide to fail, instead of exploding, the top pops open, like a jiffy pop container. Many times you can see an oozing of the liquid after it dries. Many times is looks red/brown/orange and kind of rusty.
The rusty ooze, and the rounded over top, all make it very easy to see and know right off the bat if that is the problem. Every computer that comes into the shop gets a full visual inspection “under the hood” and a good thorough cleaning to get the dust buffalo out.
The one problem is that they do not always show on the top that they failed. They can fail on the bottom, or just internally and they have not yet oozed their death certificate. I have a new tester that will test even the “good looking” caps and make sure they have not gone bad.
Capacitors can be replaced, but it is costly to remove the motherboard, unsolder all the caps and replace them, then reassemble everything. You really need to replace all the same type caps because the rest of them will probably go soon, and why not just replace them all while you are in there?
Since the systems this is happening to are usually several years old, putting a couple hours of labor into an old machine is not really economical. The problem is, you fix that issue, then in a couple months the power supply goes, then the hard drive.
There is nothing really to prevent this from happening; it is really a manufacturing defect. The one thing I have found is that the cheaper motherboard brands, many found in the HP, Dell, Compaq computers are usually suspect to this problem. Using higher quality motherboards and parts goes a long way in extending the life of a computer.
Some of the symptoms of the Capacitor Plague; spontaneous rebooting, computer locks up in the middle of doing stuff, blue screen of death, bad video, memory errors, and the computer won’t even boot up.
For those of you who feel a little geeky now, there is even a name for this. Capacitor Plague! I kid you not. If you really want to get your geek on, check out more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
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