[olug] Bad Caps = Bad Motherboard = OLUG Downtime

[Jon Larsen]

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/
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