11 Sep 2003, 01:41, Greg Easthom (1:153/7715), wrote to Matt Mc_Carthy:

Hi Greg.

 MM>>  JH> AFAIK those bulging top caps are likely a sign of impending 
 MM>>  JH> death,

 MM>> The bulging caps are caused by age, drying out of the
 MM>> electrolyte, and high temperature.  Lots of factors enter
 MM>> the picture.  All electrolytics dry out with age, starting
 MM>> from the assembly line and warehouse storage!

 GE> And failures can sometimes be caused by (ahem) "other" factors...

 GE> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

 GE> (c)Yu-Tzu Chiu (Taipei) & Samuel K. Moore
 GE> URL: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org (Modified: 31 January 2003)

 GE> FAULTS & FAILURES

 GE> Leaking Capacitors Muck up Motherboards

 GE> Finger-pointing and fury as manufacturers try to dodge blame
..................

 GE> boards say that they have encountered crippled motherboards from
 GE> Micro-Star International, ASUSTek Computer, Gigabyte Technology,
 GE> and others.
..............................

I'll add Soyo to that list...   :-((

 GE> Most of the leaking capacitors pulled from bad boards in the
 GE> United States, according to repair people, were labeled Tayeh,
 GE> not a brand affiliated with known capacitor makers. Many others
 GE> were unmarked.

The two I have here that temporarily 'killed' my Soyo board _are_ the
"Tayeh" brand, but there are nine more of the same ones in that
one bunch that are still running perfectly.  

Three that killed my power suppply are "nichicon", which has been
one of my 'most trusted' brands for many years.  

The capacitors that I've been replacing on the Soyo P2/P3 boards  for my
dealer are "Wendell" brand, and they are _always_ in the same
physical location on the MB, while 12 others nearby, all of identical size
and value, have never failed (yet).  I've been replacing those since 1998,
so whatever really is the problem, seems it might pre-date the electrolyte
discussion.

Thanks for the article, it _IS_ interesting and I'm forwarding it to him right now!


     Thanks, M.

--- Msged/386 TE 06 (pre)