The thing is, not all bad capacitors have the grace to bulge to where they can be visually identified. If one is bad and they're all the same age, the rest can't be far behind. You pretty much have to replace them all, bulged or not.
Another issue comes into play, that of soldering 5~7 layer boards. That's why it's largely impractical to try reviving GX270 motherboards. At commercial rates, the board is cheaper than the labor to replace all the caps.
The 270 capacitor issue is one of conniving cost reduction and industrial espionage. An alternate process was developed. Before it was tested (and proven to be faulty) it was pirated, put into production and sold to OEMs like Dell. Capacitors do tend to be expensive. You get what you pay for. I have equipment full of capacitors which were made in 1977 or even earlier. That's 30+ years. Today's capacitors are lucky to last 30 months. But think of the money you saved!
Wow, I'm with you on the old capacitors. I have piles of salvaged equipment, power supplies and capacitors lying around that are well over 30 years old and look good as new. I still use some of them today in repairs. Today's components are JUNK in comparrison.
x_lab rat
2K Posts
0
March 29th, 2008 22:00
The thing is, not all bad capacitors have the grace to bulge to where they can be visually identified. If one is bad and they're all the same age, the rest can't be far behind. You pretty much have to replace them all, bulged or not.
Another issue comes into play, that of soldering 5~7 layer boards. That's why it's largely impractical to try reviving GX270 motherboards. At commercial rates, the board is cheaper than the labor to replace all the caps.
The 270 capacitor issue is one of conniving cost reduction and industrial espionage. An alternate process was developed. Before it was tested (and proven to be faulty) it was pirated, put into production and sold to OEMs like Dell. Capacitors do tend to be expensive. You get what you pay for. I have equipment full of capacitors which were made in 1977 or even earlier. That's 30+ years. Today's capacitors are lucky to last 30 months. But think of the money you saved!
5150Guy
446 Posts
0
March 30th, 2008 17:00
x_lab rat
Wow, I'm with you on the old capacitors. I have piles of salvaged equipment, power supplies and capacitors lying around that are well over 30 years old and look good as new. I still use some of them today in repairs. Today's components are JUNK in comparrison.
5150Guy