Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
2 Posts
0
24508
November 1st, 2011 09:00
Bulging capacitor on SAS 5/ir Raid Card in SC1430 Server
Server was purchased 11/2006. Just a heads up on this. Server kept hanging at starting OS screen. Initial POST and bootup was acting flaky and halting and attempt to access disk for diagnostics were actiing sluggish and performing poorly. On a hunch I pulled the SAS card and everything got much more responsive as far as initial POST. Upon close inspection of the card, I noticed the "rear" capacitor (the green one by the heatsink) was bulging. I unfortunately have another client that has an identical server purchased within days of this server and I imagine they will start having problem too so I am going to get to that server ahead of time and examine the card. I will follow-up with what I find.
skylarking
2 Intern
•
548 Posts
0
November 22nd, 2011 00:00
As a background, the electronics industry was having a hard time in 2005 due to massive issue with faulty capacitors used in the manufacture of all sorts of gadgets. Products from TVs to PCs were impacted but Dell was stung particularly badly due to a class action claiming they knowingly sold products containing these faulty capacitors. From my understanding, the Dell impact was some $300M USD and mainly impacted Optiplex desktop systems circa 2005. Usually the fault manifested itself after 12-24 months of use. Other PC manufacturers somehow avoided any class action issues.
The Dell Optiplex system i had that failed with swollen nichion capacitors was quickly fixed with a new motherboard so my Dell experience was good and this helped cement my faith in the brand (but i'm no fanboy).
However the industry wide capacitor issue did not resolve itself in 2005 as some unscrupulous electronics manufacturers seemed to use bargin basement priced capacitors in all manner of product (of which i have a number of routers with faulty capacitors!!).
Your issue however seems more likely due to poor design than faulty components, in that capacitors hate heat or voltage close to their upper spec where they tend to swell and on occasion burst. Huge airflow in the Dell tradition is not the solution, better component selection is. In any case, i expect a longer server life that just 5 years!
So, it would be interesting to know what brand and type of capacitor was swollen on your SAS card and whether replacing the swollen capacitor with a new one actually fixes your issue. Or whether the issue itself was not related to the SAS card but instead some other component (HDD?).
Lets hope for some update.
ubertech99
2 Posts
0
November 22nd, 2011 06:00
Oh I am well aware of "capacitor plague" and it's impact in the PC world in general and DELL in particular. The SC1430 is a particularly well ventilated system and this system has lived its live in a fully air conditioned office environment. The system was still under warranty and replacing the card did resolve the problem. Likely replacing the capacitor alone would also resolve the problem but warranty was easier!