any IT people have stories about mass failures of capacitors on motherboards or in other electronics?

I find this really interesting

10/12/2010 11:53:07 AM

I can't speak of mass failures, but in my lab we've had 3 identical model video cards all fail in the exact same way featuring the same swollen capacitors. I don't know if the capacitors were a cause or a symptom, but it's the first time I've seen identical failures across multiple parts.

10/12/2010 11:55:13 AM

I certain model of HP computers was plagued with this issue after about 3 years in use. We happened to deploy a few thousand of them at the time. Every other HP model we've ever had here has been rock solid though.

10/12/2010 12:11:34 PM

If you're seeing bulging capacitors it is definitely the plague

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

the failure is the result of an incorrect electrolyte solution reacting with aluminum in the capacitor and creating hydrogen gas

more info:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/leaking-capacitors-muck-up-motherboards

and page 6 of the Nov-Dec issue of Passive Component Industry Magazine
http://www.passivecomponentmagazine.com/files/archives/2002/PCI_02_06Nov-Dec.pdf

10/12/2010 12:13:13 PM

Yeah, we had to replace a good number of switches due to a bad batch of capaciters.

10/12/2010 1:07:55 PM

I had two different NVidia cards blew multiple caps (same ones on both cards). Definitely the plague as it popped the ends open and the "cotton candy" on the inside leaked out.

10/14/2010 1:07:37 AM

this is why you should use polypro caps in important shit

10/14/2010 2:38:40 AM

^ Do you have any idea what you're talking about?

10/14/2010 9:24:42 AM

knowing vinylbandit pretty well.... no

10/16/2010 2:56:51 PM

this thread is timely.

need to replace my board as it has died a slow death due to this.

10/16/2010 5:16:54 PM

i know that i've had to replace a shit-ton of electrolytic caps

and never had to replace a polypropylene one

so there's that

10/17/2010 12:58:29 AM

yeah it is because of that incomplete electrolyte fluid formula reacting with aluminum

all the result of some industrial espionage in Asia

10/17/2010 10:35:44 AM

^^product of shitty parts

10/17/2010 12:05:36 PM

my Vizio TV.

See this thread for info on my model: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1144151


Currently working on it right now.

10 main capacitors on it, several of them have busted the caps off the top. Going to solder on new caps when i have time.

10/17/2010 12:08:23 PM

killer

I really love the idea of fixing stuff instead of throwing it away

10/17/2010 12:29:22 PM

I have about 5 NVidia cards with this problem. It's funny that I actually received a class action suit notice in the mail, but this problem wasn't even vaguely mentioned.

I also have a Gigabyte GA-965P DS3 v3.3 that apparently has issues and I've convinced myself I saw a cap rolling around in my case at one point, but the board kept working and I never found a place where it could have came from. Now it's dead and I'm trying to convince them to RMA it because it started dying under warranty in Jan '10.

10/18/2010 8:27:39 AM