Anyone hear about "bursting capacitors"

mrenaud · 2005-06-03, 07:55 PM

Think I may have found my hardway troubles.....appears the verticle capacitors on my motherboard are leaking..

Anybody hear of this happening?
Apparently there are some lawsuits abotu this...

josho · 2005-06-05, 06:26 AM

{begin totally unrelated story} When I was in an electronic repair class, this idiot put capacitors in each socket on a long AC power strip, then plugged it into the wall. It was a very interesting experience -- about had a heart attack -- because I wasn't expecting it. {/end story}

Back to your topic:

I have read a few articles on your issue, because I had a friend with the same problem. Do you know if your MB is [was?] ABIT, MSI or something else?

here are some links that may help: [had them bookmarked for my buddy.]

http://www.abitsettlement.com/
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=195
http://theinquirer.net/?article=17075

They must have been buying cheap ass caps to cut costs, who knows. good luck though. I'd just replace it and then try to bitch your way into a refund or replacement.

Josh

Jim · 2005-06-05, 06:34 AM

I know it happens to drunks noses

cd34 · 2005-06-05, 08:17 AM

Ultimately, 41 of 45 machines of a certain series that I had purchased failed within the first year.

http://www.reed-electronics.com/elec...ine=e%2Dinsite

The story I heard was that an engineer left one company to start his own and got the formula wrong.

http://cd34.com/caps/mid_dsc01825.jpg (power supply that smelled like old coffee)
http://cd34.com/caps/mid_mvc-252f.jpg (this was the result of an unusual failure)

I never really took a picture of a failed capacitor because I didn't think much about it. I know when it first started, I was on the phone with their engineers, they were blaming heat, they blamed the bad power supply (although they supplied it), they blamed improper installation, etc. When I showed them that article, every warranty was extended to two years, and I really haven't had any problems since.

wicked1 · 2005-06-05, 03:39 PM

I've had the misfortune of seeing a few go off over the years, All of the burst capacitors I've seen to date are in PC POWER Supplies.
When they go off they can sound like a Pistol Shot. And despite thier thin metal casings they can leave rather deep dents in the thick metal power supply caseing.
if you were using your pc without a case cover and a motherboard capacitor exploded they can easily blind you if hit in the eye.

sometimes they just Fizz and go up in an acrid black or blue smoke .

Regards,

Wicked1

mrenaud · 2005-06-06, 06:43 PM

Quote:

The story I heard was that an engineer left one company to start his own and got the formula wrong.

Heard the same thing.......I found some pictures of bad capacitators and my board looks exactly like the pics. So replacement on the way..

Btw my motherboard that went was a WinFast K7.

cd34 · 2005-06-06, 07:28 PM

I lost 40 of 44 Supermicro 370SSEs and 1 of 1 370DER.

bater · 2005-06-07, 07:37 AM

Which companys would u say have the best motherboards.I have been using Machspeed and MSI and I have only had one board go bad on me from those two companies.

cd34 · 2005-06-07, 11:46 AM

Since discovering the problem, and knowing what to look for, I haven't seen any problems on any boards since. SuperMicro is still my favorite -- huge installed base, they usually win the supply contracts for Dell, so, you know that their boards are out there and that problems will get fixed quickly. They are one of 7 board foundaries in the world.

Tyan is another favorite. They are another of the 7 board foundaries in the world. I do not like Tyan's lack of support for lmsensors and compatible i2c chips, so, our use of them is extremely limited. Only a few Opteron machines and a few P4 machines.

I've had a few MSIs -- those got replaced and thrown away pretty quickly because of strange chipset issues. I don't recall exactly what the end solution was, but, it dealt with the paging of memory when a machine had more than 512mb RAM. A tweak of the kernel fixed it, but, that was a painful problem to find.

Fido · 2005-06-08, 03:26 AM

About a year ago I had a problem with my computer, it randomly crashed. I tried to change everything, but nothing helped. Then I have read some page about convexed capacitors on the boards which may cause such a problems. I bought a soldering iron and a few capacitors and replaced them and guess what ... it works without any problems

Then I looked at the other motherboards I own and at all of them there was any bad capacitors. The manufacturers must use the cheapest capacitors on the market I think to lower the price of the final product.

2005-06-03, 07:55 PM	#1
mrenaud If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 240	Anyone hear about "bursting capacitors" Think I may have found my hardway troubles.....appears the verticle capacitors on my motherboard are leaking.. Anybody hear of this happening? Apparently there are some lawsuits abotu this... __________________ Lets trade A-B-C links Lots of blogs ready to trade pr2 -pr3...pm me now!

2005-06-05, 06:26 AM	#2
josho A woman is like beer. They look good, they smell good, and you'd step over your own mother just to get one! Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 56	{begin totally unrelated story} When I was in an electronic repair class, this idiot put capacitors in each socket on a long AC power strip, then plugged it into the wall. It was a very interesting experience -- about had a heart attack -- because I wasn't expecting it. {/end story} Back to your topic: I have read a few articles on your issue, because I had a friend with the same problem. Do you know if your MB is [was?] ABIT, MSI or something else? here are some links that may help: [had them bookmarked for my buddy.] http://www.abitsettlement.com/ http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=195 http://theinquirer.net/?article=17075 They must have been buying cheap ass caps to cut costs, who knows. good luck though. I'd just replace it and then try to bitch your way into a refund or replacement. Josh __________________ Submit your high quality freesites to my categorized list of free porn sites.

2005-06-05, 08:17 AM	#4
cd34 a.k.a. Sparky Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: West Palm Beach, FL, USA Posts: 2,396	Ultimately, 41 of 45 machines of a certain series that I had purchased failed within the first year. http://www.reed-electronics.com/elec...ine=e%2Dinsite The story I heard was that an engineer left one company to start his own and got the formula wrong. http://cd34.com/caps/mid_dsc01825.jpg (power supply that smelled like old coffee) http://cd34.com/caps/mid_mvc-252f.jpg (this was the result of an unusual failure) I never really took a picture of a failed capacitor because I didn't think much about it. I know when it first started, I was on the phone with their engineers, they were blaming heat, they blamed the bad power supply (although they supplied it), they blamed improper installation, etc. When I showed them that article, every warranty was extended to two years, and I really haven't had any problems since. __________________ SnapReplay.com a different way to share photos - iPhone & Android

2005-06-06, 07:28 PM	#7
cd34 a.k.a. Sparky Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: West Palm Beach, FL, USA Posts: 2,396	I lost 40 of 44 Supermicro 370SSEs and 1 of 1 370DER. __________________ SnapReplay.com a different way to share photos - iPhone & Android

2005-06-07, 11:46 AM	#9
cd34 a.k.a. Sparky Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: West Palm Beach, FL, USA Posts: 2,396	Since discovering the problem, and knowing what to look for, I haven't seen any problems on any boards since. SuperMicro is still my favorite -- huge installed base, they usually win the supply contracts for Dell, so, you know that their boards are out there and that problems will get fixed quickly. They are one of 7 board foundaries in the world. Tyan is another favorite. They are another of the 7 board foundaries in the world. I do not like Tyan's lack of support for lmsensors and compatible i2c chips, so, our use of them is extremely limited. Only a few Opteron machines and a few P4 machines. I've had a few MSIs -- those got replaced and thrown away pretty quickly because of strange chipset issues. I don't recall exactly what the end solution was, but, it dealt with the paging of memory when a machine had more than 512mb RAM. A tweak of the kernel fixed it, but, that was a painful problem to find. __________________ SnapReplay.com a different way to share photos - iPhone & Android

2005-06-05, 06:34 AM	#3
Jim Banned Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Mohawk, New York Posts: 19,477	I know it happens to drunks noses

2005-06-05, 03:39 PM	#5
wicked1 I'm going to the backseat of my car with the woman I love, and I won't be back for TEN MINUTES Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 82	I've had the misfortune of seeing a few go off over the years, All of the burst capacitors I've seen to date are in PC POWER Supplies. When they go off they can sound like a Pistol Shot. And despite thier thin metal casings they can leave rather deep dents in the thick metal power supply caseing. if you were using your pc without a case cover and a motherboard capacitor exploded they can easily blind you if hit in the eye. sometimes they just Fizz and go up in an acrid black or blue smoke . Regards, Wicked1

2005-06-07, 07:37 AM	#8
bater If something goes wrong at the plant, blame the guy who can't speak English Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 34	Which companys would u say have the best motherboards.I have been using Machspeed and MSI and I have only had one board go bad on me from those two companies.

2005-06-08, 03:26 AM	#10
Fido And Lord, we are especially thankful for nuclear power, the cleanest, safest energy source there is. Except for solar, which is just a pipe dream Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 229	About a year ago I had a problem with my computer, it randomly crashed. I tried to change everything, but nothing helped. Then I have read some page about convexed capacitors on the boards which may cause such a problems. I bought a soldering iron and a few capacitors and replaced them and guess what ... it works without any problems Then I looked at the other motherboards I own and at all of them there was any bad capacitors. The manufacturers must use the cheapest capacitors on the market I think to lower the price of the final product.