Another case of selling capasitors ??

[Rick]

He is a poor photo of the video card I removed from the kids computer

Does anyone else think this is a case of those swelling capacitors that caused so much trouble a while ago ?

http://home.wi.rr.com/nasons/swelling_capaitors.gif

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Well, after saving to disk and enlarging the photo, the caps seem bulged somewhat, but the norm for problems is leaking electrolyte which is not obvious.

Looks fine from here

[Rick]

I pulled the card when it started going dead .
The display would refresh a few times. ( go black then redisplay)
As if it was doing a normal refresh But Very slowly

Then go out completely and the display went blank and showed no signal on the monitor front panel and screen

Maybe I got to them before they leaked and caused real damage ?

Oh well new card in due in this morning.
Have to love that UPS RED :)

[jlreich]

Even if they are not leaking yet they are bad. If bulging is occurring it means there is something wrong with the electrolyte formula causing gases to build up inside the cap.

Moral of the story, if you see anything abnormal with a cap replace it or the whole board. You don't want it to start leaking at the rubber seal on the bottom or out of the top or side.

Does anyone else think this is a case of those swelling capacitors that caused so much trouble a while ago
From what I understand there are still some of those caps around and still being used on new components. :eek:

[Rick]

It's in the bin .
Ready for the recycle collection day to come around ( hazardous material ) ??

No More just placing stuff in the trash

[Sylvander]

I would have tried it with a Knoppix Linux Live CD just to confirm that it wasn't a software problem, but a hardware problem.

If Knoppix was doing the same it would confirm it to be most likely a hardware problem.

Is that bulging really the metal casing, or just a domed plastic cover?

[jlreich]

It's metal. It's there for safety reasons. It's a vent and the markings are not really markings but weak spots so if the gases build up it will split rather than explode violently. Although they can occasionally explode anyway.

Like I said before, bulging, leaking or otherwise abnormal caps are bad caps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague). Bad caps either need to be replaced or the whole board needs replaced.

And it isn't just one or two caps that you need to replace. Usually if one or two caps are bad the rest will soon follow. That's why when you see a board with bad caps it's usually a whole row that's bad. So you really need to replace at least all the caps of the same type on the board since they are most likely of the same lot and are bad as well. It could be the other sizes are from a different lot or even a different manufacturer and will be fine. Could be they will soon follow as well.

Personally I think unless your are good at doing it yourself it isn't worth bothering with replacing all the caps on a board. If it's out of warranty just replace it. Although some mobo manufacturers will still replace a board with bad caps even after the warranty has run out. I have even seen Dell do this for some of their old machines.