Karl Townsend wrote:

They aren't that hard to replace, if you know how. I've replaced
thousands of them on PTH boards. SMD boards are easy. The hard part is
buying good low ESR capacitors. Newer motherboards are starting to use
organic electrolytics that are supposed to last longer & work better. I
can desolder the six to ten electrolytics on most motherboards in under
an hour without damaging the PTHs or traces. Soldering them back is
easier, but you do have to take ESD precautions.

Good to know, I should be able to hire somebody to help when the time comes.
Is there a way to know caps are failing? Or, wait till it broke and try this
fix?


An ESR meter will let you test them on the board. I use the original
Dick Smith Electronics. A newer version is out. This website has the
details on both versions:

http://www.flippers.com/esrktmtr.html


Depending on the board, sometimes you just shotgun them when they
start to act up, and replace all of the critical capacitors. The ones
near the CPU socket are part of the switchmode power supply for the CPU,
and are the most likely to fail. That supply drops the 5 volt or 3.3
volt supply to the voltage needed by the CPU and is critical to the
motherboard's operation. Erratic operation of some daughterboards and
servo controllers may be from the same cause. The top two failures in
modern electronics is bad caps, and cracked solder joints. My solder
work is in orbit, aboard the ISS where I tested and calibrated boards
hot a communications system, and I spent four years doing Surface mount
rework, most of it under a stereo microscope.


http://www.badcaps.net/ is a website dedicated to the bad electrolytic
problem.


If I can finish the repairs to my shop building I would be able to do
the work for the people on the group.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!