Fred Abse Inscribed thus:

On Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:22:48 +0000, baron wrote:

Attached pictures of a capacitor failure in a 6 months old computer !

I see voids in the solder, although the component appears still to be
attached. I see no discoloration or debris ejection.

I'd remove it and measure it.

I didn't remove it but did measure its value in order to compare it with
the data sheet value. Its between 18 & 20 pf. Its data sheet value
states 22 pf +/-10% @ 3Kv.

So my conclusion is that the failure is due to lead free solder, rather
than simple capacitor failure and that the holes visible at the ends
are due to arc formation across the fracture.

For the benefit of others the capacitor is in the high voltage feed to
one of the two back lights in the LCD panel. In this case the bottom
one. However the protection circuits disable both back lights if one
fails as this one has.

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Best Regards:
Baron.