"I would be interested in your findings of evidence that there is a

planned failure of software due to ESR "

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...6/mitsdpps.jpg

Consider what happens when the ESR of C9015 drops. It looks like it is designed purposely to cause the voltage supply to come out of regulation somewhat at random. You know what happens to certain types of digital circuits when that happens.

I could understand some form of failsafe because as the ESR or C9015 rises the SMPS will tend to put out more voltage to compensate and keep the voltage at C9016 constant because that is where it's sensed. If you repaired Panasonic VCRs in the past you know what can happen, all the other voltages rise, and I fully understand that this is undesirable.

If the real goal was to keep the PS from running too high there are many simpler and more effective ways.

This is obviously not for stability, that's what C9084 and R9014 are for. Note that C9087 is a fairly high value. Playing with the cicuit mentally, like putting a resistor in series with C9015, it looks a bit like an oscillator. Without any DC coupling via the path made by C9087 it would do nothing to actually lower the output of the SMPS, simply make it fluctuate.

The unit that circuit is in is plagued by software problems requiring software "updates" from the manufacturer. The symptoms would vary quite widely for the obvious reason. When I did the software "updates" I changed C9015.

What else would corrupt the data, so CONSISTENTLY, in one certain series of units ? It may have been better software, possibly with better error correction, but that does not explain C9087 and R9088.

Knowing capacitors, what happens ? There is a power outage or the unit gets moved and then it does not work. People might think they broke it in moving and buy another one.