View Single Post
  #8   Report Post  
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
[email protected] stratus46@yahoo.com is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 475
Default BSOD, bulging caps, on Gateway GT5056


Motherboard caps (switch mode converters) and the power supply caps have to be as close to perfect as possible. You want the highest ripple current with the longest life. Price is secondary and 'good enough' never is. I don't even bother with ESR measurements. Just replace them. A problem is the new boards have polymer caps rather than 'lytics so the large variety of 'lytics are no longer carried my Mouser. DigiKey was not as complete as Mouser but is OK. On the good side we won't need to be replacing nearly as many caps in the future.

The latest motherboard I did was an IBM that had a solid plane (no thermal reliefs) on the top AND bottom of the board. My Metcal had enough heat but the little wire through the board couldn't conduct the heat fast enough. I ended up with the soldering iron in one hand and a hot air gun in the other.. The holes ended up very clean and it runs like new again.