pc issue.. should I be worried?
in [Repair]
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From: Geoffrey S. Mendelson on 9 Dec 2009 12:49 kronflux wrote: > unfortunately buying a new PC is out of the question at the moment, > financially. which is why I use an old junker for a media PC. > there aren't really any special devices hooked up to it. it's got a > video card, network card, and a USB infrared remote receiver. the > video card gets an s-video out, which is adapted to a composite, and > that hooks up to my tv. the audio is onboard, which also hooks up to > my tv. As for the shocks, dump the surge supressor. I'll bet you have one and it leaks. For the PC, if you are unable to buy a new multimedia computer, a situation I am also in, look around on the various local mailing lists for a used computer. If you are lucky, you'll find a faster one that does the job for you for free, if you are not, you still should be able to get a good replacement if you are persistant and patient. P.S. if you spend the time to learn how to repair power supply fans, you should be able to get more 2-3 year old computers than you can ever use. Geoff. -- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm(a)mendelson.com N3OWJ/4X1GM
From: kronflux on 9 Dec 2009 13:56 okay, so I changed power supplies, and cleaned it. and turned it on. within about 30 seconds, it started glowing again. I'm going to have to assume this is a faulty bypass capacitor. that being the case, can someone answer my question about that? should I try to replace the bypass capacitor, unsolder it and solder a bridge between the two leads, or unsolder it and leave it empty, with two open leads?
From: whit3rd on 9 Dec 2009 13:57 On Dec 9, 1:32 am, kronflux <kronf...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > basically I have an old pc, ... > since around when I put it together, I was getting little shocks > occasionally from it. .... > as I said, this component was glowing red hot. but! the computer turns > on just fine even now. it boots and everything. > aside from dust, what might have caused this, and should I be > concerned, once I clean it? That capacitor has shorted internally, you were seeing an internal arc. Probably it didn't get 'red hot' or the nearby board and dust would be scorched. Remove that capacitor! It's doing more harm than good (but find someone with a soldering iron and skills to do the removal). Replacement will be difficult (you don't know the component value), but the power necessary to make an arc is indicative that the capacitor is on a power bus, which means there are possibly a dozen or so other capacitors that are also connected there. Replace with 1 uF/25V if it's convenient, otherwise just ignore the empty space. The size looks like "1812". Clean off the dust, and check, with a good AC voltmeter, the grounding of every piece of metal near your computer; the power supply case and three- prong cable should ground the computer, so check that, too.
From: kronflux on 9 Dec 2009 14:01 so just to be clear, I -can- remove this, and it -should- work without replacing it?
From: kronflux on 9 Dec 2009 14:23
I've desoldered it. but I want to be sure it should work, and be sure it won't explode or something if I turn it on :p |