The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Day: May 29, 2014

  • Dell Dimension 2300: Capacitor Plague

    While scrubbing a hard drive and decommissioning an old Dell Dimension 2300, I spotted a failed capacitor:

    Dell 2300 failed capacitors - 1
    Dell 2300 failed capacitors – 1

    And another:

    Dell 2300 failed capacitors - 2
    Dell 2300 failed capacitors – 2

    The board sported many of those little caps, well over half showing signs of distress.

    A progression of victims, from I’m-not-dead-yet to phew:

    Dell 2300 failed capacitors - grouped
    Dell 2300 failed capacitors – grouped

    According to its Service Tag, this Dimension 2300 came off the line in late November 2002. All of the other caps on the board seemed OK, so apparently the plague affected just this lot of Hermei 470 µF 6.3 V capacitors.

    Or, hey, they’re not supposed to last a dozen years and this is perfectly normal …