[rescue] Trying to rescue a Sun Ultra 45

[Ron Wickersham]

On Wed, 15 Jan 2014, Cory Smelosky wrote:

> On Wed, 15 Jan 2014, Mouse wrote:
>
>>> Interesting story, not heard of it before, have seen a few mobos with
>>> blown caps (tants?) which did not impact the running of the system.
>> 
>> You're lucky they didn't.  I have fixed three (out of three) dead
>> flat-screen displays by opening them up, noting that caps in the power
>> supply portion of the circuit have bulging tops, and replacing them.  I
>> am not in a position to comment either way on the "industrial espionage
>> gone wrong" theory except to note that what I've seen is entirely
>> consistent with it - though my observations are equally consistent with
>> some manufacturer just plain cutting corners and counting on (a)
>> devices failing after warranty expiration and either (b1) people not
>> noticing the caps failing wholesale or (b2) a business plan that
>> amounts to "take profit for a couple of years and then shut down before
>> the bad-reputation chickens come home to roost".
>> 
>
> And here I am with 50 year old caps that seem to still work fine...
>
> The carbon composition resistors on the other hand however...

well, jsut have to chime in with the reliablity of the Allen-Bradley
hot-moulded carbon comp resistor process which are some of the most
reliable components ever manufactured...handle momentary overloads and
for things link plate resistors where they outlast wirewound.

-ron