A reminder that leaking caps kill more than Macs

[james_w]

I've got a Centris 650 that today started to claim that any CD I put in its CD-ROM drive was unreadable.

A quick google and a sniff of the inside of the drive and it's clear that the capacitors inside are probably the cause of the problem. I haven't got the tools to fix it for a couple of months but I've added it to the recapping to do list!

Just worth remembering that it's not just logic boards and analogue boards that need looking after!

Here's the cap list info already existing here on our brilliant forum: https://mac68k.info/wiki/display/mac68k/Capacitor+List#CapacitorList-SonyCDU561-25CDROM

 

[apm]

Yep. Though caps may not be the only problem: I have a couple of these CD drives (Quadra 650 caddy loaders), both partly malfunctioning with leaky caps. Replacing the caps, surprisingly, didn't make much difference (see this thread). There may be optical issues on these drives as well.

 

[68krazy]

Good PSA, james_w!  I keep putting off recapping the Sony caddy-loader in my LC550.  I need to get to it before the cap goo does!

 

[omidimo]

This is a notorious problem with early AppleCD models (fat kind SC HD Style), and the NeXT SCSI drives which is the same model as the AppleCD 300. 

 

[CelGen]

CD drives, GPS units, video editing decks, KVM switches, video cards.....

Basically any device that used SMD lytics between their introduction in the 80's and 2000 (and I'm willing to bet it's going to continue for many years after as stuff now 15 years old begins to drop dead) have a 100% failure rate. Some items however you really gotta stop and think about how much it is worth to you. I have a JVC GY-X2 professional SVHS television camera. It clearly needs a recap but there are over 150 smd caps needing to be replaced. That could easily be $150 in components and many hours of work.

 

[joethezombie]

Yup, my IIe card in the Color Classic failed due to the cans on that guy.  When switching to IIe mode, the screen would shrink to 2/3 size and there was no IIe fun at all.  Replacing those caps fixed it right up!

 

[Unknown_K]

I had to recap quite a few IBM PS/2 floppy drives and a HD as well.

 

[EvieSigma]

I'm a bit worried about caps in my game consoles...I'm pretty sure the Sega CD is one of the ones that can suffer from cap rot (along with the likes of the Game Gear and the NEC TurboDuo).

 

[omidimo]

The tray-loading SegaCD is definitely a problematic system as it ages, I really need to dig out my CDX and take a look at the old thing. 

 

[techknight]

The earliest known instance of failed SMD caps that I can recall is the old Sony Handycam 8MM decks. Those things were dropping dead from bad and leaky caps as early as the late 90s. 

The latest known instance of failed SMD caps that I can recall is the Mitsubishi DLP Television, First generation from the early to mid 2000s. Those things were dropping like flies as early as 2009 or thereabouts. Blinking power light of death. There was a fix for that, but as time went on, the colors would get bad, picture would get grainy and then fall back to the blinking light of death. 

The board stack has 3, to 4 boards depending on the model and they are full of SMD caps. hundreds of them. I have recapped 2 of those beasts back to normal operation, and voted never again considering not only is it a pain in the ass to change them all, but disassembly of the unit to get that board stack out is basically tearing it all the way down to the plastic base. Its bad.. 

The high-hour late model CRT projection sets are just now starting to die off from bad capacitors. Mostly through-hole radial stuff though. 

 

[Unknown_K]

The older gear with lead solder isn't that bad to work on, especially the thru hole capacitors. But new lead free solder SMT parts can be a pain even with good gear. I recapped 2 G5 Imacs and even with a handheld desoldering gun with vacuum it wasn't fun.

 

[EvieSigma]

@omidimo: I've got a Model 2 Sega CD that kinda acts funny so I'm hoping it's not caps, because just taking the thing apart to get at the motherboard seems like a complete nightmare.

 

[omidimo]

I've got a Model 2 Sega CD that kinda acts funny so I'm hoping it's not caps, because just taking the thing apart to get at the motherboard seems like a complete nightmare.

IIRC the lasers on those things would fail too. I only ever played a handful of games on mine, only Snatcher, so my usage was never taxing. 

 

[EvieSigma]

I dunno, it plays my one official game just fine (Sewer Shark, bleh ) but it has issues with my burner copy of Sonic CD that I've never been able to fix.

 

[omidimo]

You should try the AppleTV version, it is a damn good remake.

 

[EvieSigma]

I have the PS3 remake and its amazing!

But nothing beats the original hardware.

 

[james_w]

Yep. Though caps may not be the only problem: I have a couple of these CD drives (Quadra 650 caddy loaders), both partly malfunctioning with leaky caps. Replacing the caps, surprisingly, didn't make much difference (see this thread). There may be optical issues on these drives as well.

Thanks for the link and info apm, I'll try both when I get the time to

Not looking forward to dealing with my Sega Mega CD and Multimega either (Sega CD and CDX in US IIRC)

 

[trag]

Mac IIci's were dying from bad caps in the mid-90s.   There was a little bit of discussion in the comp.sys.mac.*** hierarchy on Usenet, which is what these forums looked like before there were web fora...  

I've replaced caps in my Sprinkler System Controller, VCR, LCD monitor, and a network switch.   They're everywhere.

 

[techknight]

Yea, I used to use Sci.Electronics.Repair. I still would except its probably dead by now, but back then my ISP dropped the NNTP servers.