This month's Spectrum has an article concerning the on-going problems with failures of electrolytic capacitors on motherboards. The article confirms that these failures are due to defective electrolyte in some capacitors from Taiwan.
Abit has apparently been the hardest hit, but others, including IBM are also having problems. The article says that Abit will repair any board that has defective capacitors, although that is not what they told me when mine failed out of warranty. Maybe they have changed their position.
If you are having intermittent problems with your computer, or it will not boot, POST, or otherwise is acting up for no apparent reason - take a look at the capacitors on your motherboard. If the tops are bulging out, or you see black gunk leaking around the base, the caps are bad and must be replaced. Or you must replace the motherboard.
If you elect to replace them, you should replace them all, not just the ones that have failed, because the others will likely fail in the near future.
HTH.
Abit has apparently been the hardest hit, but others, including IBM are also having problems. The article says that Abit will repair any board that has defective capacitors, although that is not what they told me when mine failed out of warranty. Maybe they have changed their position.
If you are having intermittent problems with your computer, or it will not boot, POST, or otherwise is acting up for no apparent reason - take a look at the capacitors on your motherboard. If the tops are bulging out, or you see black gunk leaking around the base, the caps are bad and must be replaced. Or you must replace the motherboard.
If you elect to replace them, you should replace them all, not just the ones that have failed, because the others will likely fail in the near future.
HTH.
