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PSA***Bad Motherboard Alert - SX270

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airbourne

MIS
Sep 11, 2003
130
The older version of the DELL SX270 motherboard (2003-2004) has been found to be defective. Specifically the capacitors on the motherboard that are marked with an X on the top of them.

Over time they buldge and leak eventually causing the machine to appear to "short out" and not power on any longer.

My company has purchased 86 of these machines and I have replaced 100% (all 86 machine motherboards).

I still like and support DELL and our replacement was under warrenty, but there has been no public announcement from DELL about this issue that I can find.

What to look for: While the computer is unplugged from everything, open the top of the SX270 case so as to expose the motherboard, RAM, and green CPU cover. On the motherboard there are various size capacitors with an X or K formation on the top of them

The ones with the X formation might be buldging on the top or swollen looking and even possibly leaking a brown substance. Much like a battery that has been left in a device too long and has leaked.

If you are still under part replacement warrenty, and you have this issue on your machine, call them immediately for part replacement and say you have "Leaking capacitors on your motherboard." They won't question you and you can replace the hardware that is faulty.

This will probably only affect businesses unless a home user has bought a PC from the DELL line of business workstations.

The SX270 was replaced by the SX280 which has not been reported to have this same problem.
 
It's more then just Dell, too. Apparantly quite a few computer manufacturers have put some of these faulty caps in their system. Some have been more forthcoming about the problem the others.

This guy has a good comment about the problem, and some pics to show you what you should be looking for:


I try not to let my ignorance prevent me from offering a strong opinion.
 
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