[NPMUG] "China Capacitor Syndrome" or "Capacitor Plague" ... in G5 iMacs, HP & Dells

[Dave Sevick]

This problem has been so widespread that I thought I'd comment on it  
here.  Many G5 iMac owners are already aware .

Apple has been performing out-of-warranty repairs ....

....  but those instances are limited and you need to check directly  
with them in person as they look directly at your logic board.

It will look something like this photo from Wikipeida    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague 
   as you notice the "Jiffy Pop Popcorn" bulging of the capacitors.



Add the collaborated stories from my colleagues here in Pittsburgh and  
on the Apple Consultants Listserve ( private professional discussion  
board ) to what I have experienced with my own clients  and  here is  
the situation you should know:

( paraphrased from an ACN member )
The China Capacitor Syndrome  or Capacitor Plague, the story goes, an  
engineer was poached from a rival firm and the formula for the  
capacitor electrolyte he brought with him was lacking the vital  
ingredients to keep it from eating its way out of the capacitor shell  
in two years.  Then Apple bought a *BIG* batch of those faulty  
capacitors and installed them in iMac G5's and eMacs which then  
started to display really weird display issues along with reboots and/ 
or kernel panics.  The story goes that HP and Dell also had the same  
issues so I guess it truly was a *BIG* batch.  It resulted in  
necessary extended repairs outside of warranty.

(from Wikipedia)
The capacitor plague (also known as bad capacitors) involved the  
common premature failure of certain brands of electrolytic capacitors  
used in various low quality electronics equipment, and particularly in  
motherboards, video cards, compact fluorescent lamp ballasts, LCD  
monitors, and power supplies of personal computers. The first flawed  
capacitors were seen in 1999, but most of the affected capacitors were  
made in the early to mid 2000s, and while news of their failures  
(usually after a few years of use) has forced most manufacturers to  
fix the defects, some bad capacitors were still being sold or  
integrated into designs as of early 2007.[1]
An incorrect electrolyte formula within a faulty capacitor causes the  
production of hydrogen gas, leading to bulging or deformation of the  
capacitor's case, and eventual venting of the electrolyte. In rare  
cases, faulty capacitors have even been reported to pop or explode  
forcefully. Although modern manufacturing techniques normally ensure  
they vent safely rather than explode, manufacturers have been known to  
omit the key safety features that allow this.
A serious quality control problem is that good and poor quality  
electrolytic capacitors will often have identical electrical  
performance when newly fitted. Only extensive accelerated life testing  
involving abnormally high ripple currents and high operating  
temperatures can identify inferior components. This contrasts strongly  
with most electronic components which are much less subject to  
spontaneous failure after assembly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague



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