Today was a Good day

[meaty-btz]

After pricing out what an upgrade would cost, it just was not in the "cards". So I decided to take my money and go buy something that I lost a long time ago, a good soldering iron ( 50 watts, I couldn't afford the digital lab ones in 75W or 90W) and micro tips for electronics work and some silver solder and a good solder-sucker. All in all $35 bucks in tools.

Decided to get off my butt and repair my HP M8200n's Mainboard. Had 100% failure in my TZ 6.3 1800uF caps for the VRM. 9 out of 9 failed. Can you believe that the Bad Cap Plague still Plagues us in 2011? I am one of those unlucky folk who is also lucky enough to know how to repair the issue but got bitten by the Bad Caps since day one of the fiasco. 3 Power supplies, 2 GFX Cards, 3 Main boards, 2 LCDs, all with the "Bad Caps".

I was impatient and didn't want to spend money where I didn't have to. Turns out since the vandalism last year I had two dell mainboards that were destroyed, each of those boards had top quality Rubycon MCZ caps which are ideal replacements. 6.3V 1800uF in 8x22mm with all the correct specs for use in my VRM. Problem, combined I only had 8 8x22 caps, needed one more. Looking at my HP OEM Board I noted that one of the 8x22 slots measures as 10mm! and the silk screening matched the larger size. Well it looks like those dells had Rubycon MCZ 10x12.5s in 6.3v 1800uF. Epic. I am now back working better than new!

Looking at the current rash of bad new computer equipment from solid state drives to mainboards to gfx cards makes me think we have a new breed of BAD CHINESE CRAP in the component market. The mind boggling failure rates makes me think now is not a good time to be buying. You are playing Russian Roulette if you do.

I'll take the extra money and enjoy my restored home capabilities and get my RC Plane into full Auto-Flight capable mode.

[steven_m64]

I always love to break out the soldering iron and fix old stuff.

were all the vrm caps on the M8200n visibly bad or did you test them with a DMM or ESR meter?

[meaty-btz]

I always love to break out the soldering iron and fix old stuff.

were all the vrm caps on the M8200n visibly bad or did you test them with a DMM or ESR meter?

Visibly bad, which means they have been "bad" for quite some time ( my guess from day 1!). No need for testing in this case, though I used my DMM to verify the caps I desoldered off the dell boards. Rubycon, solid quality caps, not one out of spec on those Rubycon MCZs despite them being 4 years old and being run at least 10 hours a day. Now THAT is what a quality cap should test as.

Am I the ONLY one who is worried about the mass rash of bad parts on the market at the moment, even how previously "top reliability" parts are showing mass failures? When every single SSD OEM is showing nearly the same failure rate and type of failure. You get worried. When an entire line of NVIDIA 500 cards ALL show mass failures no matter the brand, things look sketchy. When rock solid top choice Mainboards are DOAing and keeling over randomly and showing inconstancy that would worry anyone, it is time to check out till they get things sorted.

[brianinca]

People ***** about Dell, but for the small business grade boxes and up they use Intel motherboards, and I've NEVER had a bad cap on an Intel board.

You do seem like someone who is quite bored, though!! That's a feature, not a bug!

>>>
visibly bad
>>>

With the cheap caps I've seen on many OEM boards, it is SOOOO obvious when the electrolyte has dried out. It's a time/temp equation and the slightest bulge is all you need to see. Why bother scoping them out?

Regards,
Brian in CA

[steven_m64]

Am I the ONLY one who is worried about the mass rash of bad parts on the market at the moment, even how previously "top reliability" parts are showing mass failures?

as i see it and IMO. i do not think there is a rash of bad parts. in reality i think it is just the continuing downward spiral of the quality of any and all electronics made in asia.

to top it off i believe manufacturers really dont care about the quality of the hardware the slightest bit anymore, only thing that matters is the profit margin. added ontop of it all is that the standard way of "fixing" broken hardware now is to buy a replacement which means they make more money.

@brianinca
over the years i have done IT work intel motherboards are just as prone to failures as any other motherboard, i have had to repair bad caps on intel boards before as well.

[meaty-btz]

If Asia can no longer produce reasonable quality board level components, maybe it is time we bring it home.

As for testing, I only tested the caps I removed from the other boards, anyone who knows electronics knows to test your parts when you are reusing them. If there is any doubt, test it out. A bad component can destroy an entire device. Each cap was tested before soldering and every solder joint was tested and ensured to be hot and had good flow. All resistances were measured. Only after I was fully satisfied with my visual examination of my solder joints and after I tested them did I actually power back up the board.

[steven_m64]

If Asia can no longer produce reasonable quality board level components, maybe it is time we bring it home.

even after having as much as possible of the manufacturing of electronics automated to reduce the cost of having higher paid US workers i cant see electronics being ever made here in the US again with the different "environmental" and waste costs. "eco friendly" parts would probably be pushed and odds are would push prices way too high.