From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 28 21:58:21 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D685F16A401 for ; Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:58:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wc_fbsd@xxiii.com) Received: from cartman.xxiii.com (cartman.xxiii.com [208.62.177.45]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3A0B143D60 for ; Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:58:21 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from wc_fbsd@xxiii.com) Received: from PC02.xxiii.com (lan23.xxiii.com [208.62.177.50]) by cartman.xxiii.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k2SLwKav088855; Tue, 28 Mar 2006 16:58:20 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from wc_fbsd@xxiii.com) Message-Id: <6.2.5.6.2.20060328164925.026a6d38@xxiii.com> X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 6.2.5.6 Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 16:58:19 -0500 To: Mark Cullen From: wc_fbsd@xxiii.com In-Reply-To: <4429A96A.7080502@gmail.com> References: <442995E5.9070106@voidmain.net> <4429A96A.7080502@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Motherboards & Flaky Caps (was: 4.11 Server Locks Up) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:58:21 -0000 At 04:23 PM 3/28/2006, Mark Cullen wrote: >Upon further inspection of the motherboard, just before looking to >buy a new one, I noticed bulging / leaking capacitors around the CPU >socket. It looked like *all* of the most important caps were >knackered. I am suprised it managed to turn on and stay up (for a >while) at all. Yup, agreed. Caps are really the only components that go bad just from age. And on Intel Pentium 2 & up mobo's, as well as AMD stuff >= Athlon, they're heavily stressed and often marginal quality from the start. On any mobo's that support different CPU voltages, you'll see a bunch of caps, coils, etc usually adjacent to the CPU socket. It's a DC-DC power converter to generate all the required voltages. Lots of folks are also running later models CPUs that draw more power than the board was designed to work with, stressing they further. Thanks for the BadCaps.net tip -- I see *lots* of kits for ABIT [crap] -- why am I not surprised? -Wayne