Sorry for not having the original post to paste, but there was a
question earlier about leaking capacitors, and what to do about them. If
you're skilled with soldering and, especially, desoldering, and you've
got the patience (I don't), then replacing all electrolytic capacitors
at one go is probably a good idea. If you're as lazy as I am, though,
you'll just clean off the goo (the dishwasher method is surprisingly
effective and free from trouble; I've gone from skeptic to advocate
there), cross your fingers and go. That "method" has worked far better
for me than it has a right to. I've always worried about my impatience
causing me to damage a board during desoldering, so I tend to avoid it
unless I have no option. Most of the caps in question are used as power
supply bypasses, and there are many more of them than are strictly
needed. So, if a fair percentage of them fail, the mac still works fine.
No real need to replace all of them.
For the infamous weak sound/no sound problem, though, the corresponding
cap has to be replaced, unfortunately. If you don't want the leaking cap
problem to recur, use a tantalum capacitor. These don't use liquid
chemicals inside, so there's nothing to leak. In the old days, tantalum
caps were infamous for failing shorted (frequently announcing their
failure with a loud bang), but I've not seen this in a good long time.
Tantalums are only marginally more expensive than the standard
electrolytics, so if you can find some reasonably priced ones, I'd
recommend tantalums. Most (but not all) tantalum caps are teardrop
shaped, so they're easily distinguished from the "regular" can types.
--Tom
--
Prof. Thomas H. Lee
Center for Integrated Systems, CIS-205
420 Via Palou Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-4070
http://www-smirc.stanford.edu
650-725-3709 voice, -3383 fax
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