Felix Miata <mrma...@earthlink.net> writes: > What models are they? If of approximately 2002 to 2007 vintage, they could > be victims of the bad capacitor plague: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
Interesting article. These dells could possibly be in that group as one has a BIOS date of August 1, 2001 and another is July 12, 2000. Both are Dell desktops so they could possibly be in that group. By the way, very few electronic malfunctions are quite as spectacular as an electrolytic capacitor that develops a sudden and catastrophic internal short. It sounds like the caps discussed in the article have a safety valve in the form of the vent but nothing short of high explosives equals an electrolytic filter cap popping. It sounds like a firecracker and throws more aluminum foil shrapnel than one could think would fit in the case. I had one about the size of a thumb blow up on me once and I could still find pieces of plastic and foil 6 months later. Thanks for the link to the article. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ