On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 9:30 AM, Harry Putnam <rea...@newsguy.com> wrote: > Volker Armin Hemmann <volkerar...@googlemail.com> writes: > >> Do the easy thing first. Clean your case, reseat all cards and >> memory modules and check all caps while doing so. Any of them >> deformed? The 'head' going up? Strange stuff around its feet? >> Congratulation, you need new hardware. > > Sorry to be a numb skull here but what do you mean by `caps'
Capacitors. They are small electronic compenents on your circuit board that hold charge and tend to help smooth out noise on power circuits, among other things. Sometimes they start to break down, overheat, etc., and if they do then you might be able to spot this change physically. In my experience the ones that go bad and that you have some small chance of fixing are generally little cylinders sitting upright so you see the circle on top. If you're old like me you might need a magnifying glass to look closely. They can be quite small and they are likely sitting all around your processor, etc. Good luck, Mark
