Hi again, everybody. I'm still working on my "second computer" project,
as a spare time minimal cost fun thing, to try out four different
distros without affecting my main computer. A few days ago I gave it a
mild stress test, and when I woke up it had powered down and there was
the familiar smell of Magic Smoke. Pressing the power button again
caused the power LED to flash amber and then it would shut down again,
with the smell of smoke again. After that, pressing the power button
would do nothing until several hours had gone by, then pressing the
power LED would flash amber again, and the whole cycle would repeat. My
guess was a power supply problem, so the next day I /carefully/ took
apart the old power supply but didn't see any major damage inside,
except for one possibly burned out coil.
I bought a new power supply and installed it today, but it's the same.
When I press the power button, the power LED flashes amber and then it
shuts down. Pressing the power button has no result until several hours
later, when pressing it makes the power LED flash amber, then it shuts
down, and the pattern continues.
This model of motherboard is known for having capacitor problems, so I
then looked at the motherboard more closely and discovered that two
adjacent electrolytic capacitors on it were bulging a little on top.
IIRC they're all supposed to be flat on top, like all the other
electrolytics there.
So my questions are: Could the problem be those two slightly bulging
capacitors? If so, would I probably be able to replace them with just
an ordinary soldering iron? Could I try to reassemble the original
power supply and return the new one for a refund, or is that something
for experts only?
As mentioned, this is a minimal cost "fun" project, and already way over
its limited budget. If it meant buying a new motherboard, I'd just
scrap it for parts instead, and put my money toward a new primary
system. Thanks /very/ much in advance for any advice or suggestions on
this!
Adam
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