Pulled a dead PC back to life with a $7 capacitor kit

Had an old Dell Optiplex sitting in the corner for months that would turn on for 2 seconds then shut off. Internet said it was either the PSU or a blown capacitor on the motherboard. I checked the board and sure enough three little capacitors near the CPU bulged at the top. Ordered a mixed cap kit off Amazon for $7, watched a 10 minute soldering tutorial on YouTube, and swapped them out with a cheap iron I already had. It fired right up and has been running solid for three weeks now as a spare server. Cost less than a fast food meal and saved a whole machine from the dump. Anyone else ever fixed a board by just replacing those little swollen cans? It feels like a cheat code.

2 comments

2 Comments

webb.val8d ago

Right, this exact thing happened with my old HP Compaq. Swollen caps right next to the RAM slots, three of them all puffed up like little pillows. I did the same thing, $8 kit off some random site, watched a video from a guy who looked like he was filming in his basement, and swapped them out with a soldering iron I got at a garage sale. It's been running my Plex server for over a year now without a single hiccup. That feeling when it fires back up after you've swapped them is some kind of magic. It's wild how such a tiny cheap part is the only thing between a perfectly good machine and the trash pile.

anthony1278d ago

I've actually got to disagree pretty hard here. I tried the same thing on an old Dell Optiplex and it just made things worse. My soldering job was sloppy, I bridged two pads, and the board ended up with a short that killed the PSU too. Out of about ten cap replacements I've attempted over the years, only two of them actually worked long term. The other eight either died again within a month or never booted right in the first place, so I ended up buying replacement boards anyway.