- Mar 26, 2005
- 4,094
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A bit of a long story, so bare with me...
A while ago, I was helping someone install a new Dell PC, and they gave me their old one that broke down, since they were going to throw it out anyway. According to the owner, Dell support told her the mobo was dead. Realizing that Dell techs usually know less about computers than I do, I took the PC, thinking I could salvage some parts from it and maybe even get it to work. It turned out to be a Dell Dimension 2400 wit ha 2.20GHz Celeron.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed a capacitor on the motherboard with some rubbery white stuff coming out of it. I poked it with the toothpick, and it seemed pretty tough to the touch. I thought that the mobo is definitely dead, so I tossed the whole thing out and only kept the CPU and a few other parts.
Fast forward to today.... I was taking out the garbage and noticed an old Dell PC in a compactor room. It turned out to be a P4 Dimension 2400. I always pick such "garbage" up and take it home because it's good experience for me to disassemble these things making me a better PC tech.
Anyhow... When I disassembled the PC, I noticed exactly the same "blown?" capacitor on the mobo with white rubbery stuff coming out of it!!
A quick Google search revealed a Tom's Hardware forum post with some dude having the same issue, and he even posted a picture.. But here is the fun part. Another guy who posted in the same thread says he also has this supposedly "blown" capacitor, yet his mobo WORKS fine!!!
Now I am confused.. What are the odds? Either the Dimension 2400 suffered from this issue and many owners had this happen to them, or that is how dell made their mobos and the weird looking capacitor is NORMAL?! WTF?
Before I throw this PC out I'd like to get some opinions on the matter please. Have you ever seen something like this? I sure haven't, and I built, disassembled and assembled many PCs in my life...
Here is a picture from the forum, mine looks exactly the same.
http://img188.imageshack.us/i/img1927medium.jpg/]
[/URL]
next to the battery.. do you see it?
A while ago, I was helping someone install a new Dell PC, and they gave me their old one that broke down, since they were going to throw it out anyway. According to the owner, Dell support told her the mobo was dead. Realizing that Dell techs usually know less about computers than I do, I took the PC, thinking I could salvage some parts from it and maybe even get it to work. It turned out to be a Dell Dimension 2400 wit ha 2.20GHz Celeron.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed a capacitor on the motherboard with some rubbery white stuff coming out of it. I poked it with the toothpick, and it seemed pretty tough to the touch. I thought that the mobo is definitely dead, so I tossed the whole thing out and only kept the CPU and a few other parts.
Fast forward to today.... I was taking out the garbage and noticed an old Dell PC in a compactor room. It turned out to be a P4 Dimension 2400. I always pick such "garbage" up and take it home because it's good experience for me to disassemble these things making me a better PC tech.
Anyhow... When I disassembled the PC, I noticed exactly the same "blown?" capacitor on the mobo with white rubbery stuff coming out of it!!A quick Google search revealed a Tom's Hardware forum post with some dude having the same issue, and he even posted a picture.. But here is the fun part. Another guy who posted in the same thread says he also has this supposedly "blown" capacitor, yet his mobo WORKS fine!!!
Now I am confused.. What are the odds? Either the Dimension 2400 suffered from this issue and many owners had this happen to them, or that is how dell made their mobos and the weird looking capacitor is NORMAL?! WTF?
Before I throw this PC out I'd like to get some opinions on the matter please. Have you ever seen something like this? I sure haven't, and I built, disassembled and assembled many PCs in my life...
Here is a picture from the forum, mine looks exactly the same.
http://img188.imageshack.us/i/img1927medium.jpg/]
next to the battery.. do you see it?
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