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psipsyThe thing about consumer-grade computer parts is that they're not meant to last forever. Eventually, they will fail. I've seen practically every part in a computer fail. The worst part to fail is the motherboard, because that's what everything connects to. Also for Windows XP and newer, replacement of that makes the Windows activation program lose its shit.
So what makes a computer motherboard fail? A variety of things, but the most common I've seen would be the electrolytic capacitors that are mounted on it going bad. They're meant to provide a steady supply of juice directly to the processor when it starts getting loaded down, without letting the various voltages get unstable. When an older computer starts to reboot itself frequently and randomly, a reinstall of the operating system and replacing a bunch of other parts doesn't help, it's a sign those capacitors are starting to fail and can't supply as much power as they used to. What kills those capacitors? Mainly heat. And some capacitors are just cheaply made to start with. Combine those two factors, and it's a recipe for early failure.
The obvious solution, courtesy of Captain Hindsight, would be to use motherboards from reputable companies who use components from other reputable companies. That doesn't do you much good if you've already had the thing for many years now.
But! Suppose your situation is like mine at work sometimes, where you have an older computer, performing a specialized task, and replacement is not a viable option. This old-but-important computer is acting up at a time when it's needed the most. A couple weeks ago, I get a computer plopped in front of me because the capacitors are either leaking or bulging or both, a tell-tale sign of failure. And of course, it's not just any garden variety motherboard, this one has ISA slots, which it uses to talk to a much bigger machine. Without the computer, the rest of the machine is a boat anchor. A really expensive boat anchor. And of course, there's no PCI version of the ISA card. So I spent over half a day removing over a dozen bad capacitors, and soldering in new ones. Last I checked, my coworker re-assembled the computer in question and it's been working so far. Time will tell.
"Can you put new capacitors in my-" NO. "Why not?" Because while the new caps are relatively cheap, the amount of time required for me to replace them is not. I did it at work because I really was being paid for it as part of my job. And there's no guarantee it'll work, because those boards are not designed to have parts desoldered and resoldered easily. And unless your soldering skills are good enough, it's risky to try it yourself. Unless there's something incredibly special about it, such as it can do something a much newer computer cannot, you're really better off taking the hard drive out and taking the rest of the computer to be recycled.
Speaking of "doing something a newer computer can't", it took me 3 hours to perform electronic CPR on my old Ipod, and the only thing that would work for that was my 14 year-old G4 PowerBook. That's a tale for another time.
So what makes a computer motherboard fail? A variety of things, but the most common I've seen would be the electrolytic capacitors that are mounted on it going bad. They're meant to provide a steady supply of juice directly to the processor when it starts getting loaded down, without letting the various voltages get unstable. When an older computer starts to reboot itself frequently and randomly, a reinstall of the operating system and replacing a bunch of other parts doesn't help, it's a sign those capacitors are starting to fail and can't supply as much power as they used to. What kills those capacitors? Mainly heat. And some capacitors are just cheaply made to start with. Combine those two factors, and it's a recipe for early failure.
The obvious solution, courtesy of Captain Hindsight, would be to use motherboards from reputable companies who use components from other reputable companies. That doesn't do you much good if you've already had the thing for many years now.
But! Suppose your situation is like mine at work sometimes, where you have an older computer, performing a specialized task, and replacement is not a viable option. This old-but-important computer is acting up at a time when it's needed the most. A couple weeks ago, I get a computer plopped in front of me because the capacitors are either leaking or bulging or both, a tell-tale sign of failure. And of course, it's not just any garden variety motherboard, this one has ISA slots, which it uses to talk to a much bigger machine. Without the computer, the rest of the machine is a boat anchor. A really expensive boat anchor. And of course, there's no PCI version of the ISA card. So I spent over half a day removing over a dozen bad capacitors, and soldering in new ones. Last I checked, my coworker re-assembled the computer in question and it's been working so far. Time will tell.
"Can you put new capacitors in my-" NO. "Why not?" Because while the new caps are relatively cheap, the amount of time required for me to replace them is not. I did it at work because I really was being paid for it as part of my job. And there's no guarantee it'll work, because those boards are not designed to have parts desoldered and resoldered easily. And unless your soldering skills are good enough, it's risky to try it yourself. Unless there's something incredibly special about it, such as it can do something a much newer computer cannot, you're really better off taking the hard drive out and taking the rest of the computer to be recycled.
Speaking of "doing something a newer computer can't", it took me 3 hours to perform electronic CPR on my old Ipod, and the only thing that would work for that was my 14 year-old G4 PowerBook. That's a tale for another time.
