I Have Bulging Capacitors (don't laugh)

For the past three weeks, I have been working with a Christian Academy (K-9) to get their technology up to snuff for the new year. My final task tonight was to make a base PC image and Ghost it onto 19 identical Dell Optiplex machines in the school's Computer Lab. This was going to be 'no sweat' as the base image would take two hours to build and the 'Ghost-cast' could be done unattended overnight. No problem - that is until half of the machines wouldn't even turn on!!

After trying everything I knew to do, I called Dell Support and told them exactly what was happening. The very first thing my support person told me to do was open the case of one PC and look on the motherboard to see if any of the capacitors were bulging or leaking (!?!?) I don't mind saying that I really didn't know what a capacitor was or looked like (except for a Flux Capacitor), so for your enlightenment, they are the small vertical cylinders of assorted color randomly scattered on the motherboard.

Surely (and oddly) enough, I saw that most of the capacitor tops were rounded (bulging) and most of the bulges had corrosion on them like the terminal posts on a car battery. After checking all of the computers, 17 out of the 19 motherboards need to be replaced. The good news is that ALL of them are covered under Dell's warranty (woo-hoo!!). If they get here by Friday, it'll be a very busy weekend.

Thanks to Sam at SarcazaBlog and Carey Holzman for the capacitor pictures.
Thanks to Dr. Emmett Brown for the Flux Capacitor info.

Comments

Absoblogginlutely! said…
Doesn't say much for the reliability of the dell optiplex machines if 89% of the machines die with the same fault. Even out of warranty I would argue a case of Not Fit For The Purpose as there is obviously a design fault.
10:11 AM
Anonymous said…
I love Dell & their support (though I use an HP machine) My mother's computer (a Dell)crashed a month ago (bad power supply) and she opted to buy a new Dell System. Dell support however advised her to just replace the $50 part saving her $950 to replace a 2yr old machine. The equipment they sell may be questionable...but at least they're willing to stand behind it. I do suggest getting the 2yr or 3yr warranty now.
6:36 PM
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