NewtonTalk.net July 2008 archive: Re: [NTLK] [OT] Yet another Ma

From: Ed Kummel <tech_ed_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Wed Jul 02 2008 - 23:25:27 EDT

Here is another issue you may want to look at.
I have a Dell Xeon, hyperthreaded desktop machine that suffered a slightly hidden malady (that they will no longer fix for free) where the capacitors that are around the CPU all leaked and as a result, the machine will run for a short period of time and then shut down with a thermal error. It's not the CPU that fails with the thermal error, but because the capacitors no longer have any fluid in them, they overheat and shut down the machine. You can identify leaking capacitors by looking at them. The normal "leak possible" capacitor normally has an "X" engraved in the silver top of the can. A leaking capacitor will be covered with yellow crusty gunk (it may be black or brown). My Dell machine has all the capacitors around the CPU leaking. And as a result, the machine will not longer work...(you can't replace the capacitors either...) and it's not worth replacing the motherboard ($299 and I can get a reconditioned machine for less!)
So I guess, my suggestion is...well...check the capacitors! Yeah, that's it...capacitors! yeah!
Ed
web/gadget guru
http://newton.tek-ed.com (download Newton packages)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never mind that we just had an incredibly cold winter in North America and huge record snowfalls across the continent. As Al Gore said to a bunch of us the other day, these record cold spells and record snowfalls are actually caused by global warming. To which Jerry York replied, "Jeez then I guess we better stop this global warming before we all f**king freeze to death, eh?"

- "Fake" Steve Jobs 3/24/08 blog entry

--- On Wed, 7/2/08, Matt Howe <matthowe@comcast.net> wrote:

From: Matt Howe <matthowe@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [NTLK] [OT] Yet another Mac question
To: newtontalk@newtontalk.net
Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 10:54 PM

I'll have to do some checking with my IR thermometer but I would not think
it is thermal. First it will sometimes crash within two minutes of starting
up cold and not running anything more complex than the Finder. As for
cooling setup, besides the power supply fan, I added an 80 mm fan in the
front of the case (the IBM case had a place for it.) and then used some thin
plastic sheeting to duct the air flow directly over the CPU heat sync. I
also had these issues when it was still in the AIO case. But I attributed it
to the power supply as I was told it was going bad. But the new supply from
the IBM case I checked via meter and I'm not big on the coincidence of two
bad power supplies. I'll check the memory for what is installed. As for
Extensions, I'll make a list and maybe someone can help me decide what I
need? It also has a zip drive. I wonder if I can make a zip system disk and
boot from there to see if it is the hard drive.

Oh, and thanks again for bearing with all of my OT questions.

Matt (Ducky) Howe
Owner of a MP2000U and an Emate
mhowe@gfn.org (Newton)
matthowe@comcast.net (Desktop)
http://home.comcast.net/~mhowe41/

<snip>
I agree with Martin. This sounds very much like a temperature related
problem.
Indeed it is exactly what would happen with an overheated CPU.
Air movement is a significant consideration in Apple's internal case
design, so DO ensure that you are cooling the system adequately. Another
thing to consider is the heatsink. Could you have knocked it ? If all else
fails, try reseating it and refreshing the heatsink compound.

-Simon
<snip>

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