Until very recently, I thought the main three issues which cause battery run and charge problems were:
a.
dud batteries (which have circuitry inside them as well the lithium ion cells) (and genuine Apple batteries are superior for both these reasons. Cheap non genuine ones can be good, but vary it seems from batch to batch imo, half the price though).
b.
Dead DC in boards - the magsafe gizmo inside the macbook. Cheap and really easy to replace from ebay, iFixit, Powerbook Medic or your favourite supplier. You can easily replace them yourself once you have practiced taking a dead A1181 macbook apart or follow the quides on the net. eg at the above suppliers websites.
c.
Dud magsafe power adapters. These often don't last all that long. Always keep them in the open air, don't ever let them fall under the blankets when using the macbook in bed. For kids, its wise i think to insist that the short power plug is fitted to the power adapter rather than the long power cord, even if only for bed time use. No plug pack at all, of any kind, should be shut off from open air flow and should never be left on unattended. It applies to every one on the planet of any brand.
However, I recently came into possession of 3 cheap A1181 macbooks, with the declared fault of 'runs fine off power adapter, but these macbooks do not recognise, charge or run from batteries.'. ok, I thought, time to swap in another battery and to maybe have to drag out my spare DC in board.
Alas. Nothing I tried worked. New battery, known good, not recognized by any of these three macbooks. Trying the new DC in board in each one also produced failure.
So yesterday i started hunting on the net and came to the usual forums where the issue was discussed by not resolved. The Apple forums lamented lapsed Apple Care coverage, and most blamed the batteries, even though some people had tried different batteries and different power adapters. Like me, doing the usual resets produced no success either.
Then i stumbled an very interesting blog, written by a creative thinker in, i think, Iran. He had the same trouble. One day, his macbook just refused to charge, run from or even recognize his battery. He tried the usual swaps - different battery, different power adapter - no luck either.
Seeing as this was a new fault on his machine, he started thinking independently. knowing where the battery sat beneath the keyboard, he tried pressing in various places on the keyboard. Just below the "fn" key he hit pay dirt. Apply finger pressure to that point, the magsafe connector went from green to oranage - it was charging. The top task bar no longer showed the battery icon with an x in it, but the percent charge. System profiler no longer claims battery not fitted, but battery fitted and charging.
Then he lifted his finger pressure from the point on the palmrest just below the fn key and all went dead again. Green magsafe light, battery icon with an x through it, and unplugging the power adapter immediately resulted in the macbook turning off.
Well, i guess Iran can get hot and humid and cold and wet, like most other places. And one thing i had never thought of is heat and humidity induced corrosion at the point the battery cable joins the main board - at that point just under the fn key.
Here is the gentleman's blog post: http://attakk.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/possible-fix-for-macbook-not-recognizing-battery/
the last bit of his post he writes; "This next step is where the magic happens, I couldn’t find any damage on the connector nor anything indicating it
was broken, but I decided to at least scrape the pins gently, in case of corrosion or dirt causing the pins not
to connect to the logic board properly. Remember at this point, this was a long shot and I only acted on my intuition .
Anyway, I plugged the connector back and this time made sure it was connected to the logic board. I plugged the
power cord in and pressed the area again just to make sure ….and wohoo the light went orange instead of green. After ~4 hours the battery was fully charged, I pulled the cord out and started my Macbook with ONLY the battery.
I titled this as a “possible fix”, thus I can not guarantee anything, but If you have tried all the standard procedures that don’t work. I suggest you try to locate an area where the battery state will change on your computer and take it from there. Or you could try “repairing”the battery connector as I did.'
i tried his method on all three of my afflicted machines. on taking them apart, I noticed on removing the battery cable connector from the main board that not only were 18 (Australia) connector pins -US models have 20 pins and other variants - were dull, but the socket holes they go into all had black copper tracks. Note burnt out, but badly oxidized by heat. At the time I did not have circuit board cleaner - but I did buff up the connector pins. Today i went and bought some circuit board cleaner and also found a two pack metal contact de-oxidizer/ contact conditioner, mainly aimed at hi fi buffs. I can the de-oxidizer a go on all the contacts and main board sockets for the battery cable connectors as well as doing it to the DC in board contacts and main board plug. And even to the magsafe contacts. The chemical turns the oxidation green and liquifies it. I am leaving it on all the machines overnight. Tomorrow I will use normal circuit board cleaner on the areas, let it dry for a day and then apply the conditioner, which is supposed to stop further oxidation. i must say i did get one of the machines charging the battery before doing this, but only after wedging the connector extra tight into the socket, so that's not a real solution.
i have new battery cable connectors on order and a couple of more DC in boards while i was at it, always good to have around. But the big test comes tomorrow night when all the cleaning agents have dried.
The brand names of the cleaners/conditioners I am using are ; 'Deoxit Connector Cleaner, (part 1) Enhancer and Protector (part 2)' and 'Servisol Electronic cleaning solvent. Which I will use between Deoxidit part 1 and part 2. If that doesn't solve the problem, then I will await the parts from Powerbook Medic. And if those don't fix, I was thinking, this guy might be my only hope: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obi-Wan_Kenobi
And then, thinking ok, how do you make a macbook that will not run on its internal battery run on battery? (apart from using a car charger, a Dodge Viper battery and a sack truck?) and so I again searched ebay. And came up with some neat stuff, that costs more than a 2008 macbook. Before i give the cheap solution, here is the price no object answer:
http://www.hypershop.com/HyperJuice-External-Battery-for-MacBook-iPad-iPhone-USB-s/91.htm
It looks like high quality gear, not made for my purpose but it will do the job of giving portability to a macbook which wont recognize it's inbuilt battery. But its nearly $200 us for the cheapest version.
Happily another person has noticed this high price (for the purpose of keeping an old mac alive and portable) and he has come up with the use of two 12 volt CCTV rechargeable batteries, hooked together and wired through to a macbook car charger. He explains his method here:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/2/2905463/create-a-diy-macbook-battery
He admits his solution is not as flash as the big dollar job, but hey, it works. And if all conventional means fails to get your macbook seeing its inbuilt battery and you have to take it on a field trip with no power point for your power adapter, well, Evan Rodgers may well have just saved our bacon, if the guy in Iran's method was not able to.
So maybe your Tiger macbook may live to edit video in imovie 05 for another few years.
Tomorrow will be a big day for me. Will leaving the circuit track deoxidizer work? It takes three weeks by el cheapo post for the powerbook medic parts to arrive. If no luck tomorrow with clean contacts, while I wait the new battery connectors and cables and DC in boards, i'll be scanning ebay for the cheapest 12 volt CCTV batteries.
By this stage, some people who have read all the posts here will be thinking 'Why doesnt he just get with the program and buy a new mac?' No. I don't like em. It's osx crossed dressed as the world's most annoying mobile phone. I work alone and this face time crap really gives Tonto and me a really hard time. This however a guy selling a brand new Lenovo 15 inch running osx for very little money, and i am sorely tempted to add it to my Dell mini 10v running Snow Leopard. (i run that throught the big LCD using a blue tooth keyboard and its really neat. (have to use a usb to dvi external box as the vga port does not have an osx driver. As usual third party to the rescue.
i hope someone out there has found this round up of a quite serious issue to be of some use.
As always, heat and moisture kills laptops. it is a constant battle to hold back the tide of oxidation.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Monday, 17 September 2012
The Shocks and Knocks of Mobile Use with an older Macbook
If you have a need to use the
Macbook on road trips, make sure it is in padded bag when not use and that it
is securely stored in the vehicle.
In order to recharge the battery in the
vehicle a 12volt DC power adapter will be required.
The Daily Trips to and from School or Uni
Students who need to travel to and from
school or university need a sound and solid laptop. Generally, the younger any laptop is, the
better it will stand up to the heat and shock involved in education
settings. In a previous post I have
covered my views on the reasons behind an aging laptop’s increasing vulnerability
to failure.
Heat, vibration and the normal degradation
of minute circuit components makes failure increasingly likely with age. A macbook less than 12 months old is going to
stand up to the rigors of educational and mobile use than a Macbook that is 3 - 6
years old.
Buy the youngest model you can afford. And whatever you have, try
to protect it from heat, vibration and shock as much as you can.
The question to ask really is how long can
I expect a laptop to remain reliable in normal use which involves daily travel,
knocks and shocks? I would say no more
than 3-5 years from date of sale when new.
Many companies conduct reliability surveys.
The following 2011 PC World survey provides some interesting reading.
The results in the above 2011 survey, where
Apple Laptops led the field, are quite different from the 2009 survey results
described here:
“Apple's line of laptops ranked fourth in a
multi-year reliability survey of nine notebook makers, according to a study of
30,000 portable computers published today by a company that provides after-sale
warranties. …. Over a two-year period, slightly more than 10% of Apple laptops
-- the company sells two lines, MacBook and MacBook Pro -- failed in some
fashion, said SquareTrade. The projected failure rate of Apple's notebooks
within three years, added SquareTrade, was 17.4%.” “While only 4.7% of all
notebooks failed from a hardware malfunction in the first year of ownership,
that more than doubled to 12.7% by the end of year two, and then leaped again
to 20.4% by the time three years had passed. SquareTrade said that the
increasingly high failure rate was no surprise. "Laptops have a high usage
rate," said Tseng. "People leave them on all the time, and notebook
components are sensitive to heat. Two, they're portable and take a lot of
abuse. And three, they're more complex than most other consumer electronics
devices."
The person on a budget who
needs to buy a used laptop faces big risks. Projecting the reported failure rate
for aging laptops beyond 3 years results in frightening rates of failure.
From the above, it can be
seen that the idea of selling your Macbook and buying another new one when your
Apple Care runs out has merit if you can afford the outlay.
If you have a good working
A1181 Macbook, do all you can to protect it from heat, shock and vibration. If you need the older A1181 to run important older software, consider buying another laptop for mobile use. Leave the old one home.
New Solid State Drives stand up to mobile use far better than conventional hard drives. Swapping your mobile laptop's hard drive for a solid state drive provides enhanced protection to your data from the threats posed by mobile and educational use.
Next: Work arounds for
failed displays, wonky airport cards and dead audio input/output ports in the
A1181 Macbook.
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Capturing Video from Analogue Sources
Budget A/V Capture Hardware
Introduction
I have NO experience capturing A/V from
analogue sources under OSX 10.7 or 10.8. The following information is based
upon my experience with USB analogue capture devices running under OSX 10.4,
10.5 and 10.6 and using iMovie as the editing software. I believe that the cheaper devices described
here work better with 10.4 and 10.5 than with later OSX versions.
Before outlaying any money for any device
or software, fully research the issues involved to see if the devices and
software meet your needs and is compatible with your system.
The following is my opinion only and may not be work for you!!
Alternatives to using computer based video capture
An alternative to computer based video
capture is the use of a domestic stand alone DVD recorder or hard drive based device such as a PVR or other Hard Drive
recorder. To do the job the device must have RCA and or S video INPUTS, (not
just the usual outputs!!). The analogue
audio/video output source (such as the VCR) is connected to these inputs. The resultant digital video capture
can then be either burnt directly to DVD, stored on the digital recording device’s
hard drive, or where the recorder is fitted with a usb port or Ethernet
connection, transferred to the Mac for further editing, storage and burning to
DVD.
Having used an old MTX hard drive recorder
and a Doma DVD recorder in the past, I can say this method is the simplest way
of digitizing analogue video produced by a VCR.
Digital Movie Cameras fitted with “Analogue
Pass Through”
Of course, if you have a digital Video
camera with analogue pass through then, if the camera is supported by iMovie,
your digitizing problems are solved. iMovie will directly import av from such
devices if they are on the current supported list: http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US
The older Apple support list for firewire DV cameras is now archived
and not maintained by Apple.
If your camera does have “analogue pass
through” then it will be fitted with RCA and /or S video INPUTS. If it does not have these inputs, then you
will not be able to capture analogue video from VCR etc with it. And, even if
it does, if it is not on the Apple supported list, you will not be able to
import the converted video directly into iMovie.
When the first DV iMacs were
introduced, a major selling point was DV
editing via Digital camera fitted with Firewire. Such cameras when fitted with “analogue pass
through” were an important way to digitize analogue sources. At the time such cameras were expensive. Cameras fitted
with the extra “Pass through” facility
were more expensive than those without the facility.
Today,
these once expensive cameras may be cheap second hand, but the OSX
versions and iMovie which can use them are old.
And new Macs do not have firewire ports.
This is one reason why keeping old Macbooks alive may be important for users of such Camera equipment. The
older Macbook hardware and software are needed by older video devices.
The concept of “analogue video pass
through” via digital movie camera is
discussed here: http://www.videohelp.com/dvanalog
Capturing analogue video with a cheap usb
to Mac capture device
Echo Fx markets software for Mac which
enables a number of USB video/audio capture devices made for Windows to be used
on Mac computers. The Echo FX website is here:
The quality of the recorded video depends
very much on the settings used. The
smaller the size and the lower the frame rate, the less blurring of motion
there will be. But the jerkier the movement will be. The smaller the recorded
frame size, the lower the quality of the displayed video. These devices are a
trade off. Though they work.
Before purchasing cheap usb av capture device on ebay or
elsewhere, try to make sure that the device will work with versions of OSX
later then 10.5. In the days before Lion and Mountain, the requirement for “OSX 10.5 or greater” did
not refer to 10.7 or 10.8. These two had not been released at that point. So
compatibility with them is not guaranteed.
Roxio and some other companies for instance
make capture devices which work only with OSX 10.4 and 10.5. AV Labs also made
on such device.
Ezcap is a British company which markets
the DC116 usb av capture device. As can be seen from the company website, non genuine copies of the device has been a
problem. Fake copies of this device can be found online. The previous model (the DC 60+) worked on macs via Echo FX software. The
DC116 likewise works on Mac with Echo FX software.
The following are some examples of devices
which are made for Mac and which come with their own software. They do not
require Echo FX software:
Roxio (and some other companies) still make
capture devices especially for Mac which work only with OSX 10.4 and 10.5. AV
Labs also made one such device.
The Roxio product is described here: http://www.roxio.com.au/ena/products/toast/device/requirements.html
Jaycar Electronics stocks the K-World DVD
Maker 2 which has Mac compatibility. It sells for just under $70. The K-World site describes the unit: http://au.kworld-global.com/main/prod_in.aspx?mnuid=1320&modid=11&prodid=102&flag=1
This device uses Empia video capture hardware
which is fundamentally the same as
Echo Fx software. And this device is no improvement on the
Ezcap DC116 in my opinion. Everthing is in the box though and you do not need
to buy the software separately. Jaycar
sell a similar device which is not Mac compatible at all. When buying, ask the
staff for the Mac compatible DVD Maker 2 usb device as listed in their
catalogue. This device requires “OSX
10.4.5 or above” . I have a strong feeling that this device will not be
compatible with 10.6 or above.
Apple Australia do sell a range of av
capture devices. The “Elgato Video
Capture”and the “Elgato Turbo.264 HD” both retail for just under $A200. The Elgato
Eye TV Hybrid is both a TV tuner stick for Mac and an analogue a/v capture
device. It sells for about $A280.
The Elgato US site lists a $99.95 video
capture device : http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/Video-Capture/product1.en.html This device requires OSX 10.5.8 or later and
is PAL compatible. This device is not
listed at the Australian Apple store; I have seen it stocked at stores such as
JB HiFi.
It is clear that once you move away from
devices which use Echo Fx software, the price rapidly increases, but the more
expensive models do produce much better results.
I have an Elgato Eye TV Hybrid, purchased from an independent electronics
supplier. It does a good job in both its roles. If you are happy to simply capture TV and
analogue material to your hard drive the Elegato is very easy to and very
reliable. Elgato products are hardly
“budget” compared to generic av capture devices available via eBay. But they well
work on Macs.
If your intension is edit the captured
material in iMovie, then I have found
that the captured material must be reformatted.
I use Roxio Toast to make a DVD image of the material, and convert the
result using using MPG Streamslip (available for free at http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html)
and import the resultant DV into iMovie. (iMovie will not import the Eye TV video
directly. Nor can MPG streamslip convert it into a iMovie compatible format. I
will cover Wondershare Video Convertor for Mac
shortly).
For Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard, and I
think, Lion, you must have the Apple Mpeg2 Quicktime component loaded onto your
machine. Mountain Lion is said to have
the Mpeg2 component as standard. MPG
Streamslip is available as a beta version for Mountain Lion at the moment.
The changes in iMovie have not all been good.Editing in iMovie used to be easy. However, Wikipedia explains the complexities and problems which arose from Apple’s introduction of iMovie 08 as follows: “iMovie 08 was criticized due to its drastic abandonment of some iMovie HD 6 features. New York Times reviewer David Pogue said "iMovie ‘08 is an utter bafflement... incapable of the more sophisticated editing that the old iMovie made so enjoyable...All visual effects are gone — even basic options like slow motion, reverse motion, fast motion, and black-and-white. And you can’t have more than one project open at a time."[4]
Features removed included the classic timeline, the ability to create DVD chapter markers, support for plugins, and in-timeline audio adjustment and control. iMovie '08 imports to a much more limited set of video codecs and metadata formats than previous versions of iMovie or today's QuickTime Player. For example, QuickTime Player can be extended to support the FLIP Video 3ivx MPEG-4 codec, but iMovie '08 cannot. iMovie '08 also removed the ability to import DV footage. As a result, all resulting videos have lossy compression applied and there is no facility for managing full format video. The peculiar lack of QuickTime support means QuickTime Pro can edit a larger range of video than iMovie '08.
Apple released iMovie HD 6 as a free download to those who had purchased iMovie '08.[5] However, in response to the release of the subsequent newer version of iMovie '09, Apple removed the download in late January 2009[6] while also reducing the $299 price tag for Final Cut Express to $199. Several of the features removed from iMovie '08 that were previously included with iMovie HD 6 have been restored into iMovie '09 and, more recently, iMovie '11.” Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMovie Of course, the Quicktime player in Snow Leopard and later is but a shadow of the old Quicktime Pro.
Apple markets Final Cut Pro, which is
described in detail by Wipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Cut_Pro This software costs $319.99.
Not the solution if all you want to do is
convert some old VHS tapes to DVD on your Mac.
Third Party video file reformatting and conversion
There is another solution to the problem of
av import and editing on the Mac. The use of Third Party video conversion
software.
I have found that the use of inexpensive software made and marketed by
Wondershare has solved my particular problems.
Wondershare Video Convertor for Mac http://www.wondershare.com/pro/mac-video-converter.html $US39
Wondershare DVD Creator for Mac $US49 http://www.wondershare.com/pro/mac-dvd-creator.html
These are cheap alternatives which will
take many different formats and convert them into formats which iMovie can use
The Advantages of the A1181 Macbook
The provision of an audio in port on the
A1181 Macbook is important. A video
capture device may work fine capturing video to a Mac, whereas it’s audio might
not. In this case, a separate audio in cable from the video source device to
the Macbook audio in port solves that particular audio problem.
Where a person’s av capture hardware and
software works only with Tiger and Leopard, maintaining the now aging earlier editions
of the A1181 Macbook model with a dual partition drive is important. One may use the internet with maximum
protection afforded by the latest OS, while at the same time gaining the use of
hardware and software which are only compatible with earlier versions of OSX.
This holds true for many versions of
applications software. The general advice not to update your OSX until you
ensure your important apps and peripheral devices work under the new OSX is
good advice.
If you are going to upgrade, make a
bootable clone of your current primary drive first, just in case you find one of your important applications or peripheral devices do not work under the new OSX. You may have to revert to the old or partition your drive and run both versions of OSX and the applications software. Updates and new versions have pluses and minuses.
Before you buy an av capture device, do all
you can to make sure that it works with your version of OSX. Explore the Echo FX website before you buy a
cheaper device originally made for Windows.
Generally the quality of the recorded video
is proportional to the cost of the device.
The generic capture devices which cost
under $50 are not good as the models which cost $100, $200 or more.
Maintaining an A1181 Macbook which runs
Tiger or Leopard is important for those people who have av and other hardware
which are not compatible with later versions of OSX. The later the Macbook, the later its minimum
OSX version will. A 2006 – 2007 Macbook
will boot from Tiger. A 2009 Macbook
will not. When it comes time to buy a newer machines, you may have to find out the newer ways of doing things.
The usefulness of your older software and
hardware depends upon the OSX version you are able to run. If you can’t run the required OSX version on
your machine, you can’t use the hardware which requires that software. Hardware
is only part of the product.
As time passes, more and more Macs which
require later versions of OSX will appear for sale on eBay and elsewhere. Fewer
and fewer Macs which can boot from Tiger and Leopard will appear.
It is my view that recording av into a Mac
was easier in the days of Tiger. There
were far fewer issues than there are under Snow Leopard and later when using
cheap av capture devices.
Whatever version of OSX you use during av
capture and video editing, explore the
world of 3rd party video conversion and DVD creation software. When it comes to reformatting video so that
it works under iMovie, the 3rd party offerings can offer a cost effective solution. Downloading their trial versions will enable
you to see whether they meet your needs or not.
All of the suggested solutions here qualify
as budget ones. It is certainly true
that a professional video camera with analogue pass through feeding into Final
Cut Pro is the best way to go, but it is also more expensive than the methods,
software and device models discussed here.
The Apple site describes how to capture
video direct to iMovie 11 from the inbuilt iSight camera camera here: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2155 . http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US This will not perform the task of converting VCR video tape to a digital though.
Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Heat
The battery life of a laptop
is a major marketing tool for manufacturers.
When laptops are designed, makers probably use every technique possible
to maximize battery life. The cooling
fans fitted to laptops are probably set to cut in and run at speeds which meet
both the competing requirements of adequate heat removal and maximum battery
life. The designed in fan cut in
temperature and fan speeds are thus probably the result of a compromise that works ok when the
laptop is young and when it is used only within certain environmental conditions.
Many people over the years
have expressed the view that laptops would last longer if heat removal was
improved by one means or another. For Mac computers and particularly Mac
laptops, there is a program that allows the user to dial in a lower than
standard fan cut in temperature and higher than standard fan speeds.
The program is called SMC Fan
Control and is available here: http://www.eidac.de/
I use it all the time. SMC Fan Control displays a temperature read
out on the upper task bar. Even if you keep the fan cut in and speeds standard,
you can see how hot your Mac is running.
People discuss their hot Macs
in this forum thread: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=433732
While the Intel CPU is
protected by a thermal cut out, the constant heat inside a laptop case impacts
on the life of other components. Especially, in my opinion, the tiny capacitors which pepper the circuit
boards. As the fluid inside modern capacitors may be mildly corrosive, the life of these capacitors is greatly
shortened by hot environments. But that’s just my opinion.
Some suggestions for reducing
the temperature of the Macbook are discussed here: http://timemanagement.cgpgrey.com/5-ways-to-cool-down-your-hot-macbook/
The Macbook is a plastic
bodied machine. The components inside
the Macbook, including the logic board and heat sink, are attached to the
plastic base by screws threaded into metal inserts inside plastic mounts.
When plastic, even
polycarbonate, gets hot, it becomes less rigid and more flexible. Proper heat removal from the CPU depends upon
the proper mounting of the heat to the CPU. Thermal grease, applied to the top
of the CPU conducts heat from the CPU to the heat sink. Briefly, the airflow caused by the fan is supposed to adequately remove the heat
from the heat sink.
If the heat sink is loose or
if the thermal grease is old and inefficient, a macbook will run hot. And
sometimes it will cut out. Its life span is being reduced by poor heat removal.
If you
have the Apple Macbook take apart and service manual you will be able to read
the specified manner in which new thermal is applied. You
will also see the specific manner in which the heat sink is secured to mounts
and thus clamped to the top of the CPU.
Apple does not release its
service manuals to the public. They can be found at a few sites on the internet
however. Too much thermal grease is as
bad as not enough. You must use the right sort of thermal grease.
Here is IFixit’s guide to
replacing thermal grease:
Please research this whole
issue further before deciding on taking any action on your MacBook. If your
heat sink is not loose and if the SMC temperature read out shows an idle temp
of 40 – 50 degrees Celcius in a room temperature of about 25 degrees Celcius, I
would do nothing. But that is just my belief.
Capacitors
Wikipedia reports the
infamous period during which bad capacitors flooded the electronics supply
chain in, particularly in years past:
“The capacitor plague
(also known as bad capacitors or "bad caps")[1][2] is a
problem with a large number of premature failures of aluminum electrolytic
capacitors with non-solid or liquid electrolyte of certain brands,
especially from some Taiwanese manufacturers.[3][4][5]
The first flawed capacitors
were reported in 1999, but most of the affected capacitors failed in the early
to mid 2000s. High failure rates occurred in various electronics equipment,
particularly motherboards,
video cards, compact fluorescent
lamp ballasts, LCD monitors,
and power supplies of personal
computers. News of the failures (usually after a few years of use) forced
many equipment manufacturers to repair the defects. The problem seems to be
ongoing; faults were still being reported as of 2010.[6]…..
Problems with "bad caps" have
affected equipment manufactured up to at least 2007 and beyond.[9]
Many well-known motherboard companies have unknowingly assembled and sold
boards with faulty capacitors sourced from other manufacturers. Major vendors
such as IBM, Intel, Dell, HP, Samsung, and Apple Inc. were affected.[7][10] Circa
2005, Dell spent some US$150 million replacing motherboards outright and
another US$150 million on the logistics of determining whether a system was in
need of replacement. HP reportedly purged its product line in 2004. The
motherboards and power supplies in the Apple iMac G5[11] and
some eMacs[12] were
also affected.
While the capacitor plague
has affected large numbers of desktop computers, the problem is by no means
limited to that category. Bad capacitors can also be found in external power
supply adaptors, network switches, audio equipment, flat panel displays,
and a wide range of other devices. "Bad caps" can cause a simple
failure to turn on, or a wide range of bizarre (often intermittent) behavior of
afflicted electronic equipment……”
“Visual symptoms
Direct
visual inspection is a common method of identifying capacitors which have
failed because of bad electrolyte. Failed capacitors may show one or more of
these visible symptoms:[8]
Bulging or cracking of the
vent on top of the capacitor. (The "vent" is shaped by an impression
stamped into the top of the can, forming the seams of the vent. It is designed
so that if the capacitor becomes pressurized it will split at the vent's seams,
relieving the pressure rather than exploding.)
Capacitor casing sitting
crooked on the circuit board, as the bottom rubber plug is pushed out
Electrolyte leaked onto the
motherboard from the base of the capacitor or vented from the top, visible as
crusty rust-like brown deposits. The petroleum-based adhesive that is sometimes
used to secure the capacitors to the board can be confused with leaked
electrolyte; electrolyte is usually wet, adhesive is dry. The glue is a thick
elastic covering usually of a sandy yellow color, which darkens (towards black)
with heat. A dark brown crust up the side of a capacitor is invariably
glue, not electrolyte. The glue is itself sometimes harmful, and can corrode
leads and tracks covered by it, causing leakage current or an open circuit; it
is not required and can safely be removed. The presence of black-colored glue
is a reliable sign that the capacitor has overheated, due either to internal
failure or to inadequate ventilation.
Detached or missing capacitor
casing. Sometimes a failed capacitor will literally explode, ejecting its
contents violently and shooting the casing off the circuit board. Grayish aluminum
foil and shredded paper (the remnants of the capacitor internals) may still be
attached to the circuit board, or scattered in the vicinity.
Surface Mount
Device (SMD) packaging is used for
ultra-compact electrolytic capacitors instead of traditional metal cans, for
components soldered directly to printed circuit
boards. Because these devices are so small, a magnifying glass is
useful for visual inspection. The only visible clue to failure may be a small
leakage of electrolyte from the package, but often a defective SMD device
cannot be identified by its external appearance.
Sometimes,
electrolytic capacitors fail without any visible changes in appearance of the
external SMD or metal can package. Since the electrical characteristics of
capacitors are the reason for their use, these parameters must be tested with
instruments to definitively decide if the devices have failed.” Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
I
believe I’m lucky if a modern capacitor in any of the electrical devices I own
last more than 5 years. But that’s just
my belief. To what extent Apple had
solved the problem of bad capacitors in the period 2006 – 2009 (the production
life of the A1181 MacBook) I do not know. The problem is industry wide. That
means, the whole electronics industry, not just computers.
I’ll
give Wikipedia the last say:
Quote:
“Computer symptoms
Some
common behavioral symptoms of "bad caps" seen in computer systems
are:
Intermittent
failure to turn on, requiring user to press reset or try turning the computer
on repeatedly
Instabilities
(hangs, occurrences of the "Blue Screen of Death",
kernel panics, etc.),
especially when symptoms get progressively more frequent over time
Memory
errors, especially ones that get more frequent with time
Spontaneous restarts
or resets
In
on-board or add-on video cards, unstable image in some video modes
Failure
to complete the Power-On
Self Test ("POST"), or spontaneous rebooting before it is
completed
Failure
to even start the POST; fans spin but the system appears dead….” End quote. Source: : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
Sound Familiar? See
my previous post.
Next: Recording TV, audio and video on a budget.
Next: Recording TV, audio and video on a budget.
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