Here are two systems from work, one quite a bit nicer than the other.
The first is from an ADIGE LT702D Tube LASER machine.
Both systems use Nichicon HM 1500uF 10v 10x16mm capacitors from 2001 and 2002, since they see allot of uptime (generally 24/5 atleast) they have failed.
Though we do have another system not pictured where all capacitors had datecode 0213 and they are all fine...
So the Nichicon HM/HN problem is probably dependant on which production batch the capacitors came from...
The mainboards have marking A5E00124368 and the whole PC A5E00145835 or 6FC5210-0DF20-0AA0
The systems are Windows NT4 With a Celeron 566Mhz CPU and 128MB SODIMM RAM.
They can (and will be) upgraded with another 256MB stick of RAM, Kingston KVR133X64SC3/256 works well.
The CPU will be upgraded with a Pentium III-S Tualatin 1400Mhz CPU.
(compatibility may of course depend on what BIOS is installed in the system, and of course it needs to be a PCU50 and not older...)
I replaced the capacitors with Samxon GC 1500uF 6.3v, I did check the voltage with a multimeter so I knew it was ok to reduce the voltage rating;
The 7x capacitors near the CPU see VCORE (1.75v with this CPU)
The 5x capacitors near the PCI slot see 5v (so they are for bulk filtering)
And the lone capacitor by the SODIMM slots see VDIMM (3.3v)
The geniuses that designed it put a large 120mm industrial fan sucking outside air through the cabinet it is located in.
Can you imagine what the dust created by LASER cutting in steel does to computer mainboards and powersupplies? Let me tell you; it's lovely!
I think it is fortunate this is a 24v DC/DC PSU, had it been a 230v AC/DC we would probably have started a small fire inside the machine!
After we do the old tried and true washing sink + water treatment, throw in some YES and a toothbrush its like new, after like 10 mins of scrubbing to remove the crap!
(Note that all pictures can be clicked for a larger version, and you need to be logged in to see them).
The treatment for the mainboard is the same, it was so filthy I did not bother removing the bad capacitors before it's bath!
As you can see it looks like new after it's bath too, and the new Samxon GC capacitors looks quite improved vs the old bloated Nichicon HM aswell
Next up is the second system, this is from an ADIGE-SYS Adilas flatbed LASER machine, unlike the other machine they did not put a fan sucking outside air through the cabinet.
So after 6 years there was only a small bit of dust around the CPU heatsink, the powersupply looked like new! So this system did not need the water treatment
Notice that two of the capacitors in the first picture are fine, they have a datecode of 0213 unlike the ones that are bloated which have datecode 0143.
This also proves that as long there are good capacitors installed the outside 120mm fan is not needed.
Since even those two lone capacitors survived the huge loading they received when the capacitors around them failed!
Because of this I will disable the outside 120mm fan on the other machines...
The first is from an ADIGE LT702D Tube LASER machine.
Both systems use Nichicon HM 1500uF 10v 10x16mm capacitors from 2001 and 2002, since they see allot of uptime (generally 24/5 atleast) they have failed.
Though we do have another system not pictured where all capacitors had datecode 0213 and they are all fine...
So the Nichicon HM/HN problem is probably dependant on which production batch the capacitors came from...
The mainboards have marking A5E00124368 and the whole PC A5E00145835 or 6FC5210-0DF20-0AA0
The systems are Windows NT4 With a Celeron 566Mhz CPU and 128MB SODIMM RAM.
They can (and will be) upgraded with another 256MB stick of RAM, Kingston KVR133X64SC3/256 works well.
The CPU will be upgraded with a Pentium III-S Tualatin 1400Mhz CPU.
(compatibility may of course depend on what BIOS is installed in the system, and of course it needs to be a PCU50 and not older...)
I replaced the capacitors with Samxon GC 1500uF 6.3v, I did check the voltage with a multimeter so I knew it was ok to reduce the voltage rating;
The 7x capacitors near the CPU see VCORE (1.75v with this CPU)
The 5x capacitors near the PCI slot see 5v (so they are for bulk filtering)
And the lone capacitor by the SODIMM slots see VDIMM (3.3v)
The geniuses that designed it put a large 120mm industrial fan sucking outside air through the cabinet it is located in.
Can you imagine what the dust created by LASER cutting in steel does to computer mainboards and powersupplies? Let me tell you; it's lovely!
I think it is fortunate this is a 24v DC/DC PSU, had it been a 230v AC/DC we would probably have started a small fire inside the machine!
After we do the old tried and true washing sink + water treatment, throw in some YES and a toothbrush its like new, after like 10 mins of scrubbing to remove the crap!
(Note that all pictures can be clicked for a larger version, and you need to be logged in to see them).
The treatment for the mainboard is the same, it was so filthy I did not bother removing the bad capacitors before it's bath!
As you can see it looks like new after it's bath too, and the new Samxon GC capacitors looks quite improved vs the old bloated Nichicon HM aswell
Next up is the second system, this is from an ADIGE-SYS Adilas flatbed LASER machine, unlike the other machine they did not put a fan sucking outside air through the cabinet.
So after 6 years there was only a small bit of dust around the CPU heatsink, the powersupply looked like new! So this system did not need the water treatment
Notice that two of the capacitors in the first picture are fine, they have a datecode of 0213 unlike the ones that are bloated which have datecode 0143.
This also proves that as long there are good capacitors installed the outside 120mm fan is not needed.
Since even those two lone capacitors survived the huge loading they received when the capacitors around them failed!
Because of this I will disable the outside 120mm fan on the other machines...
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