pc issue.. should I be worried?

Just buy a new PC. You'll be much happier in the end. Here you can get a dual core ATOM processor (very low power), 1g RAM, 256G HD and a DVD drive for $260 (including 16.5% VAT).

You may have to shop around for one with an S-Video out, but if you are buying an LCD TV in the near future, just get one with a compatible (to the new motherboard) video connection.

Geoff.

Unsolder and remove that part - it's a bypass capacitor - and see if the PC runs. It's possible it just went bad. If the PC runs OK, it will be fine without it. If not, probably time to get a new PC as someone else suggested.

The shocks are a totally different problem.

Is the PC plugged into a PROPERLY grounded outlet? If not, then the case can have some voltage on it from the power supply RFI/line filters. PCs should always be plugged into grounded outlets for your safety and also reliability. It's also possible there is a fault in the power supply which would blow the line fuse if the case were properly grounded. And that can be very dangerous (but also relatively unlikely).

The other possibility is that it is simply very dry there and you're getting static shocks like walking across a carpet and touching a doorknob.

A third possibility is that some other piece of equipment is faulty and you're getting shocked when you touch that and the PC at the same time.

Hi!

Could have been nothing more than static electricity dissipating from your body. If you touched a properly grounded electrically conductive object, the result is to be expected. This is the right time of the year for those where cold and dry winter weather has now arrived.

Unfortunately, this means I'm spending a lot of time in my carpeted computer room getting a surprise each time I head across the carpet. (My computer service room has a grounded workbench and no carpet, so I'm thinking of moving into that room temporarily.)

This cannot be good. Even if the board continued to work, I wouldn't leave it running unattended for any reason. It could start a fire, especially if the case is dusty.

However, since the board continues to operate, it seems to me like the fault actually happened somewhere else. Since I can't presently see the picture you linked to, I can't say for certain what circuit might be affected.

Had the fault been on the motherboard, I'd have expected traces leading to the component (or other, related traces) to have vaporized shortly after the part you saw turned red hot.

Clean the machine. Keep an eye on it. And try running it with only a monitor, mouse and keyboard in another location. Look at the electrical service in the location where you've been running it to make sure that everything is wired properly, and that all of your entertainment devices are working correctly.

William

well, the type of shock I was getting was a constant shock. not like a zap-ish static kind of shock. as I said, it hasn't happened lately, but I have tried the PC in different locations, and it did the same, so it shouldn't be anything to do with ground. I even tried different power cables. I assume it's either the dust and dirt, the case sucks, or a faulty power supply.

unfortunately buying a new PC is out of the question at the moment, financially. which is why I use an old junker for a media PC. there aren't really any special devices hooked up to it. it's got a video card, network card, and a USB infrared remote receiver. the video card gets an s-video out, which is adapted to a composite, and that hooks up to my tv. the audio is onboard, which also hooks up to my tv.

I think what I'll try is cleaning it first, and letting it run for a while. watch it constantly, and see if it's still doing it. if not, success. if it does, I may try unsoldering the bypass capacitor. if it's a faulty bypass capacitor, should I replace this part, solder a bridge between the two leads, or simply leave it empty?

As for the shocks, dump the surge supressor. I'll bet you have one and it leaks.

For the PC, if you are unable to buy a new multimedia computer, a situation I am also in, look around on the various local mailing lists for a used computer. If you are lucky, you'll find a faster one that does the job for you for free, if you are not, you still should be able to get a good replacement if you are persistant and patient.

P.S. if you spend the time to learn how to repair power supply fans, you should be able to get more 2-3 year old computers than you can ever use.

Geoff.

okay, so I changed power supplies, and cleaned it. and turned it on. within about 30 seconds, it started glowing again. I'm going to have to assume this is a faulty bypass capacitor. that being the case, can someone answer my question about that? should I try to replace the bypass capacitor, unsolder it and solder a bridge between the two leads, or unsolder it and leave it empty, with two open leads?

...

That capacitor has shorted internally, you were seeing an internal arc. Probably it didn't get 'red hot' or the nearby board and dust would be scorched. Remove that capacitor! It's doing more harm than good (but find someone with a soldering iron and skills to do the removal). Replacement will be difficult (you don't know the component value), but the power necessary to make an arc is indicative that the capacitor is on a power bus, which means there are possibly a dozen or so other capacitors that are also connected there. Replace with 1 uF/25V if it's convenient, otherwise just ignore the empty space. The size looks like "1812".

Clean off the dust, and check, with a good AC voltmeter, the grounding of every piece of metal near your computer; the power supply case and three- prong cable should ground the computer, so check that, too.

so just to be clear, I -can- remove this, and it -should- work without replacing it?

I've desoldered it. but I want to be sure it should work, and be sure it won't explode or something if I turn it on :p

I seem to be spamming my own messages. anyway. I've successfully unsoldered the bypass capacitor as mentioned before, which was internally arching(I confirmed that it was this, and not 'glowing red hot' persay) the PC boots perfectly fine, nothing seems to be exploding. so my final question is, will it be safe to leave it like this long-term, and still use the system for watching movies and whatnot, perhaps for many hours of up-time per day?

Take suitable anti static precautions and un-solder the part. Its a bypass capacitor and it has an internal short. Its also on the 5volt rail so if you do decide to replace it almost anything of the same physical size will do. Its value is not critical. Though I would guess around .1uf to .5uf.

Hi!

No, you'd better replace that capacitor. The designers of the board put it there for a good reason. If you just remove it, you may find out why when the board blows up or something on it fries.

A new capacitor will be cheap. If you can find someone who is willing to remove and replace the old one, or if you already know how, this will not be an expensive fix.

William

not even sure where I'd find something like that around here. but I'll try to find one. I'm gonna leave it on for about 5 hours, sitting here watching it constantly, if it doesn't go nuts or blow up or whatever, I'm just gonna leave it like that. if I remember correctly, bypass capacitors are mainly to filter out AC noise, since most of the board's component's require DC power. and since the power supply is supposed to do a good deal of that on it's own.. I don't see how they are entirely necessary on the board. that's not to say I won't keep my eye out. if I find them somewhere, maybe the source(which used to be radio shack) ? I dunno. lets see how the next 5 hours go. I'm even installing windows 7 on it, for kicks. kind of push it to its limits :p

thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it.

I might also add, I thought the thing was dead anyway at first, so I don't really care if it died or fries components. the only reason I'd be afraid of those is if it's a fire hazard, and that's also why I have a master cutoff switch for my house in my bedroom, as well as a fire extinguisher beside my bed.

More likely your house doesn't have properly grounded outlets, not a problem with the PC.

The case of a PC should be stone dead (no pun...) as far as shocks go. It's wired directly to the third prong on the power cord. If the outlet isn't grounded or you're using a 3 to 2 adapter and the Ground isn't connected, same thing.

HaHaHaHaHa... :) I used to design high performance computers. Engineers often sprinkle bypass caps all over the place for insurance and there are always more than need be. The worst that will happen is that Windows might crash 1 time out of 10000 more often than it usually does. :)

In any case, the board won't blow up or fry due to a missing bypass cap! Geez! ;-)

Sams right, also no-one has mentioned to you, but DO NOT short out the connections where the cap was !! that would surely lead to pain :-) (You would be short circuiting the power supply)

Hi!

I don't know how similiar The Source is to RadioShack here in the US, but I know they were at least loosely related at one time. So they might have what you need.

You can also steal capacitors from dead equipment. I have been known to harvest them from motherboards that were the victim of some catastrophic failure (other than the caps). If the equipment isn't terribly old and the capacitors look OK, they probably are.

Been there, done that:

Compaq Deskpro EN, 40GB hard disk, 512MB RAM

It was entirely usable for a lot of basic computing needs.

William

"William R. Walsh" wrote in news:8ce9ac01-0929-45b0- snipped-for-privacy@m16g2000yqc.googlegroups.com:

I wonder if his 'red hot component' might be a surface mount LED?