- Computer does not power up at all (can be bad psu) - Computer smells bad when running (fishy or ammonia kinda smell) - Something smells burning (it is probably too
AI Customer ServiceBut not regular bad, honestly it smells like someone threw a rotting corpse inside a bucket filled with diluted expired antifreeze and then poured the liquid into the AIOs. I''ve
AI Customer ServiceThe condenser unit dispels the hot air to keep your home cool but if the air conditioning turns off randomly, this is a sign the problem lies in the capacitor. Of all the
AI Customer ServiceYes, bad (leaked / vented) electrolytic capacitors can (and usually do) stink... and at least not in any good way I can think of. It''s not like "burned/toasty electronics" type of
AI Customer ServiceA quick bit of looking at my desktop''s motherboard showed no signs of dying electrolytic capacitors or other obvious signs of death, so the power supply became the prime
AI Customer ServiceIt sounds like I am indeed smelling PCBs from dead capacitors along with the SRPBs all around the unit that have been saturated with alcohol. My use of a phenol-based
AI Customer ServiceYou can try looking up a material safety datasheet (MSDS) for the capacitors you have. A random MSDS for some Maxwell Capacitor I found said electrolytic caps don''t have any heavy metals
AI Customer ServiceIf it was a "wet" capacitor with a gel / liquid electrolyte, that was likely either ethylene glycol (aka "anti-freeze") or boric acid (think Borax laundry soap). If it was a solid
AI Customer ServiceCapacitor electrolyte composition is a bit of a vendor-specific secret sauce. There are however a bunch of searchable patents available on Google suggesting that various amines such as
AI Customer ServiceIt''s a capacitor, and a component that''s responsible for stabilizing voltage going to the loads, which are things like the CPU, RAM, and graphics card. The burning smell could
AI Customer ServiceFor some reason, I like the smell of fresh motherboards! Especially the Asus Sabertooth 990FX R 2.0 that I got in summer, 2015. It''s funny and punny how I literally like the
AI Customer ServiceThere are two visible signs indicating an electrolytic capacitor is failing. These are bulging of the capacitor itself and leakage of the electrolyte...
AI Customer ServiceMost capacitors emitting smell do so pretty briefly, and generally have it accompanied by sound as well as smoke (a kind of very concentrated and visible smell). This
AI Customer ServiceIf it was a "wet" capacitor with a gel / liquid electrolyte, that was likely either ethylene glycol (aka "anti-freeze") or boric acid (think Borax laundry soap). If it was a solid capacitor, the equivalent of an electrolyte was another
AI Customer ServiceI noticed there is a bad smell coming from my PC 2 months ago. It is not coming from my PSU, I already checked it. The smell is chemical and "sweet" (yes it is funny to say ). I
AI Customer ServiceDefective capacitors--or "bad caps" as they are sometimes called--can disable your computer. And while they may not be widely familiar to consumers, they''re nothing new to
AI Customer ServiceYou can try looking up a material safety datasheet (MSDS) for the capacitors you have. A random MSDS for some Maxwell Capacitor I found said electrolytic caps don''t have
AI Customer Service60s and early 70s electrolytics tend to smell of poo when opened. If one explodes you find the contents have a matching brown colour. Newer ones tend to smell more
AI Customer ServiceWill the Air Conditioner Run with a Bad Capacitor? You will likely hear a humming sound if the AC capacitor is bad and your AC will not run. In an emergency situation, the AC condenser fan motor can be jump started
AI Customer ServiceIt sounds like one of your lead-acid batteries has gone bad and is now leaking hydrogen sulfide (H2S) into the air. You will obviously want to replace the battery, but I would
AI Customer ServiceIt''s a capacitor, and a component that''s responsible for stabilizing voltage going to the loads, which are things like the CPU, RAM, and graphics card. The burning smell could possibly be
AI Customer ServiceElectrolytic capacitors tend to smell very different from plastics, and one type uses polymer electrolyte, the other type water and chemicals, and they smell different from one another, the
AI Customer ServiceSo let''s dive in to learn more about how to tell if blower motor capacitor is bad. Lifespan and Failure of Blower Motor Capacitors. Like any other electrical component,
AI Customer ServiceThere are two visible signs indicating an electrolytic capacitor is failing. These are bulging of the capacitor itself and leakage of the electrolyte. Since, this forum is frequented by people who work as repair technicians, it would be interesting to read about their experiences and whether there are other less obvious signs of electrolytic death.
If it was a "wet" capacitor with a gel / liquid electrolyte, that was likely either ethylene glycol (aka "anti-freeze") or boric acid (think Borax laundry soap). If it was a solid capacitor, the equivalent of an electrolyte was another film of manganese dioxide (MnO2). Wet caps usually pop, but not smoke.
The smell seems to be getting worse, not better. The power supply seems to smell especially bad, despite having been thoroughly scrubbed after replacing all capacitors. My hope is that the only reason it smells so bad is because the alcohol sort of rehydrated dried chemicals, and that it'll go away in a few days.
If you're concerned about lung damage, the smoke that comes from the flux every time you solder something is probably what you should focus your attention on. If it was a "wet" capacitor with a gel / liquid electrolyte, that was likely either ethylene glycol (aka "anti-freeze") or boric acid (think Borax laundry soap).
One capacitor won't do anything to your lungs/respiratory system...Like literally nothing. But if you blow up a cap due to overvoltage/reverse polarity (electrolytic)...hot material can fly at you so don't do that.
The bottom line is - I performed my servicing like it was something that I owned, and I'm fussy about my own stuff. Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors are subject to aging based in Arrhenius Law (roughly twice as fast for each 10C of operating temperature increase), thus failing periodically.
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