Is it bad capacitors?

My iMac had been having problems starting up for a week or so where there would be a few visual glitches (randomly colored squares etc.) on either the login or loading screen. Eventually it completely refused to start up normally. I though it was a hard drive problem at first so I bought a new one and have a clean install of OSX on it. This didn't solve my problem. It continues to hang on the blue screen and only boots up in safe mode. I've looked at the capacitors and only a few seem to have the metallic top pushing slightly outward and honestly they were like this years ago when I upgraded the ram on the system.
I've reset the pram, repaired the permissions and drive already to no avail. So I guess I'd like to know if it's something a little simpler to repair than the capacitors haha.

Hi FebMoon and Welcome to Apple Discussions,
where there would be a few visual glitches (randomly colored squares etc.) on either the login or loading screen
It didn't freeze when this happened?
I've looked at the capacitors and only a few seem to have the metallic top pushing slightly outward and honestly they were like this years ago when I upgraded the ram on the system.
So the crucial info here is that the tops were "slightly" pushed up. Now they can look like that and be OK for a while. I've also seen others that were just barely bulged and tested absolutely dead. So as soon as you see that that must be addressed before anything else.
DT&T services has been recommended on these boards before and have a good rep. One of my clients used them and was pleased.
http://www.dttservice.com/imacg5.html
Richard

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MS6701 Medion Computer -- bad capacitors serious problems

For the last week or so my machine has been locking up, not booting, or rebooting randomly. I called medion support and got nowhere.
I finally slapped in a new hard drive and loaded a fresh install of Windows XP onto the hard drive. I removed all other componets from the machine but left the
memory. I rest the BIOS with the latest update (2003) and turned off the USB, sound and firewire support in the new BIOS. Problems were the same and getting worse by the hour.
I did a seach for symptoms, and found what I think is the problem. Bad capacitors
Looking over the MB I can see what is called BUNG on the top of nearly 10 of them.
This could easily be the cause of all my problems.
I am in the process of getting these suckers replaced. See for example www.badcaps.net for more information.
It seems that MSI boards are not immune to this problem although very little discussion of the problem is on this forum.
I will let you know how it goes....

I've no problems with my mobo's caps. Maybe it an OEM board where others have done some tweaks to the original... Just my guess here.

Bad Capacitor Confirmation

I think I've got bad capacitors on my 1GHZ eMac serial# YM407.... I'll include some images but in some of them there is white seepage coming out of the bottom of the capacitors...a lot, and in others there is a slight bulge at the top with a bit of brown residue. What I need is confirmation that the capacitors are in fact bad and some advice on how best to proceed. The computer was purchased in April 2004 and the serial # is outside the ones Apple has listed so not only is it just outside the 3 year mark, it doesn't have a qualifying serial. If someone could take a look at the pics and let me know if the capacitors are in fact bad I would really appreciate it. I've put in a lot troubleshooting this thing.
http://dynodealz.com/emac_capacitors/

Serge, I agree with PT.
The final picture ONLY has bad caps.
The others are all ok. Those with a "Y" shape on the base aren't the "bad caps". But that last photo you can see 1 or 2 that have a "+" shape marked into them, and DEFINITELY the one that has the brown residue is BAD!
You'll very likely have to fight to get Apple to do anything however, as it's now 3+ years old... Even the official eMac Repair Program only extended warranty to 3 years...
If you haven't already, get in touch with Apple ASAP and explain that you've visibly seen bad capacitors, and would be ever so greatful if Apple would help you out...

MSI Response to bad capacitors

I finally heard from MSI......
Not good news.
I cannot establish where the board was obtained or even the date. I was told it was about a year old but maybe it's an old board that sat for awhile before my friend bought it. Anyhow....MSI said that if it was under warranty then I could send it back to where I bought it....otherwise "I'm on my own"......exact words.
Sooooo...... with that kind of response and customer service, even though MSI boards allow overclocking features and a somewhat reasonable price, I've decided to use other mfg's boards.
Bad business decision by MSI, I think! This is obviously a manufacturing mistake and the capacitors aren't lasting as long as they are supposed to. MSI should really step to the plate and address the problem. From the article I read ABIT is taking care of the problem. I guess I wouldn't be so upset about it but I got a glimpse of MSI revenues and Lelon revenues from last year and they are making a killing.....selling junk.
Anyway...they lost my business....
I don't want to take a chance in the future in buying sub-standard materials from a company that doesn't stand behind their work.

Hi,
The capacitors are failing prematurely because of a faulty electrolyte.
Here is a brief synopsis:
Electrolytic capacitors (elcos) are made from 2 sheets of aluminium foil, separated by an insulator impregnated with electrolyte, rolled up into a cylinder.
Elco manufacturers buy the electrolyte from electrolyte manufacturers.
Elcos in switch mode power supplies operate at high frequencies, with large current flows, and must have low Effective Series Resistance (ESR), and a special electrolyte.
Elcos operating under high stress conditions can generate hydrogen gas unless the electrolyte is designed properly.
Gas build up causes the end of the capacitor to bulge out, and eventually the safety seal at the bottom blows, causing the electrolyte to leak and the capacitor to fail.
The story is that a scientist from a Japanese electrolyte manufacturer was hired by a mainland Chinese enterprise to develop an electrolyte manufacturer. He took a secret electrolyte formula with him.
Some of his team then defected to Taiwan, taking most of the formula with them, but leaving out the magic ingredient which suppresses hydrogen generation.
The Taiwanese company then made large amounts of defective electrolyte, which it sold to Elco makers (presumably at a much cheaper price).
Billions of Elcos were made with defective electrolyte, and sold to various customers including MSI.
MSI (and others) loaded these Elcos onto mobos and shipped them out through the normal distribution channels to end users.
Several months after the defective Elcos were first used, they started to fail. In the meantime, billions had been installed into mobos etc. So there are lots of little time bombs waiting to go off!
So, the failures are due to defective materials (electrolyte), not due to normal wear and tear. If the failure had been, say, the hydraulic fluid used in shock absorbers made by a couple of automotive component manufacturers, and used by several car makers, then in most countries the car makers would have to do a product recall, and change all of the defective shock absorbers - but ultimately recouping the cost from the hydraulic fluid maker (maybe via the shock absorber maker). In my opinion, the mobo makers should be doing a product recall on all the equipment they made using the suspect parts. Now, I don't think that is going to happen, but they should at least be prepared to replace the defective components free of charge, even if the equipment is out of warranty. Remember, the difference is that the components fail because of defective manufacture, not due to normal wear and tear.
As far as I know, very few companies have publicly acknowledged that there is a problem, much less instituted a recall program.
Anyway, I suggest that if you talk nicely to MSI, and remind them that it is a well known component defect, that they might agree to replace the faulty Elcos. (Make sure they replace ALL the suspect capacitors, not just the obviously faulty ones)
Cheers

Bad Capacitors . . .

Hi,
Thanks to all of you who have posted helpful advice here. I did quite a bit of cleaning/repairing as per advice, and my computer is running better, (except Safari crashes almost every time from drop-down menus).
Someone posted info about checking to see if you have capacitors from a bad batch--i.e., orange-and-black, wtih a + sign on the ends. I checked them, and they are swollen, and one is leaking. Is there anywhere I can go to get info. about whether Apple will replace them? How crucial is this? My eMac is over three years old(3&1/2).
Thanks.

Also this answer from cosmichobo on this same page, under "Freezes": I hope all the folks that have been tearing their hair out like I have, figure out this problem. Anyway, he describes this type of problem as capacitor-caused freezing(I hope you don't mind my replaying your answer):
If this hasn't been resolved for you yet - just because your serial isn't in the range, if your eMac is freezing up, whereby I mean - everything on the screen, usually (but not always) including the mouse/pointer, stops moving and nothing you can do makes it go again (except to hold the power button to turn the computer off), then that's the "freeze" issue in a nutshell...
It also can cause glitches on the screen that look like random lines of the screen have just suddenly gone crazy... (You'll know it if you see it).
It really is advisable to open your eMac up (small panel on the bottom, not hard to do, nor voiding any warranty etc), and check the capacitors. Even a slight bulge in them is enough to cause this fault. Certainly if there is any leakage.
Apple is now starting to turn people away, so it's really time to get everyone with this fault repaired at Apple's cost rather than their own.
"

Does my eMac have bad capacitors.

I'm using a eMac USB2.0 model, but it always freeze after 5 or 10min using. Somebody suggested me to change the RAM mouth ago, and I did it. It still has the same problem.
Also, when it freezes, there is strange spotted areas appear on the screen. So I thought something wrong with the video card. So I updated my driver. Still...
I looked some posts said that my capacitors in the machine have problem. So please tell me what to do for checking and fixing.
I can't contact Apple for help, because Apple China is ********. I'm China right now....
Message was edited by: Michael Hu Zheh

Brian,
I have a USB 2.0 eMac and recently began experiencing the raster shift problem of the pre-USB 2.0 eMacs. Per many of the answers I read on the boards, I assumed it was just a bad iVad cable which costs about $25. Not being handy with computer repair, I took it to an authorized repair shop. After an analysis, they said the "entire analog sub-assembly and logic board" would need to be replaced for about $700. Needless to say, I didn't have it repaired as I thought that they were just trying to pull the wool over my eyes. After reading your comment about the iVad cable being a problem with pre-USB 2.0 eMacs, I'm now wondering if they were right. I'd still not fix it, but do you know if thier diagnosis makes sense?
Best regards,
Jim

Convert bad capacitor g5 imac to full functional flat screen TV?

Have anyone with worthless g5 Imac due to leaky capacitor tried to removed the system board and convert it to flat screen tv type? That would be cool looking flat screen tv!

Why don't you get it fixed through Apple's Return Exchange programs:
http://www.apple.com/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/
http://www.apple.com/support/imac/powersupply/repairextension/
They are two different programs for two different series of iMac G5s.
And then you can use one of http://www.elgato.com/ 's tuners to see TV on your Mac.

I want to replace bad eMac Capacitors

Hello, everyone out there! I have an eMac that is freezing from bad capacitors, and I was wondering if anyone could supply me a list of the capacitors in the eMac. The computer is far away at my grandma's house, and I can't go in right now to see it for myself, but I also have two iMac G5's and I am going to order the caps for them, so I decided I'd order them all at the same time. If someone could let me know the names and info of the caps in the eMac, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much!
—Tommy

There is some information here that might be of help:
http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-system-mac-software/302533-replacing-emac-capa citors.html
Working eMacs and eMac logic boards are so cheap, though, that it might not be worth all the trouble to attempt to replace the bad capacitors yourself.

New video problems after replacing bad cap

We are attempting to repair our first gen IMac G5 after it started having a problem with randomly shutting down. After much online research, and everything pointing towards bad capacitors, we opened up the machine and sure enough there was a bulging cap. We did the LED tests as well (fine), and ran hardware test (which also pointed to a problem on the logic board). After ringing the local Apple tech and confirming that they would only replace the whole board, not individual capacitors, we found a repair shop locally that was willing to solder on a new cap for us.
So we've put the whole machine back together today, and again the LEDs light fine. However, now, the video is totally messed up! It starts up as far as the login screen but it'd be impossible to log in as the screen is so badly scrambled.
Now we're trying to decide what the culprit is--incorrect reassembly? Accidental damage to the video cable during disassembly/assembly? Static electricity zapped the board at some point? Replacement cap not good enough (it's got a much higher uF and voltage rating but that seems to not be critical)?
Any pointers on how to proceed? We're loathe to throw in the towel just yet!

Don't throw in the towel, take it back to your local tech and have her replace the cap with one of the proper rating.

Bad video RAM causing dots and lines

Hi,
For some days there is a rendering error on my iMac G5 1.5 GHz (Tiger 10.4.11) : Dock, all menus, all message boxes are displaying with strange pattern overlayed on top. See http://snowflakejoins.com/forumhelper/desk.png and http://snowflakejoins.com/forumhelper/pattern.png
The Hardware test confirmed there are problems with the VRAM (Error code 2ATI/1/4 113-xxxxx-117)
The iMac's serial number is not one of those affected by the bad capacitors problems. To be sure, just opened the computer, and capacitors are ok.
Temporarily, found a workaround to disable Quartz Extreme here: http://discussions.apple.com/profile.jspa?userID=1606440. All the desktop icons, the dock etc are ok. There are small artifacts around the mouse pointer, but basically the computer is usable. Some eye-candy is gone, for example the topsites in Safari
Any ideas if VRAM will continue to degrade ? Could this be fixed by re-soldering the GPU and/or VRAM on the logic board ?
-Alex

Hi
harware test is on the "apple disk 1". Reboot and hold "option" key (the one near the apple logo). Select "harware test" . For 1.5 gb of ram complete test takes about one hour...
To disable Quartz see here: http://felipecruz.com/g5-freeze-ups-problem.php
Alex

EMac sharing iMac capacitor issue

Hi iMac G5 owners,
I just thought it may be of some interest that the bad capacitor problem that resulted in Apple starting a Repair Program for the iMac G5 is now also affecting the eMac G4 1.25Ghz machine, which ceased production on the same month as the iMac G5.
Is there anyone here who was affected by this problem? How did you find out about the problem (ie that it wasn't just you)? Had Apple already instigated the repair program by the time your machine was affected?
cheers
Travis

No offense taken, Eric, honest.
The reason I single out Mac first timers is because we are the underdog, and it would be fair to say they are taking a big leap from PC to Mac. The eMac was an ideal "first timers" computer - cheap, but still powerful, and pretty. There are a lot of people still looking for eMacs today, though from what I can gather they are education only, if available at all.
I don't know about US Consumer Law, but I am fairly sure that Australian Consumer Law states that a product should live through a reasonable life span. For example I had a car battery that died after 13 months. The companies warranty was 12 months. They were however obligated to replace it, as a car battery should last longer than 13 months. A computer I would think should last longer than 20 months.
I agree that time is needed for Apple to determine how many eMacs are affected, and if so, to ensure there are enough new logic boards available before going public with a repair program. It is just very disheartening reading the posts that just keep on coming in every day, and the only reply Apple has made to date was not words but actions - they deleted "our" attempt to make an official list of eMac serial numbers suffering this problem (the list simply was re-established on MacFixIt.com).

G5 isight machine with bad Motherboard

I have a isight 17" that has damage to the GPU due to over heated chipset, my machine has video issues that I can not fix, I checked for bad capacitors but they all are fine. I can confirm that the chipset is the issue after I ran a temp monior last night. with the front case off, the memory controller temp was 173 deg. F thats hotter than the CPU temp.
I have been told that the damage done due to the heat is not reversable.
So, here is my question....
Can I put the motherboard from the 17" intel 1.83ghz machine into my G5 machine? The board appears to have the same dimensions and locations of vital parts. I am only wondering if the powersupply is different and hope that it will work.
any insight is welcome.

I understand that parts from intel will not work in PPC machines, but I am looking to swap the whole MB, so the parts left are the HD, and optical, and the display really...those all just plug into jacks on the MB. I noticed the jack the optical plugs into is the exact style that is used on my G3 pismo. on a side note, I was able to take the optical drive out of my Intel 1.83hgz mac mini and without any modifications, slide it into the DVD caddy for the pismo and it works perfect.
I will call welovemacs again, no one answered when I called them at 1130 EST.
thanks
Kevin

Help please, Do I have a virus or a bad 1st gen imac?

I accidentally downloaded an .exe last week. I know .exe's aren't suppose to run/effect macs but ever since then, my windows have "fuzzed out", pieces of my wallpaper are missing, and applications are slow to respond. Sometimes when I return to my computer after it's been sleeping for a while the whole window will be void of icons with just this duotone wave pattern all over and my curser looks like a small black saw. When like this, it will not respond to hot keys or the power button. Not sure what is going on. My G5's serial # is within the range of the first generations that are now starting to have video distortion problems but I'm not sure that this sounds like a video problem. Anyone encountered this before? What are the manifesting symptoms of a bad video capacitor?
Any help would be tremendous help
Thanks,
Channon

I think it's purely coincidental that the problems started after you tried to run an .exe.
Windows-based virii (distributed through .exe files among others) cannot affect a mac directly, so it's out of the question you got a virus that way. Besides, there hasn't been a virus that affects OS X yet.
That leaves the bad capacitor problem. I think you should contact Apple or your reseller.
Good luck!

Who's got RubyCon Capacitors on their K8N???

Just recieved my K8N Neo Plat. today and noticed that is doesn't have 4 black RubyCon capacitors but instead it has 4 green KZE branded capacitors.
Every hardware review site that has pics of this board has the 4 black RubyCon capacitors.... as a matter of fact so does my packaging and the nice colour setup-poster that comes with this board.
From what I've heard the Japanese-made RubyCon Capacitors are second to none and was one of the only companies not affected during the "BAD CAPACITOR" years.
My first two questions in this forum are:
1. Who has 4 black RubyCon capacitors instead of the green KZE or other branded capacitors?
2. If these new (possibly lower cost/quality) green KZE capacitors were to go BAD or start to BULGE while the system is overclocked within the 3-year warranty, will MSI repair or replace the board under warranty?

just to check you mean near the MOSFETs? http://www.viperlair.com/images/reviews/cpu_mobo/msi/amd/nvidia/k8n/mosfets.jpg
mine are green... black in the review

What are the symptoms of the capacitor freezing problem?

I'm concerned that the freezing problems of my eMac that I've posted about on earlier threads results from a bad capacitor. Are there specific symptoms of that problem that would indicate my eMac should be checked by Apple? My computer falls within the range of serial numbers where this could be the issue.

The Apple warrantee extension program only refers to video and power problems, not freezing. The most sure-fire way to check if you have bad caps is to open the access door at the back of your eMac and look at the logic board next to the RAM slots. There are two little objects that look like 1/4 of a AA battery. (Googling "capacitor plague" should get you some pictures of capacitors if you're not sure what to look for.) If the top of either or both of them is cracked, swollen or leaking a discharge you know for sure that you have bad capacitors and Apple should have no problem fixing things for you. If you don't see any of those things, it might still mean that you have bad caps but they haven't shown it yet.
If you do plan to open your eMac, it's a good idea to put a towel on the desk so that you can avoid scratching the screen. It makes it more secure, too, and no doubt more comfy for your eMac.
eMac 1.25 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Is it bad capacitors?

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