General Discussion

csziggy

(34,189 posts)

40. Some computers ran for a long time with bad capacitors

Mon Apr 1, 2013, 09:00 PM

Apr 2013

But look at the various pictures in the Wikipedia article - there are some scary failures there.

The part of the whole Capacitor Plague that got me is that it was from industrial espionage done wrong:
"A major cause of the plague of faulty capacitors was industrial espionage in connection with the theft of an electrolyte formula. A researcher is suspected of having taken, when moving from Japan to Taiwan, the secret chemical composition of a new low-resistance, inexpensive, water-containing electrolyte. The researcher subsequently tried to imitate this electrolyte formula in Taiwan, to undersell the pricing of the Japanese manufacturers. However, the secret formula had apparently been copied incompletely, and it lacked important proprietary ingredients which were essential to the long-term stability of the capacitors."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague#Industrial_espionage_implicated

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The Adventure of My Defunct Hard Drive: Apple Wants Your Money or Your Life [View all] HiPointDem Apr 2013 OP

Apple sees its customers coming with their eyes closed and money in their hands. hobbit709 Apr 2013 #1

Funny, I'm an Apple customer and if something goes wrong with my drive justiceischeap Apr 2013 #2

You're in the minority there. hobbit709 Apr 2013 #3

as i understand it you have to give up the old one when you get the new one. HiPointDem Apr 2013 #4

Not if I replace it myself. justiceischeap Apr 2013 #7

in that case, no. i thought you meant the free replacement from apple. HiPointDem Apr 2013 #8

A lot of people are desperately afraid Warpy Apr 2013 #27

I don't know about Apples but ... Ganja Ninja Apr 2013 #5

The original drive in the OP was toast - the laptop was OK csziggy Apr 2013 #10

The hard drive in the Apple looks like a standard HD Mnpaul Apr 2013 #13

Possibly - I've done that a few times csziggy Apr 2013 #15

The box I had in the early 00's was named the Antichrist Warpy Apr 2013 #31

Wasn't that the period when the mobos had the problem with the capacitors? csziggy Apr 2013 #37

I didn't notice anything, to tell the truth. Warpy Apr 2013 #39

Some computers ran for a long time with bad capacitors csziggy Apr 2013 #40

The only symptom mine ever had was borked Windows Warpy Apr 2013 #45

Maybe it was toast and maybe not. Ganja Ninja Apr 2013 #16

Since I've never taken a computer to a commercial IT guy csziggy Apr 2013 #18

first mistake was obviously buying a mac RedstDem Apr 2013 #6

Wow 3 drives failed Mnpaul Apr 2013 #14

He should have just done this. UnrepentantLiberal Apr 2013 #9

Customers = money to Apple and that's it. Apophis Apr 2013 #11

Do customers equal anything else to any other computer manufacturer? KittyWampus Apr 2013 #46

No. Apophis Apr 2013 #49

This is standard Sgent Apr 2013 #12

I find no acceptable excuse for not backing up vital info. L0oniX Apr 2013 #17

You're right--backing up the data would have protected the author's confidential sources Orrex Apr 2013 #20

Placing confidential sources "only" on a flash drive is an option. n/t L0oniX Apr 2013 #21

If you're hoping to minimize data security, sure Orrex Apr 2013 #23

we use Bitlocker to encrypt jump drives in the Windows world frylock Apr 2013 #25

That's nice and still largely irrelevant Orrex Apr 2013 #30

i never said that. i merely addressed your concerns regarding data security on portable drives.. frylock Apr 2013 #32

Whoops--sorry. Conflated two separate DUers there! Orrex Apr 2013 #35

the times I've ever had things replaced by manufacturer's always meant handing over the dead item KittyWampus Apr 2013 #33

That's lovely hindsight Orrex Apr 2013 #34

his lack of back-up discipline isn't a hardware company's problem. KG Apr 2013 #19

I guess the no-backup is a security measure? sofa king Apr 2013 #22

Indeed. I just bought three 16 GB USB MineralMan Apr 2013 #48

yep scams abound. Phillip McCleod Apr 2013 #24

Hey, Phil, they were referring to a process that requires a clean room. Occulus Apr 2013 #28

i'm just saying that not every tech is the same. Phillip McCleod Apr 2013 #29

He had click of death. politicat Apr 2013 #44

Buy a 1TB external hard drive for backups. Do a full backup once a month. Crisis solved. Initech Apr 2013 #26

External hard drives are great for backing up hard disks. Art_from_Ark Apr 2013 #41

A total tech dummy here has a dumb question: northoftheborder Apr 2013 #36

Well, I am a writer too. I always have MineralMan Apr 2013 #38

That is disturbing. I'm a loyal Apple customer, but ... Hekate Apr 2013 #42

Sorry about the data loss (truly) but... It was warranty service. politicat Apr 2013 #43

Nonsense Apple Bash. Why would you expect to keep the old drive? DirkGently Apr 2013 #47