Took 3 hours to find a dead capacitor that was staring at me the whole time

I was swapping out a PSU in a Dell OptiPlex at my shop in Portland and the new one still wouldn't post, turns out a bulged 470uF cap on the mobo was right next to the RAM slot and I only caught it after I pulled the board and held it under the desk lamp, has anyone else had that moment where you finally see the obvious thing after tearing half the rig apart?

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1 Comment

emma_jones1d ago

Wait, was the cap bulged enough to notice with the naked eye or did you need to catch the light just right? Because I've had boards where the top looked flat until I tilted it at like a 45 degree angle and then suddenly it's obvious as hell. That little shine on the top is what gets me every time.