Shoutout to the guy who told me to check the power supply caps on my old Packard Bell

I was ready to give up on this old 486 machine from a yard sale, it would just beep and show a black screen. A friend who fixes radios said, 'It's always the caps, just look for the bad ones.' I opened it up and sure enough, three of the big capacitors on the power supply board were bulged at the top. Replaced them for about eight bucks and it booted right up. Has anyone else had a simple fix like that save a project you thought was dead?

3 comments

3 Comments

paul_nguyen2mo ago

My old iMac G3 just needed a new PRAM battery to wake up.

ivan_perez2mo ago

Did you have to open the whole thing up to get to it? I remember those being a real pain to reach, tucked in there behind the logic board. At least the battery itself is cheap and easy to find.

pipera501mo ago

Forget the battery cost, what about the time? You spend more on pizza while you're taking the thing apart than on the part itself. And you better hope you don't strip a tiny screw or snap a plastic clip, because then you're really stuck. It's not the money, it's the gamble of whether you'll put it all back together right. Makes you wonder if the design was meant to be fixed at all.