Subject: [oclug] New Motherboard etc. installed and working

[charles.macdonald at servicecanada.gc.ca]

>  Subject: [oclug] New Motherboard etc. installed and working
>  To make a long story short, my problems were caused by a 
>  dysfunctional
>  power pack which wasn't discovered until after my first trip back to
>  replace the new motherboard that also ceased working.  They 
>  replaced the
>  new motherboard with another one, threw in a new power pack 
>  for no extra
>  charge, and installed the whole works for me free.

I have gotten in the habit of always buying a power supply that costs at least as much as the motherboard!  I just don't believe that anyone can build anything with that many special parts for the 30 dollars that a cheep one costs.  Any that I have peeked into have a half dozen electrolytic caps, and for switching mode power supply, those have to be a high grade unit, or they will fail in a year or two.  - Failure in this case means bad smells, or power that is so far out of spec that it may damage the rest of the system (or both).  Ever since as a boy I managed to turn an electrolytic in a transistor radio circuit board into a miniature rocket which flew to the other side of the workshop.  (the radio was a surplus board only unit that did not have specs and I found it sounded best at something like 9 volts, but the first electrolytic in the circuit was only rated at 6.  it took a half hour for it to blow, and it took me another half hour  to find the cap on the other wall) (used the radio for a couple of years after I put in a 12 Volt cap)