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Corporate Espionage Leads To Faulty Motherboards

Champs writes "If you've gotten the feeling that they really don't make 'em like they used to, you might be right. This article at IEEE Spectrum tells the story of large batches of faulty capacitors sourced from Taiwan causing motherboards to eventually fail, with an interesting twist on the reason why these capacitors failed."

21 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Dupe again by daghlian · · Score: 5, Funny

    This story has already been posted. This story has already been posted. This story has already been posted.

    --

    One of these days/I'm going to cut you into little pieces.

    1. Re:Dupe again by azav · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because it is quite silly that the readers do a better job than the editors at spotting the dups.

      One would assume that the editors/posters would read their web site before jumping the gun.

      And by CB Neal no doubt! For shame! For shame!

      (Zav ducks, Zav runs)

      --
      - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
  2. Didn't we just leave this party... by Reziac · · Score: 4, Funny

    .. like, two days ago, and last month too??

    --
    ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  3. Repeat! by Bios_Hakr · · Score: 3, Informative
    --
    I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
  4. No matter how many times I refresh.... by Yo+Grark · · Score: 5, Funny

    ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG I'm still getting Slashdot's History Pages.

    I'm stuck in Cache HELL!

    Can someone tell me how to get the latest stories? :P

    Yo Grark
    Canadian Bred with American Buttering American Buttering American Buttering

    --
    Canadian Bred with American Buttering
    1. Re:No matter how many times I refresh.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm impressed. This is not the second, but the third time this story has been posted. People actually pay money to read this site? I'd do better flushing 5+ bucks a month down the toilet.

  5. So... by labratuk · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...if a duplicate post is a 'dupe', does that mean a triplicate post is 'tripe'?

    --
    Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
    1. Re:So... by sean23007 · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, almost all the posts are tripe...

      --

      Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
  6. OMG! by NMerriam · · Score: 5, Funny


    hey, everyone! i don't think this is public yet, but there are some faulty capacitors going around!!!!! send this message to ten of your friends and post it everywhere or else nobody will know!!!!!!

    --
    Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
  7. This is happening again! by Anonym0us+Cow+Herd · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fool me once, shame on me. ....

    We should have learned our lesson about corporate espionage the first time. But now that history has repeated itself, within only a few days, I guess we didn't learn our lesson the first time here on Slashdot.

    How many times will we have to have faulty motherboards and other consumer electronic items before we learn our lessons abotu corporate espionage?

    Are we learning yet?

    --
    The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
  8. Imagine by Mdog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wouldn't it be cool if the editors of slashdot ran a professional, spellchecked site? With policies that are more than whims? I know they're just a bunch of geek morons in Michigan, but a boy can dream, can't he?

    1. Re:Imagine by proj_2501 · · Score: 4, Funny

      CowboyNeal is actually a hip-hop DJ. This is only his day job.

  9. More info from the guy who changes the caps by sapgau · · Score: 5, Informative

    Gary Headlee is the guy mentioned in the article who has more information on the list of boards affected:
    Motherboard Cap Replacement

  10. ENOUGH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I am sick of this. Evertime there is a dupe(a mistake! sometimes people make these) there is always the obligatory barrage of "DUPE" messages and never any discussion of the issue.
    Get over it and find something constructive to do!

    1. Re:ENOUGH by Bob9113 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I am sick of this. Evertime there is a dupe(a mistake! sometimes people make these) there is always the obligatory barrage of "DUPE" messages and never any discussion of the issue.
      Get over it and find something constructive to do!


      You mean like bitching about the dupe messages?

  11. Re:Is this the whole story? by SirSlud · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Buddy,

    If capacitors are exploding (see the pics, they are), across multiple motherboard vendors, all of whom are desigend differently, you dont have to be a rocket scientist to recognize the trend here.

    The capacitors are exploding. Vendor-independantly. Maybe you can provide some proof that cheaper and chaper processes are leading to the same capacitors exploding in many brands of motherboards .. or actually take *gasp* some news at face value instead of dreaming there's some secret "blame it on the guys' whos capacitors are exploding" consiracy.

    Anyhow, the Mobo manufacturers were loathe to admit the capacitors were exploding. If it really *was* their shoddy workmanship causing faulty boards, they've hae JUMPED at the opportunity to blame it on some untracable capacitor. But the article makes it very clear that manufacturers are reluctant to say anything, making it clear to me that the common element in all these exploding capacitor situations is ... gasp, the capacitor! Not much of one to beleive in Occoms Razor, huh?

    --
    "Old man yells at systemd"
  12. Re:This storys been going around for at least 7 ye by n9hmg · · Score: 3, Funny

    AAaahh... You must be a /. editor.

  13. Joseph+Pharoah+Slashdot=repost (7yrs) by MickLinux · · Score: 4, Funny

    Okay, let's see what happened. Pharoah had a dream and couldn't remember it. So Joseph reminded him, and told him how there would be 7 years of good articles, and then 7 years without good articles in Slashdot.

    So Pharoah asked "What should we do?" And Joseph said, "Let's save up the seven years of good articles, and then repost them during the seven years of bad articles."

    Thus it was said, thus it was done, and thus we got seven years of bad articles.

    --
    Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
  14. Post modern posting by AndroidCat · · Score: 4, Funny
    It's a little known fact, but the world ended several years ago. In order to keep things going, They have been recycling time from the past. That's why we're getting a shuttle disaster again, Desert Storm again, Bush in the White House again.

    It's a tough job just keeping the Big Picture going, so weird effects show up in the small things. That's why television is all repeats, and why Slashdot has dups. Oh yeah, and Anonymous Coward really is this one guy.

    Have a nice day, again!

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  15. How to check before you buy by QDogg · · Score: 3, Informative

    It is easy enough to check this before you buy. Go up to the display case at your local computer parts retailer and ask to see XYZ motherboard that you are thinking of buying. Jot down all the markings on the electrolytic caps. Now go home and look up the datasheet for those caps. A good computer grade capacitor will have longevity of 2000 to 3000 hours or more at maximum ripple current and a temperature of 105 or 125C. Reputable brands are Panasonic HA or NHG, Rubycon, etc.

    Forget case mods, maybe we need to start modding our mainboards with better caps.

  16. Finally !! by KoolDude · · Score: 5, Funny


    From the Book of /. Postings:

    And Saint Hemos displayed the posting on paper, saying, 'O Lord, bless this Thy Holy Posting that, with it, Thou mayest blow Thine readers to boredom in Thy mercy.'

    And the Lord did grin, and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and large chu--

    Hmm... Skipping a bit...

    And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou choose random Story. Then, shalt thou post it three times. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt post, and the number of the posting shall be three. Four times shalt thou not post, nor either post thou two times, excepting that thou then proceed to post thrice. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, post thou thy Holy Posting towards thy readers, who, being naughty in My sight, shall comment on it.'

    Amen.


    Congratulations, /. editors have finally made it ! ;)

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