Some people find this a diagnostic method. So the short typically ignites and smokes and burns. When you apply power, all the current goes through the short. The tantalum grows crystals which puncture and short the capacitor. A common problem on 1980's digital systems is that the tantalumĬapacitors - the little gumdrop-like device on the board which filter the various DC After dusting and cleaning, I considered what I mightĭo before powering up. In March 2005 I decided to get an old H89 out of years of storage and into operation. I'll explain the image soon, but first let me describe what happened and what I did. Pictured on the left is a portion of a Heath/Zenith H89 computer board. I'm going to describe the consequences of a common problem with computers of the 1970's and 80': shorted tantalum capacitors which catch fire. Links to other repairs and repair resources Les Bird on Heath H-8 connector and disk recovery problems Reading and replacing 2708 EPROMS with 2716 2732 but here's some links and notes anyway.Įarly Altair 8800 design issues with links to this Web page. OK? That's why I don't have an index of all my Web pages. The powerful search engine - which already knows what YOU like! - will find relevant pages on my Web domain. Just do a Web search on the topic of interest, and add the phrase site. I suggest you use Web search, to find pages and things of interest to you on my Web site. "Why don't you index your Web site?" Because Google is your friend. But some examples here are not computers repair is just a good idea. Now in the 21st century, they are "lost history" I'll try to illustrate some of those solved-problems here. Many of those challenges WERE well-known problems about computers of the period. There are unique challenges to repairing digital electronics of the 1970's and 1980's. Also, here some links to other vintage computer repairs and repair resources.
This Web page has some accumulative notes and images about repair of vintage computers.Check Old computers: repair notes Old computers: repair notes