At least on the RISC PC boards I've fully recapped, the smaller capacitors seem to be more prone to leaking. My pet theory is that it's harder to get a good seal on the smaller cans - so when the rubber bung shrinks, the whole lot drips out of the bottom.Bumping this just for reference and confirmation.
My main RiscPC has been increasingly suffering video issues in the past few months, including not wanting to generate suitable output at startup and then being a bit 'zig zaggy' horizontally - not as bad as images further up this thread, but too bad to ignore.
Dealing with this on a fully loaded 4 slice RiscPC that's normally hidden under an AKF85 at the back of a desk is a royal pain - sooo much disassembly required.
But sure enough, the solder on components in the area around C122 was brown.
Clean that up with IPA, replace C122, and it's all working perfectly now.
No other sign of damage/leakage anywhere else on the board.
I'm not sure there's any particular explanation as to why this one capacitor seems to go bad so often, but I think I'll take to replacing it as a matter of course now.
I've seen similar in the A4 laptop and the Sega Game Gear, and heard it mentioned in relation to 1990s camcorders.
At this point I'd agree with RetroMacintosh - that capacitor is worth replacing on sight. I'd say along with all the capacitors of a similar physical size, but that's just me.
Statistics: Posted by philpem — Sun Feb 02, 2025 11:59 pm