Re: Windows machine died last night at exactly midnight

On 7/20/2014 8:31 AM, Luke Gerhardt wrote:

You can replace them, or have it done, but on newer boards with
lead-free solder it's a royal pain, and I've had far less success
personally.

The way to do this at home is to make a jig to hold a craft hot air gun
(like an embossing gun) over the PCB. Use a fine tip 95 watt pencil
type soldering iron and lots of desoldering braid to remove the old
solder from the capacitor leads. The hot air raises the temperature a
hundred degrees or so and makes it easier for the iron to do the work.

Make sure you note which lead is ground if it's not obvious!
Electrolytic caps are polarised and putting them in backwards will mean
that you get to take them out again. :-/ Permanent marker won't harm
the board...

--buck