Hello, I'm just here asking if there is a reason that my Pro Audio Spectrum caught fire. It worked fine until I rebooted my Windows 98 machine, then a cap blew up and a resistor went into flames.
I was just wondering if anyone had this problem and what it could be caused by.
Pic?
Sounds like a failed tantalum cap - they fail short, which means other components can get overloaded. PAS16 has quite a few tantalums...
Thank you for that info I don’t have it on me right now went out of my area but can do it when I have time
Post a picture when you have a chance. Usually when a Tantalum cap blows it does little other damage except to the closest other component. Maybe you are lucky and just the cap and resistor burned up.
Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun
This photo is from before it died but I have circled the components that have failed
It will be some time until I get a photo of the damage unless my mate can find it but he’s not as nerdy as I am
Here’s pictures of the damage
That's a tantalum timebomb that went off alright. You probably didn't do anything wrong, they just fail after a couple of decades - and do so pretty dramatically.
Replacing the cap is trivial - although I'd recommend replacing all of them because if one failed the rest probably will soon too.
The resistor is more worrying. It's almost certainly the consequence of the short caused by the tantalum cap failure. If that resistor was all that failed, you can just replace it, but by the time resistors get so hot as to cause that kind of damage, a lot of other stuff might also have failed. First up a check: the damage appears next to the leftmost of those three resistors. Are you sure it came out of the resistor and didn't burn through the PCB from below?
I have one of those. “Assembled in USA” in my Made is USA 386 computer.
Thank you so much I will update you about it if I get anywhere
Intel486dx33 wrote on 2025-01-17, 18:42:I have one of those. “Assembled in USA” in my Made is USA 386 computer.
That’s what it’s from some made in USA 386 computer
Are you sure the resistor is actually damaged? I see clear burn marks right next to the resistor as well, but there seems to be no discoloration of the marking of that resistor, which indicates that the resistor has not worringly hot. Is it possible that the burn marks next to the resistor were created by burning pieces of the exploded tantalum cap and not by the resistor next to the burn marks?
