This is as someone indicated, an old thread from 2019 or so.
There was a crisis in the electrolytic capacitor market around 2000. Some guys in Korea stole the plans from a Japanese capacitor manufacturer, and made them for a lot less. The formula they took for the fluid was an old prototype without a special buffering agent in it so the caps swell up, release hydrogen and go ****, or spew corrosive fluid that damages boards. I would think most all of those have failed by now. In general capacitors are one of the first things to go in electronics. An old board from the 70's or earlier may not like being plugged in if they have shorted over time. (Hence the beginning of this thread and the burned resistors aka the magic smoke emitters.)
Since this thread was originally posted, we have noticed a couple businesses that fix old electronics and do pretty well at it, I think. I ran a regional repair center for Teledyne in the 1970's and spent many years in IT so these guys look good. The caveat is I have not used either, but would in a heartbeat. Do your own research on these folks. I am going off channel programs I have watched many times, and the level of equipment / knowledge and skill they have demonstrated. They have the equipment, dexterity, parts knowledge, model knowledge, and working history on the items they repair.
>Fixes Dell Laptops (I'd give him a 10 on 1-10) Part's People Austin Texas. He fixes Dell laptops at the board level (chips, resistors, caps, rebuilds burned traces, diodes, damaged connectors etc..)
>Fixes Big Screen TV's, especially Sony main boards and power supplies. He fixes other things too. (I'd give him a 10 on 1-10) Nick's TV Repair Tuscon AZ. He does boards for Ranges/Stove/Oven, Audio Equipment/Automotive/Commercial Vehicles/MAS & Servers/Game Consoles Retro Renegade Repairs, Televisions, even Bobcat loader consoles and electronics.
I don't know their hourly rate, but someone is
not going to spend 3 hours fixing something for $75. I would guess they bill out the same as many tradespeople these days. Heck, we know a well known east coast dog handler that bills out at $200 an hour for show dog grooming. However, for the TV guy, a $350 - $300 repair plus shipping on a $1500 TV is not a bad deal. You have to pull the main board and send it, but they have guides on how to isolate which board to send and how to remove it etc.. Guy with the bobcat saved thousands fixing his old console vs buying a new one. The bobcat would not run when it failed. The Dell guy has saved many a laptop for a couple hundred dollars where a new main board might have cost a thousand dollars or more if really high end. You just send him the Dell laptop. He has done so many that he has donor boards and new boards that he can use to fix them. A laptop over 8 - 10 years old is not going to be worth fixing.
