Nope, I’m not talking about modern culture, Hollywood, politicians or anything like that. Rather, I am referring to those confounded capacitors! Last night there was a slight accident with a heavy object (our laptop computer) falling on our home computer. This caused a slight dent in the case and while I was not home, Missy reported that it then had a terrible smell, stopped working and would not turn on, as if it were unplugged. Even though I was not home, the accident was mostly, if not entirely, my fault. You see, I had previously placed the laptop on the floor in the corner of the dining room after returning from our weekend travels. Deciding yesterday that this was not a good place for it to stay I put it up where the children could not step on it, etc. Apparently it was also a place where it could fall onto its cousin below.
Feeling culpable (and hoping to avoid any large expenses) I decided to investigate. I confirmed that the plug and outlet were not the problem and then “opened her up.” Seeing that the dent was directly over the power supply (and since it seemed to be a power problem) I decided to start there. I removed the power supply and disassembled it, looking for something obvious. To my surprise, I actually found something obvious. A black, scorched looking area on the bottom of a circuit board (under the leg of a resistor) and a matching spot on the metal case of the power supply unit. After digging out the old multi-meter I determined that the resistor was still functioning as were multiple other points that I tested. I then found a 3 Amp ceramic fuse and tested that (being ceramic you cannot simply look to see if it is burned out)…no current was passing through it.
The next problem? Radio Shack doesn’t carry that size ceramic fuse (nor do the two other places where Jesse and I checked). They had normal glass ones, but not wanting to have to repeat this transplant operation should it fail to withstand the heat inside the computer I decided not to try those. Feeling determined, I broke into one of our old computers that we must have been saving for just such a situation. While the power supplies were wired and connected differently, guess what I found inside? A ceramic 3 amp fuse! Yippy! I put this fuse into the current computer’s power supply and then proceeded to plug the unit into the wall, while still outside of and disconnected from the computer to avoid any mishaps and observing for any problems (you know, like smoking, sizzling, cracking, popping, etc.). All seemed to go well so I unplugged the unit and began to fidget everything back into…”AAUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!” “What was that daddy?” Oh, nothing. Just a vocal reaction to the unexpected JOLT passing through my left hand and up my arm! Strong enough to surprise me and cause me to drop the unit to the table, but otherwise, no harm done.
After that I successfully returned everything to its previous position and plugged things back in. As you can guess (since I was able to post this) it was a successful mission! Not the sort of thing a stay-at-home-dad usually has to tackle but interesting nonetheless! I’m just happy that nothing else was wrong and I didn’t have to pay someone else to fix it or try to sell me a whole new power supply!
I posted some pictures above. It made me wonder how the computer feels about being a part of posting such intimate pictures of itself on the internet. Hmm.
Until next time! Blessings!
*** I guess I should explain that capacitors are electrical components that hold a charge (electricity) even after they are “unplugged.” The computer power supply has these (and other like minded creatures) in order to “condition” the power coming from the outlet to the computer. This provides for a more stable and consistent power supply to the delicate computer circuitry than the standard voltage straight from the wall, which can fluctuate significantly. I must have inadvertently touched two points on the bottom of the circuit board that connected to one of these causing me to "complete the circuit."
