Path: utzoo!utgpu!cunews!bnrgate!bwdls58!mlord
From: mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Power Supply: Self Repair?
Message-ID: <7079@bwdls58.bnr.ca>
Date: 13 Jun 91 17:27:47 GMT
References: <91160.170739PBALG@CUNYVM.BITNET> <ONEEL.91Jun10091204@heawk1.gsfc.nasa.gov> <1991Jun11.021150.7238@rand.org>
Sender: mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca
Reply-To: mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 21

<>Switching power supplies are not to be played with.  They are not
<>joking when they tell you not to touch them on the warning labels.
<>They don't have transformers to isolate you from the 120V mains so a
<>mistake could fry you and/or your computer.  $40 is cheeeeep given the
<>options.
<
<Once having had a significant fraction of a 25MHz '386 system fried
<by a failed power supply, I strongly second the advice.  Even if you
<manage to repair the supply, it may not be so kind the next time it
<fails (i.e. one strike and it's out)!

Just to keep the discussion more balanced, it might be useful to know that
at least somebody (me) has successfully repaired switching power supplies
and *not* had any further problems with them.  Twice, in fact (different
supplies).  

-Mark
--
In support of a sustainable planet, I prefer to repair&reuse rather
than simply "throw away" broken items.  But what does one do with
an ancient Apple-II clone that still works, anyway?