Date   : Tue, 30 Jan 2001 18:10:12 -0000
From   : John Simpson <Simpson.J@...>
Subject: Failing power supply

I switched my BBC on yesterday and left it running for a bit while I got on
with some other things. After about only 15 minutes I noticed a curious
smell which I can only describe as being sweet, sickly and strangely intense
- a bit like burnt sugar. It was coming from the BBC although the machine
was still working, and it had not had time to become hot.

On taking it apart I found that the smell was concentrated around the power
supply, so I removed it. There was no sign of any real problem except for
some very slight oily deposits on the BBC's case towards the back. I think a
smallish box-shaped capacitor (0.4 uF) has started to leak, although on the
capacitor itself there's no obvious problem. 

Has anyone else come across this fault? Does my diagnosis of the capacitor
as the culprit sound reasonable? If so, would I be right in thinking that
simply replacing the capacitor with one of the same value and same voltage
rating would be a suitable fix?

Any ideas gratefully received.

john