Random tidbits Bdale thinks are worth documenting.
Bdale Garbee
bdale@gag.com
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Fri, 06 Feb 2004
Bad Caps
My wife couldn't read her email last night. Turns out the old Apple Airport
wireless access point we still depend on had failed again.
All lights blinking red, and a low buzzing sound in time with the
blinking. Same symptoms as the other time it failed. Turned out to need the
same fix again, too.
Disassembled the flying saucer, and started wiggling parts on the board with the power applied until I found where the buzzing was coming from... one of the electrolytic caps in the power supply. Fortunately, I had a suitable replacement in my parts stock and we were back on the air ten or fifteen minutes later.
One of these days, it'll fail during daylight hours and I'll just drive into town and buy an 802.11g hub to replace it... after all, my current laptop supports a/b/g, and the old hub is b-only. But, when it's night, it's snowing, and there's a hockey game on... having tools, parts, and experience troubleshooting recalcitrant widgets is good for family harmony!