Serious problem with Dell Optiplex GX270 SFF

[joshwa]

We've just started discovering quite a few of the GX270's we have , have bulging faulty capacitors, we've checked 13 GX270s - about 6 of them have bulging capacitors and 3 of them have died - most capacitors behind the CPU at the back, and one next to the memory slots.

After some futher research, it appears as though it's a common problem, with someone reporting they have around 1000 GX270s with the problem - thankfully they're still under warranty and Dell will replace the motherboard.

Symptoms include randomly restarting PCs. Other PCs have completely died.

Pics: (capacitor nearest the memory - bulging)


Capacitors behind the CPU bulging and leaking:


Capacitors behind the CPU bulging and leaking:

[Moby-Dick]

I used to have a GX270 - it had the same thing ( unit would boot up then complain of thermal problems. )

it needed a motherboard swap out about a year after going in ( as did at least 1 of the other ones we bought )

[Twigman]

Ok I cant see what you are on about....circle in red?

[Firelord]

Have to keep an eye out for this at work as we have quite a few GX270s!

[streetster]

bulging caps = dead/dying caps... if they've had too much voltage they can pop

[Twigman]

well yeah we have GX270s at work too...
and doing a degree in electronic engineering you would have thought I could spot it...but i dont really know what you are looking at...

[joshwa]

Normally the caps are completely flat as a very flat pancake. These caps in the pictures, apart from the obvious leaking ones, the other ones are bulging / swollen, no longer flat at the top. Unisys, the company Dell use in the UK to fix the computers / swap out the motherboards don't mind, because it's making them loads of money.

I wonder whether this effects ALL GX270s? And perhaps Dell are hoping that the warranty will expire before the capacitors expire?

[joshwa]

Yay, two more faulty GX270s to report to Dell today thanks to the faulty capacitors...

[mart_haj86]

Ive had the bulging cap problem before tis not good...
Ive also got two gx270s on my desk which I feel could go at anytime.

[joshwa]

Dell have offered us 5 years warranty on all affected machines and will replace the motherboard. (on SX270, GX270, and GX280).

[dave87]

Thats good of them, but I suppose when you buy an Optiplex Business Machine thats the level of service you expect...

[kamee]

Hi I wanted to know. What if the PC was bought without the worranty. And i wanted to Replace the Monther board. Please give me advice about which mother board should i replace it with.

[timread]

Wow. Way to resurrect an old thread!

Most business will be at the point where they are disposing of old GX270s, or have already done so. You might be able to pick one up a cheap GX270 motherboard in a 2nd hand computer store, or they seem to go for £20-40 on ebay (if you must). We're pretty much at the point where we would be disposing of our GX280s!

However, the risk of picking up/buying an old GX270, whether it's the whole PC or just the motherboard, is that it will be one of the affected models with the bad capacitors.

Do you really want to resurrect your GX270?

[vhero]

haha i would never recommend buying a pc pre built unless you know the builder themselves places like Dell mass produce them and choose low grade products to save money.

[Tony_essex]

Vhero, not everyone has the choice to build themselves. I am fortunate enough to be able to build my own pc and enjoy the experience... however the thought of my mum with a pile of PC components and a screwdriver just scares me .

My current PC is self built (complete 2 weeks ago), and it is very fast and exactly what I wanted etc...however my previous PC was a Dell 8100 which is 7 years old and still runs perfectly well, so I couldn't be too critical of mass produced PCs. There will always be poorly designed components, such as the mobo in this case, but these components can just as easily find there way into a self build as a mass produced one.

[mystyrayne]

Ok, i know this is an old thread, but i found it while searching google for pics of my computer. I have an Optiplex gx270

I'm kind of curious... why didn't anyone just replace the caps ?????? No need to change a whole entire motherboard. What a waste of money.

That's all you had to do. They cost about 20 cents each. 6 caps in each computer. Unsolder old, solder in new, and !violia!, perfect working computer. :0)

I only registered so I could put this post up, LOL.. I've never been to these boards,