Subj : Re: The smoke got let out
To   : Barry Martin
From : Ky Moffet
Date : Sun Aug 01 2021 00:26:00

BARRY MARTIN wrote:
> Hi Folks!
> 
> Yup, that's the ending: "smoke got let out".  Good thing was not
> literally.

Ooops!!

> Last night opened the failed Ethernet switch just for fun -- combination
> of see what's inside and maybe repair or maybe snag a few parts (I do
> some electronics hobbyist stuff.)  Did find the problem: two
> electrolytic capacitors have a noticeable bulge.  Brand is Acon, and
> yes, they're on the list of manufacturers who had a manufacturing
> problem years ago.  "Interestingly" the failed cap's are on the load
> side of a small power transformer while the those on the line side look
> fine.

Yeouch. Yeah, failing capacitors cause all manner of weird glitches.

Couple years ago my old switch failed (it just ceased talking to 
anything, and went from unpleasantly warm to HOT) and I had to replace 
it. Settled on the TP-Link TL-SG108, 8 port gigabit switch (at the time 
about $22), bought from their official eBay store, cuz it was handy.

In fact I liked the first one so much that I promptly bought two more 
(so far!) and left 'em a glowing review. Literally plug in anything any 
which way (auto port sensing so doesn't matter if you use regular or 
crossover cables, nor which cable goes to the router), plug in the 
rather generic wall-wart, and it Just Works. Metal body, compact, and 
generates only a tiny fraction as much heat as the old switch; in fact 
despite that it's fanless, I have yet to notice either of the two in 
everyday use getting warm at all, even when busy. I gather this is 
because any port that's not in use goes into sleep mode. Doesn't use 
enough power to register on the UPS.

Can also be daisy-chained, as I did initially before rearranging what's 
stuck to the router.

> So with the patched system the live stream videos from the cameras are
> back to normal.  Have the heat issue still but that's something
> different.  The 'external accesses' are perkier -- before an ever-so-
> slight sluggishness had crept in.  Still seems a little odd the one
> system for monitoring the live stream was the only one showing a
> problem, and didn't show a problem with packet errors.

Your attic needs an exhaust fan; that would help a lot. And bad caps can 
do stuff like make stuff sluggish rather than failing entirely. (Eg. 
slow or spotty USB access = bad caps on the southbridge circuit. And I 
think I just had one such that's on its way out sort of randomly 
scramble a directory when I did a normal file save... part vanished, 
part reappeared somewhere else entirely, replacing another directory of 
the same name, but without deleting anything... no files to recover... 
Well, we won't be trusting THAT system anymore...)
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