P2511 - Hardware Fault

[Harcourt15]

The organisation I work for purchased 38 Esprimo 2511’s in 2008.

Thirteen of these 2-3 year old machines have now failed in exactly the same way: They unexpectedly power off during normal use. When booted back up, the machine loads Windows and displays the logon screen for a few seconds before powering off again. Sometimes they don’t even POST but stick on the Fujitsu logo.

It’s possible to re-install Windows, and sometimes Safe Mode will work, but Windows proper always causes the machine to shut down.

The only thing we have noticed on the failed machines compared to those still working is that the capacitors surrounding the CPU are very slightly bulging.

Has anyone else experienced this issue with these machines? Despite 1 in 3 of our machines failing within 3 years, Fujitsu have said that there are no known issues with the boards in these machines (D2660-A1), and they’re out of warranty so they won’t help. Replacement motherboards are £150 each, but we won’t be buying these for 2-3 year old machines as it seems like throwing good money after bad.

[lbe]

hello.
I've the same problem with 30 pc. P2511

look on motherboard, their is 3 blue capacitors, 3300 Micro farad, 6,3 V.
if they are bent, changes it.


infos from fujitsu contact.... France !

[Harcourt15]

Thanks lbe - good to know we're not the only ones with this issue.

Since my first post we've had more machines fail. I've also found that we purchased more machines than I first thought:

22 out of the 56 P2511 machines with D2660-A1 motherboards have now failed in the same way, and all are less than 3 years old.

Soldering new capacitors onto the motherboard ourselves is not something we should have to do. These faulty machines have already consumed a lot of time, energy and money - not to mention the additional cost of replacing two/three year old PCs. Several of the failed machines have been at remote offices which has only exacerbated the cost of replacement and the amount of user downtime.

I think it reasonable to expect a PC to work for more than, if not at least 3 years, in an office environment. Fujitsu maintain they are not aware any issues with these PCs and won't do anything as they're out of warranty.

As a charitable organisation that has used supporter's donations to purchase Fujitsu machines for many years, this does not sit well with us.

[RobertoGuerra]

Hello everyone, I found three type of problems on many ESPRIMO P2511 sold around 2007 - 2008:
1) the frontal power switch becomes resistive, it is never really open (6 - 10 Kohm) or never really close (0,1 - 1 Kohm): just solder the two black and blue wires on the other free section of the switch (try before the pins that close when you push the switch)
2) thermal problems: the machine freezes or turns off when is cold. If the mainboard is kept around 35 - 40°C works well.
In some cases, just adding a 10 nF capacitor between the base and collector of the transistor that is placed under the corner of the heatsink on the CPU (code 1AM case SOT23 it is NPN general general purpose) will prevent freezing (also in the main setup bios page the clock seconds digit stop running).
3) I still have not figured out what makes the machine suddenly shut off but is another termical defect who manifest himself at low temperature ( 10 - 25 °C and only running windows: in the bios setup does not happen)
Tomorrow I'll try to change the three blue capacitors (3300mF 6.3 V) and I will tell you!
But it is clear that the problem exists on many and many ESPRIMO PC too young to be changed and fujitsu should sell mainboard spares at more decent prizes!

bye

[sago87]

I have a mere 1 x P2511 and it too shuts down all the time, has bulging capacitors and is unusable. At first I assumed it was a software glitch, but my local repair shops says it's the capacitors on the board. Fujitsu's solution is for me to buy a new board - I'm not tech enough to solder new capacitors on the existing one. Haven't found out the cost yet, but I'm guessing it's not £25 or so.

Pity a large company sells products that are evidently fault in build but denies all knowledge. I'm looking at a Sale of Goods Act consumer action now, if that helps anyone else to think about it. Good luck.

[sago87]

Well I asked Fujitsu again to acknowledge this issue but they repeated that there are no known issues with this pc. And yes, a replacement board is £150. As it's an mbtx it's a bit rare in the UK but the Intel version is quite common in the US - cheap there too, but there's postage.

I've now quoted your posts to them as 'evidence' and will continue to look around for more examples. I've never bought a Fuji pc before, and I suppose it's possible they are all this bad?

I'll add comments in this thread if there's anything useful to say. Good luck.

[RobertoGuerra]

Hi all,
The capacitor fault is a common problem, also for big firms, found on Dell, Hewlett Packard DX2000 series and Fujitsu Esprimo.
At now i changed the three blue cap on 6 boards solvind a really big problem for my company and my customers.
The spare board cost about 220 euros in Italy, a decent solder station 250, and a new PC 390 so it is easy to make the choice!
If you are unsure about your skill, well, sacrifice 1 board and after 3 hours spent with the iron you'll became a perfect cap-changers!
The trick is sign the condenser polarity on the board with a pemanent pen on the board, remove the cap bending alternatively one terminal at the time, suck away the tin from the holes, clean them with the aid of copper desolder braid (5 euro!), clean the board with alchool, and solder the new capacitors paying a lot of attention to the polarity (minus side had a painted band). Buy a high temperature (105 C°) low ESR cap (3 euros each)
Bye
Roberto

[philt]

Just to give an update on this problem.

We have about 40 E3510s and recieving the same issues as above (powering off intermittently) , one by one they are failing. Changing the capacitors seems to have fixed the issue. purchased capacitors off ebay with the info listed above. Costs about £8 for 16 (delivered). Alot cheaper than £150 per motherboard per pc!.

Thanks again for above info!, saved us alot of money and time!

Phil

[tangkas_baru]

Hi all ...

I use a lot of mainboard type Fujitsu Siemens D2151-A since 2006 until now. To my knowledge, this type is also commonly used in Fujitsu Siemens PC. Lately I see many 2 capacitors (3300uF, 6.3V) near the ATX connector to break easily. Especially when first turned on when assembled. If not promptly replaced, not long after the mainboard will fail to function.

A little advice from my experience so far. Once assembled, when first turned it on, usually I will immediately turn off the PSU after a mainboard powered. 2 capacitors that I mean it got very hot. If allowed to remain on the capacitor will instantly explode. I'll wait a while to cool / normal. After that, I turn it back on the mainboard and everything will be fine.

But if the two capacitors that are already bursting, there is no other way to handle it except replace it immediately. Thanks for attention.

Thanks

Car PC w/ FSC D2151-A2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tangkas_baru

[Dundalk]

I have a number of P2511 Main Board D2660-A1-A12 (Number W26361-W1622-X-03) out with Customers and they are starting to fail one by one after the extended 3 year warranty has run out. The symptoms are as set out in previous posts to this thread. I have been quoted £425 for a replacement main board, no comment. My understanding is that it is the 3 Blue Capacitors that are the primary cause of the problem. The tops of the 3 Blue Capacitors are very slightly convex compared to the smaller black capacitors which are very slightly concave. Otherwise there is no apparent distortion, they look OK to me.

Obviously I will have to get a technical person to replace the capacitors but could somebody supply me with part numbers for the capacitors from an accessible websit so that I can source equivalent capacitors in Ireland. "Buy a high temperature (105 C°) low ESR cap"

This would also mean that when I find the technical guy that the job will be properly set out for him.

Thanks Heber

[Dundalk]

Hi Guys

Update to last post:
Sourced Capacitors from Farnell Part number 1848528
Panasonic ECAOJHG332 – Capacitor, Radial, 6.3v, 3300UF
Less than a Euro each.
Details on the capacitors: 3300UF 6.3V 105c NHG

http://ie.farnell.com/panasonic/eca0jhg ... tt=1848528

Note Fujitsu Siemens Support have not been unkind.

I have seen a replacement board which had different capacitors on it.
Details on the capacitors: “RUBYCON 6.3V 3300UF T1008 105c PET

My Technical guy, with a soldering iron, replaced the Capacitors in a few minutes and only charged me €20.00. Reassembling the computer, with care, only took a few minutes and it worked. Now for rigorous testing.

Regards Heber

[Gasman]

Thank you all for this post.

A friend of mine had the same problem with a 3510 curiously only around 3 years old.

On inspection, those lighter blue capacitors are all domed.

I've replaced capacitors on PVR boards before, but not sure about doing a m/b. Nothing to lose I suppose.?

Any idea where I can find a service manual for this PC.?

TIA

Edit:

FWIW Maplin do some as well, handy as the postage from CPC would be more than a few caps. Maplins appear cheaper as well.?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/high-temperatur ... tors-11992

Looking at the 3300uf but 10V and 105C

[josip]

They unexpectedly power off during normal use. When booted back up, the machine loads Windows and displays the logon screen for a few seconds before powering off again. Sometimes they don’t even POST but stick on the Fujitsu logo.

Having similar issues with P2510... but D2480 mainboard from this machine doesn't have three blue capacitors... Any tips for this type of machine?

Regards,
Josip