"nobody >" <usenetharvested at (no spam) aol.com> wrote in message
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Zootal wrote:
"nobody >" <usenetharvested at (no spam) aol.com> wrote in message
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Zootal wrote:
Mother boards and related equipment have environmental ratings that
tell you the maximum humidity and temperature they will tolerate.
Exceed that and you run the risk of condensation and corrosion.
Condensation on high frequency high impedance circuits can bring your
computer down right now, blammo, and stay down until it dries. Just
putting a finger across some of these traces will crash your computer.
You must be dealing with some awfully crappy motherboards with totally
bare traces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformal_coating
Out there in the real world, it happens. Not every piece of electronic
equipment is a nice neat color coordinated motherboard with pretty traces
and an aesthetically pleasing design, not to mention your "conformal
coating".
Sorry,Zootal... I've been dealing with "real world" printed circuit boards
a long time. I might even venture that I was possibly repairing them
before you were born.
I've repaired marine electronics from sunken boats, portable two-way
radios found in sewers, pagers that went swimming in toilets, dispatch
consoles that have had the "Pepsi Treatment" (lattes and mochas are
worse..but "PT" is the generic term), and radio base stations doused in
rat pee for years.
I know what can happens from "exposure".
Yes, early PC mobos were "bare-assed traces", but any reasonable mobo made
in the last 10-15 years has some form of coating. Your "finger touch"
doesn't fly.
It is possible you were repairing them before I was born. If so, that would
make you upwards of 75 years old. I've met older people out here, so I
suppose that is entirely possible. But don't tell me what is and is not out
there. Yes, there is a lot of nicely made boards properly coated etc. etc.
But I stand by my statement - there is a lot of stuff with "bare ass"
traces and worse. Once you get out of the realm of your pretty consumer
grade electronics and move into the world of military and custom (and
not-so-custom) commercial equipment, you see a stunning range of quality and
reliability - good and bad.