Does "magic pack" Amiga 1200 need recap?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Well, I thought the reason was because of the type/brand of capacitors they used. The Amiga 500 is older but it doesn't need a recap.

A500/A2000 use different types of caps.  AFAIK they're much less prone to leaking than those used in A1200/A4000/CD32, at least as far as I know.  Of course would like to hear more about if people have been replacing them on these other systems, what problems they can cause and what they can fix, etc., but that's probably a question for another thread or something I could figure out with a little googling.  

At least we don't have that bad caps problem that plagued Dell motherboards about 10 years ago.  I must've replaced hundreds of motherboards in OptiPlex 270/280-class systems back then!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Until it starts acting up, don't do anything as you risk creating other problems by having someone fiddling around with the innards.

At which point the capacitors will have leaked to the point of causing significantly more damage to the board than if you'd just replaced them outright.

With all due respect sir, this is terrible advice.  

Besides... it's an A1200.  It's a circuit board in a plastic case.  Hardly "rocket science" type of innards.  

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Yes. See this: http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=82
Might be out of stock at AmigaKit at the moment but they always seem to quickly re-stock most items if there's a demand.

That item hasn't been "in stock" on their website in years. Either way, they're still NOS 20-year-old parts that WILL develop the exact same problem. Also, A1200/A4000/CD32 caps are not the type where "the top pops", typically. Instead they leak from underneath, and directly onto the board. Do a google search on it, or whatever. Believe what you want, don't do preventative maintenance, and just spend your money on a new board that will most likely develop the exact same problem.

There's dozens of people all over the forums that do these repairs.  Prices start as low as $40. Again, not rocket science. Are you just trolling? Seriously this is the dumbest argument I've seen on here in... well... weeks?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Nope, not trolling at all. Just trying to insert some common sense into this thread as did Paul1981, who also seems to have a bit more common sense than the average knuckle head on this site when it comes to solid state electronics. Once again, if it it isn't broken, then it doesn't need fixing. Period. You must run a re-capping business in order to be trying so hard to get people to re-cap perfectly working boards. I know an auto repair shop that would love to have a person like you on their staff. Replacing caps on a perfectly working board is a waste of time and money and also risks damaging the board.

The caps can still be leaking and the board "perfectly working". They can be leaking all over the place before you have your first external sign of failure. I'm not advocating "don't inspect it", I'm just saying that there is a statistically high likelihood that these parts will fail, given that they're 20+ years old, and if an inspection turns up any signs of issues they should be replaced immediately.

But whatever, Amiga users are a bunch of cheap bastards. Not wanting to pay $20 for the latest ROM chip, not wanting to inspect their systems or pay $40 for someone to recap their system for peace of mind, etc. You do what you want, just don't come crying on the forums in a couple years that your caps leaked everywhere and ruined your board because you didn't inspect it regularly, and now you're having to scour ebay or pay someone hundreds of dollars for a replacement system.

This is the exact same asinine logic that ruined so many Amiga motherboards. Everyone knew those batteries were trouble, but they waited to replace them, then they'd put the system in storage or whatever, or come back to it after a year, and the battery would have eaten a hole through the motherboard. IMHO I'd rather do preventative maintenance rather than wait for something to fail catastrophically. Pay a little now, or a lot later?

Oh well, I give up. :p