Klipsch Promedia 5.1's - Amp repair

Elliott, do you have an update on the amp repair for Kenny in NY? I can appreciate that you do this in your spare time and it's a lot of work, but you haven't replied to my last few e-mails, so I figured I'd give it a shot on here and hope for the same luck some others have had.

I haven't seen my poor amp in over two months, which is a while longer than the 30-business day estimate I got from you back in May. I'm actually a different address, now, so let me know the best way to send that to you privately. Thanks!

Hi, I had your e-mails on my spam folder and didn't see them until now...anyways I just sent you an e-mail with the update.
Elliott
 
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Does anyone want to share what typically goes bad / needs replaced / upgraded?

I have the tools, and knowledge of replacing parts, I just don't know which ones.

So far I've found that R10 on the digital converter board was smoked, and replaced it with a 100 ohm resistor, but haven't found anything else obvious.

Thanks!
 
The BASH modules and the FETs (the ones on the large heatsinks) on the preamp board are prone to failure.

The BASH daughter boards can develope solder faults between the white daughter board and the module. Reflowing the joints can help. Be careful! Those things are hard to replace. The FETs overheat. We x-rayed a bad one and the internal wiring had completely melted. Be careful replacing them since they can short between terminals with sloppy soldering or even through the heatsink if not propelry insulated.

There are schematics linked in this thread. For instance if your sub stops working but not the sats or vice versa you should look up which side of the BASH/preamp module powers it and focus on that side.

The relay seems to be a common failure point. I'd check it, the fuse and MOV on the same board. Look for bulging caps, loose heatsinks, burnts spots, etc.

One thing you can do with that resistor would be to replace it with 2x 200ohm (or 4x400, etc) resistors in parallel and use wire segments to position them away from the heatsources on that board.

Or do anything to reduce the heat cycling on the poor thing. See my previous suggestions. If its not broken I would work on the cooling before anything else. If you have the space I think remiving the amp from the sub enclosure (seal the hole with blank) and putting it in an actively cooled enclosure. You can get the whole amp replace by Klipsch for $60 regardless of condition and if you keep it cool it should last for ages.
 
"You can get the whole amp replace by Klipsch for $60"? They quoted me $125 back in November, plus shipping. Elliot fixed it for less. It is working better than when new.
 
It the depends on the model. Older ones they charge more for I believe. Also I fixed mine just over a year ago; they may have gone up.

I have the 5.1 Ultras and for me it was only 60 (plus shipping the old amp to them). I should mention that on the phone getting a new amp was never mentioned and we only spoke of 'repair'. They just happened to send me a brand new amp back within two weeks.

I do distinctly remember that at the time Elliott would have been more expensive for me. Obviously YMMV.
 
My 5.1 Ultras died sometime yesterday, came home to find the pod powered and functional, but no sound from the speakers. Headphone jack still worked too. I have been looking at the schematics and info here to help determine what to replace. Right now my search is mostly confined to the AC/DC board. D5 looks fried, but D6 next to it looks fine. I will probably replace both. There are also burn marks on the undeside under a pair of resistors I haven't traced yet. I will probably also replace all the 22uf and 47uf 50V caps with higher quality ones to be on the safe side. I am undecided whether or not to replace the much larger 1000uf 63V and 100V caps or the 820uf 200V caps with better quality. They are glued to the board so I may not have much choice. The other thing I am considering is the relay on the line filter that the author of the webpage I linked says is a common point of failure with a failure mode that matches my symptoms (no sound, pod powered).
 
Quick question for all the people that had their Ultra's die. Did you guys leave the system on at all times?

To the electricians, is the heat generation proportional to the number of sats used? (I only use left/right)

Thanks.
 
I leave mine on while I'm using my PC (unless I'm just eating breakfast and reading). I doubt I ever run them more than 8 hours a day and usually not continous.

Each satelllite is a load and thus it takes power to drive them. However the amp will have a certain power draw regardless. A static component associated with AC/DC conversion loss, powering the microchips in the amp & control pod, etc and a linear-ish draw that is proportional to the volume setting. The satellites and sub are a fixed load but the actual power use for them is dynamic and depends on your volume level on the pod (amp gain), and the source amplitude and frequency. Other factors exist but dont make a huge difference.

Thats probably more than you wanted (and might be slightly inaccurate) so the short story is that what I've read and observed directly is that the amp isnt the most sophisticated design and is a bit of a power hog. If its on, its on, regardless of the noise coming out of speakers. Temperature of the backplate increases directly with volume setting, but not noticeably by how much noise you are making.
 
Phildabill,

I have 5.1 Ultras which I purchased in 2003. They were turned on only when I needed sound, which averages 20 hours per week (4 or 5 days per week).

They worked perfectly for 6 years, then stopped working in April 2009. Thanks to Elliot, they are up and running again!
 
Ok, just finished my repair and they are up and running strong again. I would be happy to give some pointers to anyone looking to do the same (bring your own soldering skills). My repair cost me about $17, almost half of which was UPS shipping from Mouser (also some extras I didn't need, could probably do it for $15 or less buying only what is needed). I replaced a lot more than I thought was broken, too, but I wanted to make it a bit more robust and replace anything that looked like it had gotten hot or been near something that got hot.

51insidecr700x525copy.jpg

Original image taken from http://www.thompdale.com/bash_amplifier/5-1/5-1_bash_amp.htm

I only worked on the AC/DC converter board, because that's the only place I saw signs of damage. My main problem I believe was R527 (See schematic). It was burned badly enough to go open loop. All 4 resistors I replaced were pretty well toasted though. I could see any one of them being the culprit in a failed amp.

Now, this list is not to be taken as gospel. I'm sure there is a more cost effective way to do it, and probably even better quality parts to use. This is what I used and it's working, and my list may help some of you get going without researching parts for a week.

Replaced --- Replaced with
R527 (4.7 ohm) --- MOX2C4R7J
R529 (5110 ohm) --- CMF605K1100FHEK
680 ohm (forgot label and not on schematic) --- RN70E6800FB14
MR7 (100k ohm) --- CPF2100K00BEB14
D5 and D6 (FR104) --- FR304G (leads are too thick, use FR104 instead, I was trying to make it more robust but I spent an hour filing down leads to do it. Not worth the effort.)
All three 22uF (50V) capacitors --- EEU-FC1J220 (63V caps because they don't have the 50V versions. Same size as 47uF caps, fits fine though.)
All three 47uF (50V) capacitors --- EEU-FC1H470
Q10 (2N5551) --- 2N5551RLRAG (also has properly spaced pins, unlike the original)



Most of my resistor replacements were mil-spec, and my replacement capacitors were of much higher quality Panasonic. R527 and the 680 ohm were placed under the PCB to spread the heat out and make room for my larger replacements. Both of these resistors were much larger than the ones they replaced, and the surrounding components were larger too. The 100kohm was stood off from the bottom of the daughter board it is located on by about 1/2". The diodes are stood off from the top of the board about an inch. If I had gone with FR104 they could have remained on board level, but the FR304 is pretty huge.

Another thing of note. If your amp has failed due to heat like mine did, the PCB has been exposed to very high temps for extended periods. My board was badly burned in 4 areas. Several of my components came off with the plating from the thru holes still attached (BAD). Also, two traces were blistered and came free when the thru hole plating came out (VERY BAD). I was able to bridge one gap with solder but the other instance of this had to be run with wire. If this happens to you follow the traces and see what you can use to bridge the open circuit. I used the lead of one of my capacitors to reach a diode where the trace was ripped up. Just don't short to anything else along the way.
 
I don't expect many others to have the same failure I am about to describe, but this might help someone else one day.

After my success repairing my PMU 5.1s, I decided to take a look at my old PM 5.1 amp. 5 years ago, a voltage spike from the utility power caused catasrophic failure of my home's central AC unit, a TV, a surge protected power strip (smoke was coming out), and my Klipsch Promedia 5.1 amp. The homeowner's insurance covered the replacement of these things so that's how I ended up with the PMU 5.1 set I repaired above.

I pulled out the amp to see if I could fix them and found that the fuse had been shattered. The fuse element had vaporized so violently that the glass casing had been destroyed. I replaced the fuse and tried to power it up only to hear the new fuse pop. Then I noticed that MOV1 (Line Filter), a metal oxide varistor, which at the time I thought was a disc capacitor, had vented its contents out both sides extremely energetically. The part number printed on it had been partially destroyed by the failure and at the time I had no schematic to work from so I wrote it off and put it in a closet for the last 5 years.

Spurred on by my recent success in PM 5.1 amp repair and the discovery of some user-made schematics, I decided to get it back out this weekend and take a look at it. The part MOV1 that failed is Part # CNR14D(?)(8 or 0)1K. I am not sure which model I am looking for because of the damage to the part. There is a large gash where the internals vented into the enclosure. I managed to find the data sheet for it (after an exhaustive search) here: http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1076495&view=findpost&p=26892121
or here:
http://www.ibselectronics.com/ibs/cmpnts/rgaco/catalog/D/MetalOVD2_16-opt.pdf

If anyone has their amp out right now I would appreciate if you could provide the part number on the blue component right next to the AC power plug.

The step I am on now is determining what MOV to replace it with. I can't find the original part number at places like Mouser or Digikey, so I am thinking I will need to try and match the specs with a substitution. Any suggestions are appreciated. I am also completely aware that there may be other components that are badly damaged or ruined. I am hoping the fuse and varistor managed to save them, but I will deal with those things if they prove to be a problem.
 
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I don't know what it is about these Klipsch computer speakers but I have had two of them and both subwoofers died after about 2 years. I wish I had known that they could be fixed by someone other than Klipsch as I junked them (kept the satellites).
 
If you are just trying to see if it works, desolder the MOV. MOVs work by shorting across their terminals in the event of a major surge. One leg is line, the other ground. This allows the current to safely bypass the rest of the amp and the extreme current spike caused by this short forces the fuse to blow. Once this happens the melty innards MOV can form a permanent short (which is why replacing the fuse failed). Remove the MOV and replace the fuse and give it another try if you dont mind the risk. This leaves you without protection against transient voltage spikes, so do it on a sunny day lol.

**WARNING** This could cause things to get worse. But you should be OK. IF you are really worried, plug it into a quality newish surge protector which does the same thing as a MOV.
 
That's a good idea. If I had known it was a MOV years ago I may have tried it. I was bummed that I couldn't find any schematics to follow to make the repair. Unfortunately I'm out of 5A 125V fuses so I am planning to get a replacement varistor at the same time. I don't want to test it without a real fuse in case the caps or transformer has shorted. As for a surge protector, the speakers were powered through a then new 1500VA UPS on the battery side (maybe the surge side would have saved it) and still got fried.

After looking at it again last night I think the part number is CNR-14-D-181K which would make it a 115Vrms varistor with 300v clamping. The 1 in the part number is not visible but the 8 is definitely not a 0. I don't really understand why a power supply designed for US 110-120VAC would use a 115VAC rated varistor. If no one else has their amp out and handy and to confirm that part number I guess I will pull out my PMU5.1 amp and look at that. I don't see why it wouldn't use a 130VAC part though.

If I can get it working again I will upgrade the components on the AC/DC Converter board and post a more detailed guide to upgrading the components than when I did my PMU5.1.
 
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115V rms is correct for US wall outlets. Its a typical operating level, not a maximum. The 300V clamping rating is the key and seems appropriate (maybe a tad high)

My PMU 5.1 amp died attached to a good surge protector too, though I think it was heat induced. I just meant that most surge protectors are built with MOVs so hooking the amp up to one while testing would duplicate the function of the one I was telling you to run without. it needs to be newish since they wear out over time.
 
The data sheet specifies "Maximum Allowable Voltage" as 115 ACrms(V). It seems like typically a varistor rated at 130V is used for line protection. I'm still reading up on these things as they were never a subject of my college studies but I did find a paper about clamping voltage I'm going through. From the looks of it the varistor they used in the amp could be activated quite frequently and it would have degraded rapidly since it was underrated for line level AC. But if the clamping voltage is 300V (and I assume that's Vpeak, not peak to peak), then it is way above the normal max of 170-185V even allowing 10% degradation. Why is a 130V varistor with a clamping voltage of 340V recommended so much?
http://www.eeel.nist.gov/817/pubs/spd-anthology/files/Lower not better.pdf

My comment about surge protection was more a poorly worded indication of my level of trust in them. My other amp was definitely heat related, this one was a power surge.



Edit: I did a lot more reading and I've got varistors pretty well figured out. I've gone ahead and ordered parts for my repair and upgrade which I will document better this time to share with others who have failed AC/DC Converters.
 
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Elliott, any update on the 5.1 amp repair for Justin in NY? I've sent a several emails over the last few months with no response, and it seems this forum is the best way to get in touch with you. About two months ago you said you were waiting on parts, but also indicated the amp would be ready within the week.

I really appreciate you spending your free time to help us desperate Klipsch owners. It's a great service and I can only imagine how many systems you must be working on, but I am hoping to get the amp back shortly (sent it to you in march). Please let me know and thanks again.
 
^
Updates are needed please. I'd like to know the progress on mine as well...
 
...After looking at it again last night I think the part number is CNR-14-D-181K which would make it a 115Vrms varistor with 300v clamping.

I needed to open my Ultra 5.1 Promedia unit up tonight as it stopped working and could confirm that the part number for the MOV is correct as you stated... CNR 14D181K.
 
Thanks scooter_b, much appreciated. Sorry to hear about your amp, any idea where the failure is? What part stopped working (speakers, sub, control pod, all)? Burn marks may not show up on the top side of the boards assuming it was heat failure (they were hard to spot on my PMU 5.1 AC/DC Converter), but they should be very visible on the bottom. Resistors that look brown or splotchy brown or somewhat melted diodes are a good sign to follow.
 
ok guys i'm a little confused what's going on here. i have a promedia gmx-d 5.1 system and the front right channel stopped working. all the other channels work except that one. have any ideas what's going on? i feel like it's probably something simple i could fix instead of spending the 120 buck to send to klipsch. thanks in advance.
 
^
Updates are needed please. I'd like to know the progress on mine as well...

Elliott, any update on the 5.1 amp repair for Justin in NY? I've sent a several emails over the last few months with no response, and it seems this forum is the best way to get in touch with you. About two months ago you said you were waiting on parts, but also indicated the amp would be ready within the week.

I really appreciate you spending your free time to help us desperate Klipsch owners. It's a great service and I can only imagine how many systems you must be working on, but I am hoping to get the amp back shortly (sent it to you in march). Please let me know and thanks again.



Hi, updates were sent to your regular e-mails, let me know if you have other questions...
Elliott
 
Thanks scooter_b, much appreciated. Sorry to hear about your amp, any idea where the failure is? What part stopped working (speakers, sub, control pod, all)? Burn marks may not show up on the top side of the boards assuming it was heat failure (they were hard to spot on my PMU 5.1 AC/DC Converter), but they should be very visible on the bottom. Resistors that look brown or splotchy brown or somewhat melted diodes are a good sign to follow.

Came back from vacation to find the whole thing non-functional. Have been pouring through the schematics that are available here: Dale Thompson's site to figure out how this thing works. My +/-15V supply voltage is sitting at about 3V (not sure what the other ones are... haven't measured them yet) and I know that one of the FET's on the sub-woofer amplifier board is shorted. Going to attack this first. I haven't found any toasted resistors yet. A couple look like they see some heat.

Can anybody answer this question... If you plug in a set of headphones into the headphone jack on the control pod, does that turn off the sound to the satellites and sub-woofer? The only reason I ask is that one of the problems I have is that the headphone jack doesn't work at all. I've looked at the schematic of the pod and of the I/O board where most of the circuitry is located and I've been able to verify that the circuitry seems to be working. One of the things that I do not understand though is how the HP-mode signal that comes from the microcontroller in the pod functions. There is no signal coming from the headphone jack that goes to the microcontroller so how would the microcontroller know when a headphone is plugged in?

I'll post more as I find out more.
 
Came back from vacation to find the whole thing non-functional. Have been pouring through the schematics that are available here: Dale Thompson's site to figure out how this thing works. My +/-15V supply voltage is sitting at about 3V (not sure what the other ones are... haven't measured them yet) and I know that one of the FET's on the sub-woofer amplifier board is shorted. Going to attack this first. I haven't found any toasted resistors yet. A couple look like they see some heat.

Can anybody answer this question... If you plug in a set of headphones into the headphone jack on the control pod, does that turn off the sound to the satellites and sub-woofer? The only reason I ask is that one of the problems I have is that the headphone jack doesn't work at all. I've looked at the schematic of the pod and of the I/O board where most of the circuitry is located and I've been able to verify that the circuitry seems to be working. One of the things that I do not understand though is how the HP-mode signal that comes from the microcontroller in the pod functions. There is no signal coming from the headphone jack that goes to the microcontroller so how would the microcontroller know when a headphone is plugged in?

I'll post more as I find out more.

Hit all the resistors on the AC/DC board and make sure they're within about 5% of the rated values. The color bands are probably useless but you have the schematic to go from. 3 of the ones I replaced looked bad but still worked. The 4.7 ohm resistor looked pretty good but was actually burned open as I posted in my repair post. It has kind of a smudged looking ring around it, but otherwise looked like it had fared well, so outward appearances only tell you so much. The bottom of the board under that one was burned fairly badly though. The +/-15V comes from the same side of the AC/DC Converter that the 4.7ohm R527 is on. It may not be the failed part but if you're only getting 3V where you should be getting 15V something there has to be fried. When I did my repair/upgrade I replaced everything in the 15V circuit except for U1 and U2. So all the passive components. The diodes next to R527 get some heat too and one of them was partially melted for me.

The headphone jack works when you press the power button momentarily. It flips a relay on the line filter board that shuts down the speaker/sub power circuits and activates headphone amp output (HP blinks several times). The headphone jack doesn't get any power unless the mode is switched and just plugging in headphones while in speaker mode will not do anything at all. No offense if you know this, just answering the question as you posted it.


Pertinent paragraphs from the I/O Board schematic description:
The headphone amplifiers are low-powered, push-pull, AB circuits with summed inputs from all the various preamplifiers. Relay K1 controls the function of the auxiliary-input/headphone-output jack on the control pod. In the un-activated state, K1 passes audio signals from the dual-purpose jack to the front-channel summing amplifiers U3:1 and U3:2. When headphones are selected on the control pod, the pod sends a HP-MODE, high-level logic signal to Q1. This activates K1 and the auxilary-input/headphone-output jack on the control pod is connected to the headphone amplifier outputs.

The headphone amplifiers and the I/0 board preamplifiers get their +/- 15V power from a power supply separate from the AC-DC converter. This low-power regulator is constantly active, and sourced by the transformer on the line-filter board. In this manner temperature inside the subwoofer box is reduced during the non-use periods when there is no air movement provided by the subwoofer speaker cone.

The +/- 15V supply also sources the main-power relay on the line filter board. A PWR-MODE high-level logic signal from the control pod activates the Q6/Q7 relay driver.
 
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The headphone jack works when you press the power button momentarily. It flips a relay on the line filter board that shuts down the speaker/sub power circuits and activates headphone amp output (HP blinks several times). The headphone jack doesn't get any power unless the mode is switched and just plugging in headphones while in speaker mode will not do anything at all. No offense if you know this, just answering the question as you posted it.

Sysjack, thanks for the response. I had lost the manual for this thing some time ago and missed the comment about the power button function from the downloaded manual available on Klipsch's website (Who reads the part in the manual on how to use the power switch, LOL?) . Good news is that part of the circuit does work! I can press the power button and I can hear the relay toggling. It's interesting about the HP letters that come up in the display. I've always seen that appear when I went to turn the unit off (which really wasn't that often...I kept the unit on almost most of the time; maybe after reading some of these threads I'll have to stop doing that:eek:) but I've never had the headphones connected when I did that. I knew there had to be a way for the pod to enable the HP circuit and this is it. Thanks.

I'll be diving into the AC-DC converter later this afternoon. I suspect that's where most of my issues are now.
 
Quick update on my PM 5.1 (non ultra set). Popped a new fuse in and replaced the MOV and it fired right up like nothing happened. Next step is to beef up the AC/DC converter board like I did for my PMU 5.1 set.
 
Got my 4.1 amp back from Elliot. Works great! So nice to have the system back up and running. If you need your amp fixed, email him, he will do it right. :)
 
Got my 4.1 amp back from Elliot. Works great! So nice to have the system back up and running. If you need your amp fixed, email him, he will do it right. :)

Good to hear that, but I haven't receive my amp back from Elliot yet and it's been two months already since I sent it to him for repair....
 
Good to hear that, but I haven't receive my amp back from Elliot yet and it's been two months already since I sent it to him for repair....

Have you emailed him? I got my amp back within 4 weeks of sending it to him.

I had no issues with emailing him or getting a hold of him through [H].

Hopefully he'll post on here and update you on your amp.
 
Have you emailed him? I got my amp back within 4 weeks of sending it to him.

I had no issues with emailing him or getting a hold of him through [H].

Hopefully he'll post on here and update you on your amp.

Yea, I emailed him already two days ago but I haven't heard from him yet.
 
Hi sovereignty68, I got your amp ready and it will be sent back on Tuesday, I'll e-mail you the fedex tracking number by then...
Cheers,
Elliott
 
Hey Elliott, checking in for an update on my repair as well. John from OH (now NY) with the 5.1 system. You've had it for a little less time (7wks) than some of the other guys you've been helping here on [H], so I understand if you're busy. I know you're doing this in your free time and all.

Mostly wanted to check to see if you got my message about the shipping address, in case it'll be ready soon. Wouldn't know what I'd do without your help to myself and others. We appreciate it! Have a good Labor Day and I hope to see that beautiful amp soon.
 
Hi, I got a question..

Eliott actually fixed my speakers about a year ago. Now the speakers died on me again, this time it's a blown fuse. I replaced the fuse with one from radio shack, and it immediately blew again. Any idea what's at fault? The speakers are powered off of my UPS unit, which also feeds the computer, so there should not have been any power spikes.
 
Hi, I got a question..

Eliott actually fixed my speakers about a year ago. Now the speakers died on me again, this time it's a blown fuse. I replaced the fuse with one from radio shack, and it immediately blew again. Any idea what's at fault? The speakers are powered off of my UPS unit, which also feeds the computer, so there should not have been any power spikes.

Check MOV1 with an ohmmeter. It is very close to the fuse, it looks like a blue disc capacitor (but it isn't!). If it reads under 1k or so you need to replace it, which is something I talked about a few posts up. If it reads very high then something else is at fault and I can't really help you.

The MOV I used to replace mine was this one.
 
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Elliott, any update on the 5.1 amp repair for Justin in NY? I've sent a several emails over the last few months with no response, and it seems this forum is the best way to get in touch with you. About two months ago you said you were waiting on parts, but also indicated the amp would be ready within the week.

I really appreciate you spending your free time to help us desperate Klipsch owners. It's a great service and I can only imagine how many systems you must be working on, but I am hoping to get the amp back shortly (sent it to you in march). Please let me know and thanks again.

[update] Just got my amp back over the weekend, hooked it up and it worked beautifully. So glad to have my speakers back! Thanks Elliott!
 
Does anyone have a compiled list of upgrades for the 5.1 ultra? as in part numbers or specs of replacements and the spot on the boards.

and also did anyone accualy come up with a daughter board replacement as of yet? the scemetic site said evan was working on it but that was all said there
 
What exactly are you looking for? The schematics show the part values and their label on the PCB. I doubt anyone has taken the time to go through every component on every board in the amp and made a list of suitable replacement parts.

As far as I know I'm the only one to have posted any sort of list of part numbers for the failure prone AC/DC Converter. My post earlier in the thread has the parts I used for my first repair, but I have procured some different parts in some places for my second amp's upgrade, such as FR204 in place of the FR104 (or the FR304 I used before, which had leads that were way too large), and a mil-spec resistor for R527.
 
well what I meant is. eliot does specific upgrades besides repairs

now im sure I could go through every resister and capacitor and replace them with higher quality and higher temp limits but im sure someone already has a list of the high risk components that are a safe replacement.

theres some nice ppl here that do list what they replaced and what upgrades fit. im sure i could figure it all out myself but whats the point if the research has already been done.

its not like im trying to take business from eliot but I chose not to send the amp to him or kiplish both for the reason of money,time and I can do the work myself. and ive already fixed broken parts but I dont want to rely on a fan to prevent heat issues yet at the same time i dont want to buy a replacement for every component on every board

everyone seems to talk about high failure areas but seem to leave out exactly what they are or they state they are working on a replacement but never finish or forget all about updates

well if anyone has such info it would be much appreciated by me and im sure others

and yes you were the inspiration for this post as you were the only real info ive seen besides "send it to me for a repair"
 
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