General capacitor question

[Silent Shadow]

I've been repairing video game systems for awhile now and was wondering if a capacitor that's on the pcb is totally dead, and I turn the device on and try to use it, is there a possibility of damaging the pcb or other components?

I wasn't sure if a dead cap would just cause a malfunction of the part of the device that it relates to, or if it would actually cause further damage.

Any info is greatly appreciated

[jedi knight]

It might not damage it, but it probably won't work right.

[Silent Shadow]

Yep, I know that with a dead cap something won't work properly but I'm just wondering if possible damage could ensue.

I've been testing a lot of systems with various bad parts and I just want to be sure that by turning them on and testing them that I don't fry something basically.

[timmeh87]

dead capacitors can short out, which could potentially break something (most likely your power supply).

[Silent Shadow]

I see... What if a cap is totally missing?

[bicostp]

Well if it's just missing then the circuit isn't completed, so it won't work. I'm not sure what will happen if it's replaced by a wire or blob of solder, though.

[Silent Shadow]

So would it be 100% safe to say a missing capacitor would not damage anything (as long as there aren't solder blobs etc), it would just keep the open circuit from functioning?

[Kyo]

Yes.

[Silent Shadow]

Interesting. Good info to know. Thanks for all the responses!

[timmeh87]

a lot of capacitors on modern circuit boards are redundant. there are usually tens or hundreds of capacitors used to decouple the power supply. some of them you can do without.

[Silent Shadow]

Thanks for the tips and the informative link!