Editing Acorn A5000 Capacitor Guide (section)

== Why the A5000 must be recapped ==

The A5000 main board uses '''surface-mount aluminium electrolytic capacitors'''. As they age the electrolyte escapes, and because it is corrosive it attacks the pads and tracks beneath and around each capacitor. The result is the A5000's characteristic set of ageing faults: corrupted RAM control lines, loss of sound, instability, and eventual failure to start.<ref name="sm" /> The damage is progressive, so a machine that still works is not safe to leave &mdash; the longer leaked electrolyte sits on the board, the more track repair it needs later. Recapping (and cleaning the residue) is the single most valuable maintenance task on an A5000.

This is the same class of fault seen on the [[Acorn A4]] laptop and the Acorn Risc PC; the earlier through-hole-capacitor machines ([[Acorn Archimedes A3000]], A3020, [[Acorn Archimedes A4000]]) are not affected in the same way.