Sun SPARCstation LX boot from CDROM?

Hi Liam, You are probably quite correct. In another forum someone came up with the same explanation for my "rat problem". Here is what he wrote: "Were there any electrolytic capacitors in the region of the corrosion? When an electrolytic capacitor leaks (even slightly) the electrolyte often contaminates the solder joint and oxidises it as you describe. The appearance will be dull and the melting point will be significantly higher than that of normal tin-lead joints. When heated, it will emit a "unique" smell that smells like fish or urine. This is often repairable but it's quite a bit of effort. Worthwhile for high-value assemblies I suppose." and: "With regards to small electrolytic capacitor leakage, I very rarely see any "wetness". The leakage takes place very slowly over many years and is almost like a capillary effect along the pads and into the board rather than a liquid spill. One normally only sees the damage (oxidation). It usually discolours the pads of the electrolytic cap and then travels into other nearby pads too. It often eats up the solder mask very quickly, but it takes longer for it to eat up the copper tracks. If your board is multi-layered, that is a very unfortunate situation indeed! Attached is a photo of what capacitor leakage typically looks like (note in this photo the offending caps have been removed and their pads cleaned)." I cannot include the photo as this mailing list doesn't allow photos. I think both you and the guy I quoted are spot on and this explanation is much more rational. I was misled by the smell when trying to reflow some of the pads. So the "rat mystery" is resolved. All I need now is a replacement drive. :-) Thanks Tom Hunter On Tue, Sep 1, 2020 at 8:15 PM Liam Proven via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: