Problematic spade lug in power supply

First, thanks to everyone for the help; this is really a puzzler for me, and I really appreciate the assistance. Anyway, on to substance (several replies all packaged into one to minimize list traffic - and sorry the result is a bit of a tome): I realized after I posted is that your first question is the $64K question - and I don't know the answer. I suppose it could (broadly) be one of four things: - The previous owner tried to draw too much power (although the boards that were plugged in when I bought it shouldn't have done that - I haven't sat down to calculate the total draw, and compare it with what the PS can supply, but the card cage was less than half full of stock items) - There's a fault (e.g. partial short), or faulty component, somewhere in the power supply - The connector is under-specified for the current it could be/was asked to carry - There's a poor connection somewhere in the connector system, further dividable into: -- The wire<->terminal joint -- The terminal<->lug joint -- The lug<->PCB joint I agree that without knowing the original cause, and correcting it, the problem could recur - but I don't think I can (at this remove) work out which one it was. So I can take some corrective action(s), but I don't think I can be sure I got the orignal cause... Well, I'd have said 'original' (it has the look/feel of original work), but looking closely, I cannot be sure. It's the only connector of that type in the PS - the other +5V lines are i) soldered to the tips of the rectifiers in the full-wave bridge, and ii) use crimped bolt-on type terminals (i.e. not the push-on tabs) for the rest. Those latter do have the same colour and general look as this one, _but_ the crimping marks on their insulators are more distinct. (Perhaps the heat removed them on this one?) If it was a poor wire<->terminal connection, could that really have melted the solder on the lug<->PCB joint? Sorry, how would I tell? I read this to mean you think I should replace the soldered on tab (presumably as well as the crimped terminal on the wire)? Alas, while I have a fairly well-equipped shop, it doesn't run to the right compression dies and tools... Well, I'd have to modify the PCB, which I'm loathe to do. The current tab uses two round pins to make the connection to the PCB, which I suppose I could cut into a slot, but there are other components in the immediate vicinity (seems odd for such a high-current connection, but...) Really? I thought that while AC was carried in the skin of a conductor, DC was carried spread evenly throughout, so I assume(d) that the wider cross-section of a soldered connection would allow it to carry more current. Perhaps the industries that stopped using soldered connections in favour of crimped did so because with hand-soldering, you can get variation (and also of course bad solder joints), whereas with a crimp it's pretty uniform from joint to joint? Ah, to make sure I understand, you're talking about replacing the terminal attached to the wire, right? (I tend to think of the 'lug' as the spade-shaped thing soldered onto the board.) And if I don't have such a tool... ? You're talking about the wire into the terminal here, right? Yes, I've always made sure a crimped wire _cannot_ be pulled loose (whatever size connector). FWIW, the terminal onto the lug is a pretty tight fit, too - I can wiggle it with my fingers, but to get it off I'm going to need some mechanical help. Noel