TRS-80 Fireworks

[Marvin Johnston]

I'm just curious how many people have powered up their TRS-80 computers, 
and ended up with a bang and a room filled with smoke?

So far, I've gotten the fireworks in two out of two TRS-80s (model 3 and 
4) when they were powered up. In both cases, the problem was with the 
main line filter capacitor mounted on one of the power supplies. The 
computers continued to work which was my first clue the problem was not 
serious :).

Is this a normal problem with these older computers? I'm used to seeing 
the electrolytics give problems, but this is the first time I've seen 
one of the X type line filter caps blow.