Between 1999 and 2007, millions of motherboards died of the same disease: electrolytic capacitors built on an incomplete stolen formula that brewed hydrogen gas until they burst. The full story — the chemistry, the espionage, Dell's $420 million cleanup, and what it still teaches anyone buying used hardware today.
Hardware-Failure
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The Capacitor Plague: How Stolen Electrolyte Killed a Decade of Hardware