Brandon C said:

Thanks for the update and pics. I am glad you got it working. There hasn't been a lot of talk about the Pro HD capacitors going bad but I bet we will see more on it soon.

The solder has seemed to be an issue with all their boxes. That's why I have been recommending the Weller SP40LK 40 Watt Soldering Iron Kit to people who ask. With the extra power it seems to do the trick.

 

A 40w iron will lift he delicate coper tracks off the pcb if you're not careful. Keep the contact time short, use de-solder braid (not a desolder pump on this type of solder) and wiggle the capacitor free as you apply the heat. I use a temp. controlled 15w iron for delicate work, but would only ever go to a 25w on a pcb. Once the copper tracks are lifted/broken a repair is far more complicated.

And use a good old fashioned low melting point lead/tin solder. The leadless stuff was only introduced to placate the 'save the earth' brigade and has been found to be the cause of many problems, especially around minature surface-mount IC's 

Those 2 leaky capacitors shown in the photo are in the power regulator section. They are there to help regulate and to ensure a 'pure' DC supply to the rest of the circuits. A 'non-pure' supply line would cause all kinds of problems. It doesn't look like external heat has been a cause of their failure, more likely poor contruction or a borderline voltage rating has caused them to internally heat up causing pressure to build up which eventually causes the body of the capacitor to rupture. BC's advice to replace these with higher voltage rated ones is good advice, space permitting.

The third, unaffected capacitor looks like it is providing local de-coupling to what looks like a USB socket. If so, it is having a far easier life than the others, it won't affect the working of the box and can be left alone.

So many edits, but just one more important point..ESP..Electrostatic Precautions. A body can generate a potential of many hundreds of volts above earth merely by walking around, especially on things like nylon or wool carpets. This is sufficient to instantly 'zap' any electronic component (or even partially zap, leading to a failure time bomb). So it is necessary to first discharge anything before you first touch the pcb.

It's sufficient to touch ,say, and earthed radiator with one hand and the earth plane (the wide areas) of the board with the other. Do this from time-to-time and whenever you leave and return to work on the board. I use a conductive wriststrap with a coiled cord clipped to the board.

Have fun and enjoy the feeling of achievement you get fixing something yourself.

Still thinking on my last post.

Has anyone looked at the cap. mfg. for the ones that are being replaced? I replaced them in my old Pro-HD but I never thought to look. Is there a commonality in the mfg.? Maybe Sling is buying junk from the get go?

These units can get pretty hot without cooling and that's why you want the higher temp. caps. but I find the caps out of China fail no matter what temp. rating they have.