PC problems - driving me mad!

I was stood in the same room as a hardware engineer once when a capacitor the size of a spice jar (100mm high by about 40mm diameter) blew up inside an old line printer. It made a noise like a gun going off and I've never seen anyone jump backwards so fast. Bits of oiled paper went everywhere like confetti. His hair stood on end a bit, but he was fine. He was a pretty imperturbable character anyway. I was probably more shook up than he was