I had a Dell computer back in ~2005 that broke down literally 2 days before the warranty was up. I was dumbfounded as to why. Nothing had changed. I shut down the computer properly every time and it always started back up.

Two days before the warranty wears out, the "motherboard fries" according to the tech who showed up. I asked him him, he said it was probably static electricity. I figured it was some corporate conspiracy to bust computers just after the warranty was up and mine came a bit too early. (I mean... imagine if it had busted a day after the warranty! I'd be flippant!)

But this "capacitor plague" business makes a load more sense than that.