828mkII Questions about the LCD, PCMCIA CARDS and capacitors

[Tejaus]

Hello,

I picked up a used 828MKII firewire version recently and had a few questions.
The PCB board says it was made in 2003 and it has the 1.00 Firmware ROM.

First, regarding the LCD backlight. Although the LCD on mine is readable it's not really bright by any means. I know there are issues with some of them but high bright are they to begin with? Also, when I popped the top to check the ROM I noticed two 4700uf 10v electrolytic caps near the LCD that have raised vent or burst panels.
Is this normal with this brand of caps. Are they part of the LCD circuit that would cause the backlight to dim?

I've tried using the latest MOTU drivers but still get lots of pops and crackles.
After reading on these forums about the issue with Windows XP crippling the bandwidth on firewire I'm going to try the hack of removing the SP3 FW drivers and using the SP1 ones.

My PCMCIA card unfortunately has a VIA chipset so that maybe part of the problem too.

As far as a good PCMCIA Card with the TI Chipset any recommendations?
There are a few cards on Newegg such as this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6839328025" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;