>BTW, on the subject of minimum loads, the datasheet for
>National's LM2678 does not state anything about minimum
>load, but I noticed that the output voltage was off
>(~4.2V) without a load, but came back within spec with
>a 1k load resistor in place.  The other outputs have
>the proper voltages w/o a load.

depending what output current you designed for, it may have gone into a
discontinuous mode, and that may give strange currents in the input cap,
which could have caused it to blow despite being low ESR.

On the other hand it may just have been a faulty cap, possibly even labelled
with the wrong polarity.

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