My computers smoking!

Question

tcepser 0 Junior Poster in Training

20 Years Ago

Hi all. Installed a nice clean fresh copy of WindowsXP at my friends house. When i got home and plugged it in, it went on, although no image on the monitor appeared. I also seem to remember that i cud not hear a hard drive or CDROM load. After about 10second i smelt a hideous burning smell.

Im 99.9% positive that its the PSU but is this normal and possible!? Within 30mins it was working fine and now gone. Before i spend £15 on a new PSU do you think that i have more 2 worry about?

Thanks for your time :D

motherboards-cpu-ram

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2 Years Discussion Span
Latest Post 17 Years Ago Latest Post by Nick Evan

DuncanIdaho 2 Unverified User

20 Years Ago

It does sound like a bad Power Supply, but you should check all your power cables, as if you plug, (for example), a floppy drive power connector onto only 3 of the pins, it will fry the rubber off one of the wires, which smells rank, and smokes like a chimney.

More than likely, it's the power supply though, but take a real good look inside the case of your PC for any obvious damage, then try shining a light into the vents in the PSU to see if you see anything fried in there.

Lastly, most modern machines need a pretty hefty power supply, I hope you're not buying a cheap 250 watt PS, cause those probably will fail due to not being able to provide enough power for your hard disks, graphics card, etc...

mikeandike22 18 Nearly a Posting Virtuoso

20 Years Ago

I will tell you one thing it wasnt good. it probably was the power supply. So i would get a new one or if you are not entirely sure what it is then open up your computer and see what part is exceedingly hot.

DuncanIdaho 2 Unverified User

20 Years Ago

Best of luck, I'll be watching for you to tell us how your machine is smokin' again. (Meaning fast this time, though, not actually 'smoking' lol)

kik786 1 Junior Poster in Training

20 Years Ago

get packed yours pc and throw it from 100th floor. i am sure that you will be hapy ever after.

DuncanIdaho commented: Don't play games, you're not good at it. :( +1

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tcepser 0 Junior Poster in Training · Answer 1 · 2004-09-08T16:27:52+00:00

Thank you people. I took out the PSU and it smells soo sooooo bad! So im assuming its that. Thankfully nothing else seems toasted! Ill be purshasing of them soon. Ill get a 300w :D

tcepser 0 Junior Poster in Training · Answer 2 · 2004-09-10T22:37:10+00:00

lol yeah well its only a 1.3ghz so not much happenin there. Btw on closer inspection f the inside of my pc i looked at my RAM and noticed that one of the gold connectors was black, and that smelt just like the psu! Make your own conclusion :lol:

DuncanIdaho 2 Unverified User · Answer 3 · 2004-09-10T22:46:59+00:00

I'd be worried about both ram and motherboard if that's the case.

Sounds like your PS fried or got spiked, and that it let power surge into your mobo, but that's just a guess.

tcepser 0 Junior Poster in Training · Answer 4 · 2004-09-12T02:00:49+00:00

Yeah i was a bit concerned. I have not had the chance 2 have try fix it yet so ill be doin that soon. Got my new psu and ram comin soon but as you say it mite also be a MB problem, i shall wait and see :D

tcepser 0 Junior Poster in Training · Answer 5 · 2004-09-12T04:36:01+00:00

Thanks for your advice kik786, but there are a number of reasons why id rather not do that :D for a start in the little town in North Wales where i live there are no buildings that are more than 30floors high, nevermind 100.

Anyways, if i wanted to do that i would have done it long ago. Thats also kinda the reason why ive come to this forum - to get help. But i do appreciate your input.

StrangePaper 0 Newbie Poster · Answer 6 · 2004-09-12T14:56:43+00:00

You might wanna get a flashlight and check all the circuits on your mobo just to make sure that no circuits are fried. That way you dont plug something in one day and it doesn't work. ;-) Just a thought.

tcepser 0 Junior Poster in Training · Answer 7 · 2004-09-12T17:51:06+00:00

Well ill go and purchase a flashlight now and have a proper look. I certainly hope i havent fried the mobo. I have since binned the ram and the psu

wakethesilence 0 Newbie Poster · Answer 8 · 2007-01-27T23:01:05+00:00

It does sound like a bad Power Supply, but you should check all your power cables, as if you plug, (for example), a floppy drive power connector onto only 3 of the pins, it will fry the rubber off one of the wires, which smells rank, and smokes like a chimney.
More than likely, it's the power supply though, but take a real good look inside the case of your PC for any obvious damage, then try shining a light into the vents in the PSU to see if you see anything fried in there.
Lastly, most modern machines need a pretty hefty power supply, I hope you're not buying a cheap 250 watt PS, cause those probably will fail due to not being able to provide enough power for your hard disks, graphics card, etc...

What you mentioned here with the floppy drives cables burning is exactly what happened to me, does this mean that its only the floppy disk drives thats been affected or is it likely other parts have been affected to?

Nick Evan 4,005 Industrious Poster Team Colleague Featured Poster · Answer 9 · 2007-02-01T18:50:12+00:00

What you mentioned here with the floppy drives cables burning is exactly what happened to me, does this mean that its only the floppy disk drives thats been affected or is it likely other parts have been affected to?

It's all connected to eachother, so you will be very very lucky if it's just the floppydrive. Can you post a picture?

Niek