motherboard on fire!

[GTedie]

I was testing out an old 486 motherboard with an amd 5x86 133 mhz that wasn't working last time i used it(3 or 4 years ago) and i was suprised it worked but after running scandisk on an old hard drive for a hour something on the motherboard popped and caught on fire briefly. I'm not sure still what caused it i think it might have been because i didn't have any standoffs in the motherboard but from what i read the computer wouldn't have booted at all if that was the case and it didn't look like the motherboard was touching any part of the case anyways(besides the screws). Also from what i know of electrical things I don't think it was a capacitor or resistor maybe a fuse though? there are alot of them on the board and they are orange and blub shaped. All i had connected at the time was the bare essentials needed for it to boot plus two hard drives and a floppy and the case was open the whole time. I tested it again later and it did boot up ok but i didnt leave it on after it booted. So my question is what made the thing catch on fire and will it run reliably from now on if its setup up right? I can't seem to find anything on this exact subject so this is my last hope before i have to ditch it and buy a used motherboard somewhere.

 

[corkyg]

Dump it and find another. It is not worth an hour's time. Sounds like you might have blown the voltage controller which regulates and switches power to various components. Although a blown capacitor will react the same way. Did you note specifically what was on fire? The burn should be there and provide an answer.

 

[DaiShan]

LOL! it caught on fire? pics? yeah I think the best Idea would be to pick up a $9 board or something, it would be a great project.

 

[wjsulliv]

That's pretty funny.

I would just find another board. Its not worth having this one continue to have problems and then fry your components.

 

[tweakmm]

quick!
pour water on it !

 

[GTedie]

yeah i figured that i would need a new motherboard i was just hoping someone would say it was ok still oh well. i upload a few pics of the burned out motherboard piece they aren't very good quality. Too bad i didn't have my cam pointed at the board when it caught on fire that would have looked cool. Just imagine sitting around while your computers running scandisk and all of a sudden you hear a pop and a flame shoots out of your motherboard.
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