My computer died on me...it was smelly too !

[asintu]

So...i was near my computer (not using it) when all of a sudden I see it turns off out of nowhere. After a couple of seconds I smell some burnin/smoky kinda thing...so I disconnected it. Then i connected it again..press the button and nothing happens.
Didn't look inside yet.
My question: is it the power supply or the motherboard?? and how can i test it to be sure 100% before I move on and replace either one.

 

[MobiusPizza]

The best way to know that is actually sniff around to trace the origin.... Believe me, that's the quickest method

 

[asintu]

ya but....it happened like a week ago...not sure if there's any smell left
but ill open it now..just in case...if i dont sense anything..ill have to buy a dog too...damn...i would be better off with a new system..hahaah

 

[Shirow]

Well.. first look on the back of your MB... look for any brown or dark spots.. if you don't see anything, thats a good sign. I would also first try just getting a new Power SUpply and without having to unscrew the old one and such, just plug in the new one and see if you system will power on (I have a 2nd computer so I put them side by side and pluged the 2nd computers suppy to the first MB and it worked) If your lucky.. you'll only have to replace the power supply, but if it still does not power on.. it could be the MB or CPU (look for the "burn" spots on the MB or even take the heatsink off the CPU and see if that has any burn spots)... but I'm betting its just the power supply.. I have had them go out on me.

 

[MobiusPizza]

in that case yes there would be smell, but only if you are very close to the burnt part...

But actually in that case you better off trying your power supply on other computer if you have the chance.


Sorry I forgot there's a way to switch on a power supply mannually by shorting two pins of the 20 pin motherboard power supply cable... Forgot which 2 pins...

 

[theLION]

the same thing happened to my g/f's old computer and it was the PSU....the smell came from the PSU.....just get another PSU and try it out. I did that and everything is ok now. Of course if that doesnt work, then atleast u know it's not the PSU. =)

 

[Spikesoldier]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX
in that case yes there would be smell, but only if you are very close to the burnt part...

But actually in that case you better off trying your power supply on other computer if you have the chance.


Sorry I forgot there's a way to switch on a power supply mannually by shorting two pins of the 20 pin motherboard power supply cable... Forgot which 2 pins...

green and any black pin

 

[asintu]

and how do i find those?

 

[Spike]

start connecting random pins and see what pins cause the PSU to start up

Actually I think mine are color-coded and easy to spot.

-spike

 

[IanE]

Heard plenty of stories of PSU's making weird smells... I think one of the smells was old fish or trash with banana... it was weird, my friends PSU fried out his motherboard and all the molex connectors melted together, but I don't think that's quite often at all...

 

[asintu]

well i tried an identical motherboard and nothing....it's the power supply 100%.
for whoever might be interested it was an Aopen psu and about 5 years old...yup powering a p3..hahahah..done with that!!!
waitin couple of weeks for some good xpress 200 socket 939 mobos so i can build a fresh A64 system...
thanx guys!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Interesting. Those older AOpen PSUs were more than likely FSP-xxx models made by Fortron. I'm surprised and sad to hear that one burnt. I wonder if something got shorted somewhere. Were you using any molex power splitters? Worn out/poor-quality ones can tend to cause issues like that, if any of the wires become exposed.

 

[asintu]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Interesting. Those older AOpen PSUs were more than likely FSP-xxx models made by Fortron. I'm surprised and sad to hear that one burnt. I wonder if something got shorted somewhere. Were you using any molex power splitters? Worn out/poor-quality ones can tend to cause issues like that, if any of the wires become exposed.

no molex..no

 

[MobiusPizza]

Originally posted by: IanE
Heard plenty of stories of PSU's making weird smells... I think one of the smells was old fish or trash with banana... it was weird, my friends PSU fried out his motherboard and all the molex connectors melted together, but I don't think that's quite often at all...

It really does smell like rot fish
Guess fish are made of silicons

 

[CraigRT]

was gonna say PSU for sure.
almost 100% of the time it's the power supply.
i replaced one just last week that blew up and stunk good.