• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

slight burnt smell from computer...causes?

D

dquan97

Lifer
A friend of mine bought my old AMD system from me a year ago. He just called and said that he left the computer on for a little while, then came back to find that the computer froze. After rebooting, the computer won't start and there's a slight burnt smell. I think it might be the motherboard or power supply. Any thoughts? How do I test to see if it's the motherboard, besides replacing it?
 
the heatsink fan broke and now the chip is fried... hurry tell him to throw water on it!

PS. we do have a general hardware forum ya know.
 
That happened once when i fried one of my hard drives...Not much smoke but smelled like burnt plastic. On The other hand, When i smoked my PS there was a huge cloud of smoke followed by a burning plastic smells.


Sysadmin
 
I have also experienced issues with cables being melted do to things like USB connectors plugged in wrong (USB 2 cables plugged into USB 1.1 pinheaders - internal). At any rate, nothing good comes from having a burnt smell from any electronic device. The only way to know is to open it up and start looking.

\Dan
 
Same thing happened to me, came into the office and smelled burnt plastic, and it was the Power Supply. A quick trip to my local computer store, $20 spent and an hour later I was up and running once again, even better than before (went with a higher rated PSU from 200 Watts to 350 Watts).

Replace your PSU and you will be fine 🙂
 
If something burned, you will be able to locate it by eye or nose - use a flashlight if necessary to get some light on the subject. If it's in the PSU, you may need to open the PSU case if you really want to see. Just replace the offending item and hope it didn't take anything else with it.
. BTW, this is the proper section for your post. General Hardware is for discussing the technology, this is the section for fixing things that broke... Constantly trying to get this type of post OUT of GH! Congrats for being among the few to do it right.
.bh.
 
Originally posted by: fivespeed5
the heatsink fan broke and now the chip is fried... hurry tell him to throw water on it!

PS. we do have a general hardware forum ya know.
Click to expand...

This does not belong in the general hardware forum pal!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top