Turn on PC, saw a big flash and spark thru the clear side panel and now pc won't turn on.

[HKSturboKID]

This is my test pc, I just use it 2 days ago and last night when I try to turn it on, I saw a big flash and spark thru the clear side panel and a loud pop noise and now pc won't turn on.
After I replaced the power supply, the pc will go on but with a long beep and nothing happens. No video signal or post. I re-seated the memory, processor, swap out the video card and still same thing. What I am worrying about is that after the powersupply exploded, it didn't damage the cpu. Anyone have any ideas.

 

[ronach]

Give your mobo a VERY careful looksee, in good lighting. Look for any burn marks, swollen capacitors, any materials leaking out of the capacitors, loose screws ect. If you find nothing wrong with the mobo visually, look at all other components that you plug into the mobo in the same manner. Any BIG flash will leave behind some kind of residue, you just have to find it. Don't turn your sys on again until you locate the problem and get it rectified. If you are not a computer techy person, then find one that you TRUST to do the deed.

 

[montag451]

good advice ronach

 

[HKSturboKID]

Originally posted by: ronach
Give your mobo a VERY careful looksee, in good lighting. Look for any burn marks, swollen capacitors, any materials leaking out of the capacitors, loose screws ect. If you find nothing wrong with the mobo visually, look at all other components that you plug into the mobo in the same manner. Any BIG flash will leave behind some kind of residue, you just have to find it. Don't turn your sys on again until you locate the problem and get it rectified. If you are not a computer techy person, then find one that you TRUST to do the deed.

Thanks for the info. I'll check tonight. What I am curious is that its from my Power Supply cuz It smell burnt. Also, my pc was a few inches from the radiator....I am thinking that some steam might got in somehow.

 

[ronach]

Heat sources and electronic components do not mix, that includes the sun by the way. Your PS has a fan that blows out the back, the smell in the PS is more likely a result from burnt odors comeing from another source exiting out through the PS. If you have a quality PS, it should have shut itself down when any of its specifications were exceeded. On a rare occassion, the PS will be damaged by certain types of faults, so at this time it should be suspected to be faulty, until proven otherwise. But, more than likely something else in your system precipitated the PS to shut down. Now, these words are all well and good, but some magnitude of proper troubleshooting is in order here. Your decision is; can I properly fix this sys without damageing something else and snowballing the original problem, or should I bite the bullet and get some expert help, in doing so, pay careful attention what the person does and learn from the experience. This does not have to be costly by the way, as previously stated, find a competent friend, or person you trust to help you. Another option is to locate a retired electronic tech to help and train you, if you are sincere and not a wise azz, these people would be glad to give assistance [ It would give them a chance to get out of the house and off their on-line fps games for a change, hee ]. Go for it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

An actual flash, huh? Usually you just sort of hear a loud (or maybe not so loud, depending on the size of the component) "pop" sound, when something goes. The smell of a nasty electronics sort of smoke gives it away too. A flash could indicate that something shorted out first, and then killed a component, and now whatever it is is dead. After the careful visual inspection, I would double-check all of the power connectors as well, and check for scorch/burn marks, especially the mobo ATX connector, and also possibly remove the mobo from the case, and check the underside too.

 

[HKSturboKID]

Thanks for everyone's help and input.

After messing with it for about an hour from inspecting every single capacitor on the motherboard, with the new power supply installed and the pc still won't post or have any video signal (but does turn on), I 've decided to do some in depth troubleshooting, remove all the other peripherals and just left the video card, memory cpu with poewr supply, mouse, keyobard and monitor plug in. Still nothing. Now I am starting to worry for the worst. This time, I took the whole motherboard out of the case, again, plug the power connector with just mouse, keyboard, monitor connected with no harddrives, floppy and anything else connected and all of a sudden it came to live. At that time, I quickly put it back together and put back each peripherals card in one by one and test and everything worked out fine. I guess there were some kind of sort somewhere or just a power surge. The pc wasn't connected to a surge protector and was plug straight to an outlet when it had that loud pop and spark. I guess I'll have it plug to the power surge from now on. ONe again, thanks everyone for your help.

 

[montag451]

Well done, and thanx for telling us where the problem was.......
Good luck

 

[ronach]

The gods smiled down upon you today. I suggest you consider buying yourself a good UPS for Xmas. You may not be so lucky the next time a pwr line transient comes to call. ronach