Newly built computer shuts and makes eletrical noise and wierd smell.

frillybob101 · Apr 30, 2013

Hi all!

I have posted on here for recommended builds before. I finally built a system. I had my friend who is very experienced build it for me.

Here are my specs.
CPU-AMD FX6300
GPU- Powercolor Radeon HD 7870 (Myst. edition) Tahti aritecture
Harddrive-Generic SATA from an old laptop
OS- Windows 7
Powersupply-Can't remeber the brand but it's a 600W
Motherboard-ASUS M5A78L M LX Plus Socket
Ram-Balistix 2x4gb 1600

So here is what happened. I was playing Battlefield 3 on Seine crossing and all of a sudden my pc shut off. I look over at the PC and I see a white flash and a very loud eletrical noise. Then the smell of burnt hardware AKA ozone comes. I am really concerened. I immediatly unplugged it. My friend (who built it) is coming over tomorrow to look at it. I have not booted it up. I know you can only know for certain what happened once you open it up; but what do you guys think this could be. And do you think the entire thing is trashed.

I got all my parts from microcenter bar the hard drive and the usb network drive.

christop · Apr 30, 2013

I think the psu died.

Delirious788 · Apr 30, 2013

yep. i see christop beat me to it but it sounds like your psu died. hopefully it is covered and can get a new one for free. if your friend has a psu laying around, see if he can bring it and hook it up to make sure it is the problem and no other components died in the process and for temporary use.

USAFRet · Apr 30, 2013

An electrical noise and weird smell is never good.

PSU has (probably) crapped itself. Hopefully it took nothing else with it.

markwp · Apr 30, 2013

First thing to check is the psu. Make sure you are unplugged from the wall, and then take off both sidecovers. Pull the psu and give it the "sniff" test - the flash sounds like one of the filter capacitors blowing. While you have it out, get the make and model and post that so we can get a little more info. If you smell a distinct ozone type smell, you've probably found your problem. If not, and while you're waiting for the psu info answers here, pull your gpu, memory and anything else you can off the mobo, except the cpu/cooler. Get a flashlight and take a close look around the vrm's (near the cpu), and see if you see any burn marks.

Do NOT plug it back in until you find where the flash came from. If it's the psu, hopefully the circuit protection features kicked in and prevented any spikes from going to the m/b.

Mark

frillybob101 · Apr 30, 2013

I opened the case up. There are no burn marks. My friend told me he thinks my psu is broken because the case I have is bottom mounted and the fan for the psu is on the carpet. He's bringing over a 600 watt psu its fan is broken but we just need to test if every other part works right. I bought the psu at microcenter. They should except the return right?

markwp · May 1, 2013

Take your psu out, copy the information on the label (make, model, rail ratings, etc) and post them here. Sounds like you caused massive overheat of the psu by restricting airflow. Overheating can pop a capacitor, cause the bridge to short or a number of similar events.

As far as microcenter taking the psu back, I wouldn't hold my breath as this appears to be a user caused problem, but it's certainly worth a try.

Mark

frillybob101 · May 1, 2013

markwp :

I'm getting a Corsair 600watt from microcenter tomorrow. Here is what the busted one is.

Inland ATX ILG-600R2
AC Input 115V/230V 10-6A-50/60Hz
DC Output =3.3V +5V 36A .6A 2A
Maximum combined Watts 160W 432W 7.2W 10W
Total 600W

USAFRet · May 1, 2013

Inland ATX ILG-600R2

^^ is the problem.

markwp · May 1, 2013

Think we may have found your issue. Your "600w" psu shows it is rated for 432 watts on the label (wishful thinking), but it only has 36a (supposedly) on the 12v rail which, if operating at 100% efficiency, would provide a max of 396w. A bronze certified supply will operate at ~80% efficiency and on your psu that would yield about 316 watts IF it was bronze certified. Typically, psu's of this nature (inexpensive) operate at ~70% at best (we're now down to 277w), and their protective circuitry is virtually non-existent.

Here's an article that you might find interesting regarding inexpensive psu's. Definately worth your time to read so you can see what can occur.

Let us know how the new psu works.

Mark

frillybob101 · May 1, 2013

markwp :

All right thanks I"ll check that read out. I thought being microcenter branded it would be good but I guess not. Corsair should be better! Ill let you know Friday when my friend comes over to install the new one.

When I booted up my pc off of his spare psu everything seemed fine. So I didn't do any damage to the parts right?

markwp · May 1, 2013

If it booted and ran normally, you should be fine. Just to be sure, once you are up and running, run some stress tests like prime95, memtest, intel burn test, furmark to make sure your rig is performing as expected. Use hardware monitor, core temp, cpuz and gpuz to check and monitor.

Mark

frillybob101 · May 1, 2013

markwp :

Should I notice a performance increase with a better power supply?

markwp · May 1, 2013

No. Your system will draw whatever power it needs to operate. If it can get the power it will operate at the settings you have set up. If it can't get the power, it just won't run.

frillybob101 · May 3, 2013

markwp :

HELP!!!! I installed the new PSU with the help of a friend. It started up and ran fine. We shut it down to look at bios. IT WILL NOT STARRT BACK UP. All the normal things in it like make sure it's connected,make sure power button is connected to motherboard. IT WILL NOT do anything at all. All parts are less than 2 weeks old bar the hard drive but it still should try to load up without the hard drive.

EDIT- WE rerouted power to the fans and the fans turned on. With the paper clip trick. So it's not the PUS.

EDIT EDIT- Now we can't get the fan test to even work anymore.

markwp · May 3, 2013

Exactly how did you do the paper clip trick and reroute power to the fans?

Mark

frillybob101 · May 3, 2013

markwp :

frillybob101 · May 4, 2013

The wiring was done wrong my friend did it wrong. It fried the PSU and the MBO and he possibly bent the pins on the cpu.

USAFRet · May 4, 2013

frillybob101 :

This is one of those cases where you never, ever let him touch anything of yours more complex than a spoon.
Maybe not even that.

Newly built computer shuts and makes eletrical noise and wierd smell.

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