Burning smell coming from computer?

TYLERisMiSfIt · Jun 29, 2015

about 15 minutes ago i began to smell a burning smell emanating from what i think was my computer on the ground next to me. I panicked and turned off my computer and investigated what the smell was and if it was coming from my computer and im pretty sure it was. I done some research and a lot of people say it could be the PSU, i recently put my computer back on my carpeted floor where it basically touches the bottom of my computer, since this incident i elevated my computer with some books lol, am i safe?

tigerg · Jun 29, 2015

If you are smelling a burning smell, something has fried. Something got damaged. It could be any number of components, but from your description it sounds like you let the PSU overheat.

I would get a new PSU. A damaged PSU can do bad things like damage the rest of the components in your computer.

That's what I would recommend to be on the safe side at least. You might look inside your case to see if you see damage, such as a blistered capacitor or something.

cdabc123 · Jun 29, 2015

from a fire probably from killing your computer no.

Darkbreeze · Jun 29, 2015

You probably overheated the power supply as it was unable to draw air for cooling in through it's bottom vent. If it got to the point where you could smell burning electrical, then the unit is unsafe for further use. If however, the smell was simply due to the carpet touching something hot, then it MIGHT still be ok. I'd turn the unit on it's side, power up and make sure the PSU fan still turns and that there are no further smells, unusual noises or other abnormal behaviors coming from the PSU.

Next, go into the BIOS and check your system voltage values. +3v, +5v and +12v values should all be within .5v of those numbers. If not, replace the unit.

It might actually just be better to remove the unit from the computer and test it separately to be sure it does not damage any of your other hardware, before continuing use with it connected to the rest of the system. If you have access to a volt meter, you can test it using the following methods:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac7YMUcMjbw

If none of this seems like something within your capability, I'd recommend you not use the unit at all and take it to a repair shop for testing. Failed power supplies can damage your entire system, even burn down your house in extreme cases.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/26/exploding_computer_vs_reg_reader/

iam2thecrowe · Jun 29, 2015

i have to gree with tigerg. If a burning smell has come from your PC, although working seemingly fine, something has probably been damaged. You should isolate the problem part, it is most likely the PSU as suggested. It can function with certain components burnt out, but will put out unpredictable voltages which will damage other components.. Turn off the PC, open the case, inspect the motherboard, and any add on cards very carefully for any signs of burnt out components. If nothing obvious then pull the psu out, put your nose up to the vent/fan area and smell it. If smells like a burnt electrinics smell, replace it.

tigerg · Jun 29, 2015

iam2thecrowe :

I was coming back to say this exact thing, lol!

TYLERisMiSfIt · Jun 29, 2015

Thank you all for the replies! So I took a look into the PSU and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, capacitors look fine but it was hard to see into the PSU. I smelled it and didn't smell anything burnt but I'm not sure if it could be the fact that this happened 30 minutes ago. I don't have any tools to test the PSU s voltage but I can check the voltage on bios.

tigerg · Jun 29, 2015

Look at your motherboard then too. But, I still think it may be the PSU. You can probably find a local repair shop to test the rail voltages if you are hesitant about replacing it.

I would just be very cautious about using a PSU you have any suspicion of being faulty.

TYLERisMiSfIt · Jun 29, 2015

tigerg :

What should I check on the motherboard? Everything looks fine there too. I've had this PSU for 2-3 years now this is the first time I've smelt burning from my computer, coincidentally right after I put it on carpeted floor

Darkbreeze · Jun 29, 2015

Most repair shops would likely only charge you a very minimal fee if you took the power supply to them for testing, which is a far better idea than taking a chance with the rest of your hardware.

Take a look at your carpet where the unit was sitting, and see if any of the fibers are burnt, smell burnt or look melted. If they are, the smell was likely from the carpet and not the rig itself. I'd be very cautious whichever way you decide to go and I think it would still be a good idea to remove the unit and test it, or have it tested, before continuing use with it installed in the system.

If airflow through the PSU was blocked, it's far, far more likely that damage or unusual burnt smells would come from the PSU than they would from the motherboard. In order for the motherboard to be damaged by the PSU overheating, the PSU would have to have already been damaged beyond the point where it was still safe for use. If there is any damage to the motherboard, the PSU is already shot.

Sitting computers on carpeted floors without a base of some kind to keep the unit above the carpet itself is a common enough fail on the part of the unwary user, and usually results in an overheated PSU or burnt carpet, not a damaged motherboard, unless you continue to use it after the damage has occurred.

Darkbreeze · Jun 29, 2015

Also, if there was significant damage, or any kind of electrical damage, to the inside of the PSU, you'd likely still smell it pretty much forever. It would not be likely to be gone just because it was powered down for 30 minutes. That does not however mean that just because you can't smell anything, that nothing bad already occurred.

tigerg · Jun 29, 2015

The smell *may* have dissipated if he ran the system (with fans going) after he shut it down in a hurry and then propped it up on something. But I agree, the smell usually stays around, still shouldn't take any chances with the rest of his system.

Check the motherboard for blistered capacitors (Google pictures) or other burn marks around exposed solder (the sliver parts on the motherboard used to connect components) or melted flux (again, Google a picture).

TYLERisMiSfIt · Jun 29, 2015

I think my plan of action will be to use a multimeter and test the PSU, can someone recommend a super cheap one if possible? Also I smelled where the PSU was over the carpet and it did have a funny smell, not sure if it was burnt though

tigerg · Jun 29, 2015

Have you used multimeters before? If you have, you can try. I still wouldn't test a PSU with one, I would use the proper equipment which can measure the line fluctuation rather than just a sampled voltage over an unknown time from a "cheap" multimeter.

It will be cheaper to get it tested at a PC shop. The cheapest multimeter I have ever seen is about US$8 (it was a real piece of junk), but testing the PSU at a shop should be cheaper and with much better equipment.

Darkbreeze · Jun 29, 2015

I don't know where you live, but in areas I've lived and currently reside, most repair shops charge about ten bucks to connect and test a PSU. Well worth it when you consider the cost versus the cost of replacing a motherboard, CPU or graphics card, or all of them.

Still, I've tested a lot of power supplies using multi meters and have never had one that was dangerously faulty pass the kind of testing outlined in that video. If it's bad enough to damage your system, there should be evidence of it on one of the rails. That is not to say that it's not possible though. Use of an actual power supply tester would be the better option if at all possible.

What kind of carpet was it on? Was it a Berber, or a low, medium or high shag? Are there rubber "feet" on the bottom of your tower that actually kept it at least minimally above the carpet, or was it actually sitting directly on the base of the tower with no other support between it and the carpet other than the metal base of the tower?

gilaphreak · Jun 29, 2015

As far as testing goes, my Asus Z87-A came with a fancy BIOS GUI that has rail readouts buried in the menus.

So, if you're running a newer model of MOBO; then you might find something like that by nosing around in your BIOS.

TYLERisMiSfIt · Jun 29, 2015

I live in California where it's currently hot and humid as hell.

I have rubber feet on my computer but it barely raises it off the floor so the carpet kinda goes up into the bottom of my computer. I have no idea what kinda carpet it is but I can take a picture of it if necessary. I checked my voltages in my BIOS and they read 3.344, 5.080 and 11.968

smorizio · Jun 29, 2015

sometimes you have to turn the pc off..pull the gpu and look and smell it and then look at the ram and mb for anything that melted with a led flashlight and smell test. most times if the magic smoke came out of a chip you can smell it even a week latter and see a burn mark.

TYLERisMiSfIt · Jun 29, 2015

Can I trust the voltage level s in my bios? No leaking of anything on the mobo, capacitors look fine and intact, no flux is melted, took a big whiff in all the parts of the pc and burnt smell (could be aired out though)

gilaphreak · Jun 29, 2015

To be honest, I wouldn't think that sitting on the floor would hurt it much. However, this depends on your system and the openness of the area around it. Some setups have the PSU mounted on the bottom of the case, which in that case I would not recommend anything butting up against the bottom of the case since part of the generated heat will transfer through the case.

If you're overclocking and generating a lot of heat, then sitting on the floor under a desk where it's not getting ventilation is going to burn it up over time. As a rule of thumb, the degradation of any electronic equipment is directly proportionate to the amount of heat that it has to bathe in.

If you're lucky, you just melted the conformal coating on the PCB of your power supply. In my experiences, the system will shut itself off whenever things get too hot. The majority of these cases, it's been before something has burned up. In any case, modern hardware comes designed with contingencies to attempt to sense overvoltage so the system can cut the power before it has a chance to take down other components.

TYLERisMiSfIt · Jun 29, 2015

I was testing out some overclocking today but that was during the afternoon and the smell started 2 hours ago, since that time I haven't done anything hard on my pc

TYLERisMiSfIt · Jun 29, 2015

Should I try reading my voltages on a software and compare them to my voltages in my BIOS?

gilaphreak · Jun 29, 2015

Did you turn your settings back after you moved them? If you set an overclock, then you may have forgotten to turn it back down. Then, got hot and heavy in the games and it started to take effect.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much. The rail readings that your BIOS is reading are fine. You've got 3.3V, 5V, and 12V rails on your power supply. The numbers you read off are well within the +/-5% tolerance range.

TYLERisMiSfIt · Jun 29, 2015

gilaphreak :

I only messed around with some GPU overclocking and it was for like 10 minutes and I didn't play any GPU intensive games today. The voltages look fine yeah but I'm super paranoid that everything is going to just crash and burn as I start using my computer again which I don't want to happen. How can I reassure myself that my PSU is not going to destroy my components?

gilaphreak · Jun 29, 2015

Replace it, I guess. Haha..

Other than getting it tested with equipment that simulates a full load range, you really can't. You could always test it with a multimeter if you don't trust the BIOS readouts...

Like the others have said, if you burned a component up; you're going to have black marks or other visible evidence of overheating. If that's the case, then you're probably not going to get any power at all out of your PSU. Circuit design is usually implemented in such a way that if the load overdraws the maximum current, part of the circuit will burn up to prevent damage to hardware further down the line.

Granted, if you tried to push too much power into your GPU; the power supply wouldn't be where the damage occurred. It would be on the graphics card or portion of the motherboard that handles graphics. But the same principles of circuit design goes for that as well, if you damaged a component in that circuit; then it's more than likely not going to work at all.

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