Burning Smell

[Rconsole]

Hey guys,

A few days ago my screen turned black with white stripes and I could smell burning coming out of the back of the case...Since then whenever I turn it on, the front LED's turn on but the monitor remains black. I was wondering if this is most likely a PSU issue, a blown capacitor, and if it is worth the $25 to have somebody troubleshoot it.

 

[sirheck]

take the side off of the case and power up.

then look to see if any fans are spinning.

it could be the psu and it could be the videocard?

 

[threep]

Its definitely worth having somebody look at it, if you wish to continue to use your computer.

If you are brave enough, there's little reason you can't investigate it yourself. Open the case up, take a look around, and follow your nose. Smoke and no video probably indicates a fried video card. Other possibilities are the power supply, or even the motherboard itself.

Good power supplies are $50-$100, decent video cards are $100 and up. That's cheaper than an entirely new computer.

8)

 

[sirheck]

also sniff around.

if you can smell it then open the case up and you should be able
to smell where the culprit is.

get a light and look for anything burnt.

 

[sarsoft]

If you are not comfortable opening your pc... find a nearest pc shop in your area and let them find whats wrong. Other then that flash light, screwdriver, and your eyes can determine what burned.

 

[Rconsole]

Yeah i opened it up and all (3) of the fans work even the one on the video card and nothing seems to be burnt black, when it first happened the smell seemed to be comign from the Power Supply, but wouldn't it not start if the power supply smelled burnt?

 

[mkaibear]

Almost certainly something in the PSU has gone pop. Remove it immediately, and disconnect it from the mains!

Better to be safe than sorry!

A new PSU should bring you back to life...

 

[ZozZoz]

It would boot just fine if it were the video card's fault. I fried a card awhile ago - which made bios beep to let me know that no vga was detected, but judging by hard drive activity - system booted just fine.

 

[Rconsole]

Almost certainly something in the PSU has gone pop. Remove it immediately, and disconnect it from the mains!

Better to be safe than sorry!

A new PSU should bring you back to life...

Is there a way to check for sure myself, I had initially assumed it was the power supply, but i went to explain to some guy at a computer part store and he said to bring it to them because it could be something else...He also told me that if i bought a power supply i couldn't return it...I have a feeling he just wanted my money

 

[harty23690]

When I had a PSU failure last year it took out my mobo, CPU, RAM and HDD in the process through some massive power surge. So you might be looking at a new PC....

 

[sarsoft]

When I had a PSU failure last year it took out my mobo, CPU, RAM and HDD in the process through some massive power surge. So you might be looking at a new PC....

Yes i had couple of my friend have a power surge due to rain, thunder storms conditions. It preaty much fried everything exceprt HD. New PC was needed. I had a cheap quality (turbolink) PSU fry my MB thanks god it didnt fry anything else. But never had smoke coming out of the system or any of the components.

 

[pottymonster]

a simple formula i use when working with burning smells and computers"

burning smell + computer = bad news

it works every time.

 

[sarsoft]

a simple formula i use when working with burning smells and computers"

burning smell + computer = bad news

it works every time.

To add to this... be ready to spend some $ :lol:

 

[funkee1]

If you are getting beeps when you first turn on your computer (given you have speaker connected to the mb pins), then your problem is most likely your video card. If you are getting no beeps, that could be a number of things. First thing I would point to is the Power Supply. If that went out, there is a chance that your other components went along with it. I'd say the most likely things to go out first would be Motherboard, Graphics Card, and RAM.

So answer this, do you get any beeps, and is your motherboard speaker connected?

 

[cdonato]

Almost certainly something in the PSU has gone pop. Remove it immediately, and disconnect it from the mains!

Better to be safe than sorry!

A new PSU should bring you back to life...

Is there a way to check for sure myself, I had initially assumed it was the power supply, but i went to explain to some guy at a computer part store and he said to bring it to them because it could be something else...He also told me that if i bought a power supply i couldn't return it...I have a feeling he just wanted my money

A power supply tester such as this
or this one
would tell you right off if it is the PSU.

As for the guy at the store, he def just wanted your money. Find a different place if you want them to check it out or do it yourself. You can buy any part & pretty much return it right away if it isn't what you need, they might charge a restock fee if it isnt broken but youd be able to return it.

 

[sunangel]

I'd bet my last dollar and the last dollar of everyone on these forums its that crappy Antec PSU your using.

 

[nukemaster]

sure sounds like the PSU died.....Smell it....does the rear fan smell of burning....

If it does all you can do is replace it and hope it did not take any of your system with it.....

What kind of PSU is it?

@ SunAngel - There is not mention of his psu....Go troll elsewhere

 

[rubix_1011]

Power supply...

Your 3v/5v might be OK and running your fans and such, but your 12v or MB power might be shot. I am going to go with the 85+% chance your power supply shot craps. They are basically the 'fuse' of your system...they are designed to burn out before you set fire to the other $1200 inside the box...

 

[blunc]

if you don't have a "computer buddy" to diagnose your system it looks like you're better off paying the $25 diagnostic fee at a shop.

the most likely reason the person that you spoke to about a new power supply that wouldn't take it back is because a bad mobo can kill a new power supply, after that it's hard to tell what killed what.

without disassembling your computer and checking closely for burnt parts you can waste a lot of money buying parts you may not need and having the actual bad parts kill the new parts.

I recently had a friends computer "seem to boot" but had no video, no beeps and no smoke even. after trying another vid card and some new memory in the system it turned out that the athlonXP2400 had died, replaced the CPU and it booted like nothing had ever happened.

if you're not comfortable tearing into your computer, save yourself time and money by having a competent person fix it but be prepared to pay for new hardware.

 

[Rconsole]

No... I don't hear any beeps.

If it were the pwoer supply wouldn't the entire computer not turn on though?
And on the PSU all i can see is "CasEdge" I guess it came with my case, a Minotaur

Blunc, that is what seems to be happening with mine, I will get a friend to have a look, but that wouldn't explain the initial burning smell...

 

[blunc]

the power supply provides +3.3v, +5v, +12v and -5V during normal operation, the fans, drives and indicator lights usually run on the 5v and 12v circuits. it is possible for the power supply to not give all the proper voltages and still run the fans, drives and lights.

in your original post you mentioned lines on the screen before it totally died, there is at least four system components that could be involved in that failure; vid card (most likely), motherboard (may have been damaged if the vid card died), power supply and/or CPU.

if you smelled/saw smoke, you should be able to find a burnt component. it may require taking it apart to find but I think you will find (at least) one.

 

[Rconsole]

the power supply provides +3.3v, +5v, +12v and -5V during normal operation, the fans, drives and indicator lights usually run on the 5v and 12v circuits. it is possible for the power supply to not give all the proper voltages and still run the fans, drives and lights.

in your original post you mentioned lines on the screen before it totally died, there is at least four system components that could be involved in that failure; vid card (most likely), motherboard (may have been damaged if the vid card died), power supply and/or CPU.

if you smelled/saw smoke, you should be able to find a burnt component. it may require taking it apart to find but I think you will find (at least) one.

Yeah the first time it happenes i saw the lines but after that when i turned on the computer the monitor LED would randomly turn green, then yellow, the green again...etc. It seemed to me that the smoke was coming from inside the PSU, i will have a quick look at all of my power connectors though

 

[Rconsole]

I just rechecked the whole thing and found no burnt spots, also the fan on my video card still works, could it still operate if it was the video card?

 

[blunc]

I have had the vid card fan run even though the vid card had no output (really pissed me of because it was an ATI all-in wonder). if you can't spot any burnt components you will have to rely on your nose.

you can remove the vid card, check the socket it plugs into, sniff the card to see if that is the source of the smell, it could have burned but in a place hard to see.

you can disconnect and remove the power supply then sniff the rest of it to see if the smell is gone.

have you checked to see if the power supply fan turns freely?

remember not to remove or install any parts while the computer is powered on. (just covering the bases here)

if the smell comes from the motherboard that would be a bad and rather expensive sign.

you have not told us what and how old the computer is, please list your parts.

 

[Rconsole]

There is no longer the burnt smell anywhere even when the computer is on. i'm pretty sure the entire motherboard and all of the things attached are clear of burnt stuff.
The power supply fan turns freely.
It was a homemade computer, I have a 2GHz AMD processor, nVidia 256mbg video card, 80gb hard drive, 120gb hard drive, ummm 2x256mb RAM, an ASUS motherboard.

It was assembled about 3-4 years ago.