About 6 weeks ago (end of November, early December) I left my computer on to go take a shower. While I'm in the shower I start to smell something really funny (in fact, I'd smelled it before when I burned the silicone handle of my mom's frying pan). I ignore it and continue with my shower, but when I get back to my room I notice my computer's turned off. At first I assumed my mother came in and turned it off, but then I smell that same odor from when I was in the shower, and it's coming from my computer. I try turning the computer back on, but absolutely nothing happens when I press the power button.
Well, my first thought is an overheated power supply, especially when I lean in near it and smell the burning smell. I tell my parents and they hint that Christmas is coming up. Well, getting absolutely nothing from them for Christmas I finally scrounge up enough money to buy a new one off of Newegg. It finally arrives (just in time for school, grr) and when I finally get around to installing the power supply I try to turn it on and nothing happens, once again. Multiple configurations of the power supply 4-pins help nothing so my next thought is that my overheated power supply fried my motherboard along with it. I look at my mobo and some of the capacitors are bulging at the bottom. So I start looking for a new motherboard. But before I go spending that kind of money I want to make sure it really is my motherboard (even though I'd probably need a new one anyway). I re-seat both sticks of RAM, unplug my two SATA cables (one connected to my DVD drive, the other to my larger TB hard drive), take out my wireless card, and put in an older (but fully functioning) video card and plug in my power cord and monitor. Not expected anything I press the power button, and my computer turns on. Immediately, it starts beeping and there's that smell again! Well, crap, it must not have been my power supply. I freak out, and, not wanting to ruin anything else, turn off the computer, unplug it, and look back inside. I take another whiff, and it's the heatsink that's smells like burning silicone. I unscrew and take off the heatsink and try hooking it back up, but nothing happened, again. Well, now I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm still not sure exactly what's been ruined (other than the obvious heatsink) and am afraid to hook it back up to test other things.
So, after that long-ass story, here's my question(s): What's the silver stuff? Is my motherboard possibly fried? Is my heatsink definitely a goner? Why is it that it only turned on once I removed all the other stuff, but then not when I took out the heatsink? Is it dangerous to hook it back up and turn it on again? Do you think my power supply even ever had anything to do with it? Has anything else (hard drives, DVD drive, Video Card, Wireless Card, CPU) been fried?
Thanks, in advance, for the help. And I'll try to be less wordy in the future.
Well, my first thought is an overheated power supply, especially when I lean in near it and smell the burning smell. I tell my parents and they hint that Christmas is coming up. Well, getting absolutely nothing from them for Christmas I finally scrounge up enough money to buy a new one off of Newegg. It finally arrives (just in time for school, grr) and when I finally get around to installing the power supply I try to turn it on and nothing happens, once again. Multiple configurations of the power supply 4-pins help nothing so my next thought is that my overheated power supply fried my motherboard along with it. I look at my mobo and some of the capacitors are bulging at the bottom. So I start looking for a new motherboard. But before I go spending that kind of money I want to make sure it really is my motherboard (even though I'd probably need a new one anyway). I re-seat both sticks of RAM, unplug my two SATA cables (one connected to my DVD drive, the other to my larger TB hard drive), take out my wireless card, and put in an older (but fully functioning) video card and plug in my power cord and monitor. Not expected anything I press the power button, and my computer turns on. Immediately, it starts beeping and there's that smell again! Well, crap, it must not have been my power supply. I freak out, and, not wanting to ruin anything else, turn off the computer, unplug it, and look back inside. I take another whiff, and it's the heatsink that's smells like burning silicone. I unscrew and take off the heatsink and try hooking it back up, but nothing happened, again. Well, now I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm still not sure exactly what's been ruined (other than the obvious heatsink) and am afraid to hook it back up to test other things.
So, after that long-ass story, here's my question(s): What's the silver stuff? Is my motherboard possibly fried? Is my heatsink definitely a goner? Why is it that it only turned on once I removed all the other stuff, but then not when I took out the heatsink? Is it dangerous to hook it back up and turn it on again? Do you think my power supply even ever had anything to do with it? Has anything else (hard drives, DVD drive, Video Card, Wireless Card, CPU) been fried?
Thanks, in advance, for the help. And I'll try to be less wordy in the future.
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