My computer just like BLEW UP

Damn,
You maay be lucky and have just killed your psu, only way to find out is have it tested for safety's sake
then test the rest of your kit with a known good psu and hope  
Fingers crossed for you man, and well done on not dying  
Moto

So are you saying that MOST LIKELY my whole computer got ? Or is there just a slight chance?

@ericdude88, watch your language.

Where was the smoke/sparks coming from?

Dont remember very clearly but it was all over the place.

Did you leave your machine plugged in while doing this????

yes...i thought that unscrewing the power cable was in effect unplugging it...until i realized the power cable doesnt come off as it is attached inside, but before i knew it it blew up on me...

the whole computer is FRIED. dead. but if i were you, DONT TOUCH ANYTHING. tampering with it will make it worse, there is no chance itll make it better. leave it be until ur parents come home. call dell or whatever company ur computer is from. research where all your parts came from. and when ur parents com home, u can tamper with it together. at least if it blows up again, it wouldnt be solely ur fault. good luck, but ur pc is probs a goner.

can someone else here give me a reply please? Can i get a percentage chance that my whole computer is dead? Can i get some reliable methods in which i can check which components work and which don't? I also have no clue how to open my case...

I would me more worried about the House and it's wiring at the outlet and fuse box, forget the computer.

Seriously, don't touch it.

That is why they use plugs in the wall. At any rate you or your parents might be able to file a claim and try to get something out of it.

If you can't open the case how did you get to any wires on the PSU or install the graphics card?

i didnt get to any wires/psu. I tried unscrewing the powercable from the outside of the case and then all of a sudden sparks, smoke and explosions. My graphics card is still uninstalled and my computer is dead and im wondering whether or not i can salvage any of the parts. I just called ibuypower and they said most likely its just my PSU that got damaged...fingers crossed man fingers crossed...

get a new psu first. you wont know anything till you replace it.

if i was you i would get another psu and take the whole thing to someone who knows what they are doing and hope you have been very very lucky not to have fried everything

not being nasty to you but if you didnt have the sense to unplug it from the wall then press the power button a few times to discharge before touching anything then you really shouldnt be touching it at all

as for checking the parts you could do it in some ones pc who has similar parts--but i am absolutely not volunteering mine  

Considering what you did, you probably didn't damage the computer, but it is only a guess. If the computer was off, and you touched a wire on the AC side there is a chance nothing got through the transformers and so forth.

Anyways, for future reference, never work on anything when it is plugged into a wall outlet :-D As mcnumpty said, you need to discharge the capacitors too, since those can hold a lot of energy and cause a lot of damage. However, you typically only need to press the power button once.

Before replacing the PSU, I highly suggest going to the homebuilt forum and reading the sticky that contains a walkthrough on building your own PC.

Well i knew that i should unplug power before doing anything, but the thing is the thing blew up on me WHILE i was trying to unplug power. If you read my whole post, I was trying to unplug the power from the computer. But since the power cable was stuck to the computer's oulet (and i DIDN't KNOW IT, i thought that oh, maybe i should unscrew the outlet insead, which looked like it was part of the cable to begin with). Then i realized there where wires attached INSIDE of the cable, and i was like wtf but it was too late. So in essense the computer blew up on me AS I TRIED TO DISCONNECT THE POWER.
As for the damage, i'm really hoping what you said was right. Something definitely happened though, as sparks and smoke doesn't come outta nowhere, and my computer no longer powers on. BUT my computer WAS off when i did this (completely shutdown), so hopefully its just a leak in the power supply, because i dont think my other computer components would be drawing power when the whole thing is off and not even making any noise.
Fingers crossed, and thanks alot for the link.

Question. I FINALLY jsut managed to open up my computer. Are burnmarks a common evidence of fried mobos and processors hdds and etc? because everything looks perfectly fine for me. Or maybe physical signs are uncommon? anyone please? im very anxious to know

Scorch marks would be a bad sign yes - but no one's going to be able to tell you if everything is okay on this site. Nor by just looking at it even. You have to test the components, one by one.

Put it this way - the only visual way to check if it's all fried or not would be to inspect every transistor in the computer. Including those hidden by heatsinks and those INSIDE the proc (which you would need a microscope to see even). By the time you did that, you could easily order a new PSU and try each part.

That said, if you really want odds - I'd say 60/40 you're okay. You're really lucky you didn't fry YOURSELF though. Power and screwdrivers do not get along...

Also, if it took you 5+ hours to open the computer, you probably shouldn't be doing it.

There is nothing wrong with learning as you go, and PCs are actually super easy to assemble. However, I will say that if you are going to learn as you go you should be reading as much material as possible to actually understand what you are doing.

EDIT: also, you shouldn't be in denial that you were working on the PC. if you are using a tool, you are working. Unplugging the cable involves using your hand to remove the plug from the wall outlet, not a tool.

thanks for reply man yes i am indeed very lucky i didn't electrocute myself. I guess i will just have to buy a PSU and see   . Also, it only took me 5 hours because i didn't have the right screwdriver. I knew exactly where to unscrew and unslide the peice.

WHY WOULD YOU KEEP EVERYTHING PLUGGED IN WHILE TOUCHING COMPUTER PARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, given the fact you had sparks flying everywhere, and the hardware has scorch marks, I'd say 90% you fried everything. I'd be more concerned about the outlet; heaven forbid THAT shorts-circuits...

Also: Never play with any electrical equipment until its powered off, unplugged, and any remaining energy has been discharged.

Guys, he's already said that the computer blew up WHILE he was unplugging it. So go easy on him and stop heaping on him for fiddling around while it still had power running. And he's damn lucky he didn't injure himself or burn the house down.

The only way for certain to know if you fried anything is to try a new PSU.

I would try to buy a used one from a university surplus store, or perhaps a local pc repair shop.

First off if you don't know what you are doing then don't F'n touch. There are Bajillions of faqs on how to work on your comp. This is your own fault, now deal with the consequences. You Most likely fried, the PSU, MB, Proccessor, and prolly the Video card. Good luck with what ever you do, but you (inexperienced person trying to blindly work on a comp) shouldnt have touched it in the first place, and now your out a comp. lol. GL  

It really sounds like your arched a wire, so you touched one live wire to another live wire. This has happened to me while doing live electrical demolition (stupid i know, but other trades needed power, so yeah....). Did the power or any breakers trip in your house?

I still don't get why you didn't use your hand to unplug the socket from the wall. I have no idea how you saw unscrewing something attached to a case was easier/safer than just pulling a plug from a socket - something which was designed to be a safe process.

Everything would have went *much* smoother had you gone down that path.

Good luck on getting your PC running again  

dont listen to all this dribble and just replace the power supply, you are never going to know what else is fried until you do this. there is no point replacing everything if you dont need to. You know you need to at least get a new PSU, so do that first. But really, turn the power off AT THE WALL before you plug in/unplug a power supply to prevent electricity arcing across.

i truly hope you didnt blow up ur pc....bad if it was real expensive

No, my houses lights didnt flicker, and my power outlet/brick is working fine

thanks man its a gaming pc i got for 550 bucks 7 months ago. But i also just bought 300 dollars worth of upgrades...

I just wanted to say that you most likely did not fry anything else with what you did, but I can't be sure.

Kinda like if you take your PC from America and go plug it in somewhere in Europe the power currents the wall is sending to the power supply are different and you will blow your PSU in like 1 second if you didn't flip that red switch in the back first.

If you do that, you just have to get a new PSU, the rest of your parts should be fine.

BTW, there are multiple off states. Off and not plugged in is not the same is off and plugged in. Unless you flip that off switch in the back of the PSU then off and plugged in means using only a little bit of power it doesn't mean using none. Just FYI.

Still, in my experience problems between wall and PSU tend to be separate from problems between PSU and PC and one doesn't affect the other.

I won't guarantee anything, that is just my experience.

- Edit - Typo

Thanks for your imput man. Though the problem wasn't between wall and PC, it was when i pulled the power input thing (which was ATTACHED to my PSU, which itself was IN my PC)that caused my PC to spark and smoke, so any problems should be within the PC.
But i hope what you said was right. I'm going to take it to Bestbuy Geeksquad soon. Are they any good?

What kind of case has a power cord that needs to be unscrewed? Either way you could have unplugged the other end.

It didn't need unscrewing...I just thought it did because the power cord was stuck in the PSU lmao...

You unscrewed a live AC power socket without even turning the switch off at the wall. You could have died. I wouldn't LMAO.

so did you try and unscrew this?


if so, then next time -

Yes i did! Im so stupid...

Omg im in tears, this thread made my day!

Good luck OP, learn from your mistakes and its all good, get a new psu and test your parts.

If I didnt know better, I would suspect troll...

But in the event it isnt, please, dont touch your computer again. Take it to someone who knows how. This isnt for everyone.

After reading this thread, all I can say is... Don't do ANYTHING to your computer without help of someone who knows what he's doing. How exactly did you plan to change the graphic card if you don't even know how to unplug the computer?

when in doubt google, google the hell out of things        

You just need to test your system, but you have to ask yourself: Do I have enough knowledge or mechanical ability to physically remove the psu and hook up another one?


edit- the bouncies mean nothing, I have just always liked them.

OK THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP GUYSS!!!!!!!! MY COMPUTER IS UP AND RUNNING AFTER REPLACING THE PSU (which i did myself...). Thank all of you people who were positive and helpful rather than calling me dumb! It turns out it was just my crappy psu's power cable...But any way thanks so much! im so psyched to finally play bf3!

Best answer selected by ericdude88.

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey