Burning smell... Uh oh

[MrMaynard]

Hey guys...

So, I Put together my new machine today. After I got everything connected, I switched her on for the first time. The fans all started up, lights came on, it was brilliant. This lasted maybe a second before the whole thing shut off. Then, it kept repeating this. After a while I switched off the PSU. Now I smell something burning... What should I do?

The only thing I can think of is that maybe I was too liberal with the thermal compound... Could this be the problem? If it is, what should I do?

 

[MrMaynard]

Sorry, in all the excitement I forgot specs:

OCZ 700W PSU
Intel i5 3570K
Cooler master Hyper 212 cooler
Msi P67A-G55 mobo
Radeon HD 7870
A silly amount of case fans

I also may have seen smoke coming from around the RAM cards, which are near the CPU too...

 

[MrMaynard]

It'a also probably worth noting that The CPU fan never starts up

 

[NuclearShadow]

Your CPU could be overheating do to the fan not working. Modern day CPUs are less likely to burn themselves out and simply shutdown before any damage is done but I still wouldn't gamble on such.

If the fan is refusing to work what you need to know from that point is if it is the fan or the mobo not properly supplying power to it. If you have any others that you can use perhaps the stock one that came with your CPU try that first. If it powers up you simply got a faulty fan and likely can return/RMA your cooler. If everything else powers up except the second fan still then you have a issue with your mobo and will need to replace it.