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OT: PC hardware troubles

John Gordon

10/7/2011 3:50:00 PM

I'm having trouble with my PC hardware, and I'm hoping someone can offer
some advice.

Two nights ago, I came home from work as usual and turned on my PC to do
some web browsing. After just a minute or two, the PC suddenly shut itself
off.

I waited a minute and turned it back on. Everything came back okay, and I
launched Wow. I had barely gotten logged in to a character and again the
PC shut itself off.

So I unplugged it and took it out to the porch to blow out the dust.
There was some (we have three cats), but not an excessive amount. I put
the side panels back on and plugged everything back in then turned it on.

Nothing happened. The fans did not spin, no humming noise, nothing.
Well, actually one small LED on the case top did come on. I think it's
the hard drive activity light.

And -- here's the bad part -- after ten seconds or so there was a
noticeable burning smell, so I quickly shut everything off and unplugged
it.

I don't know specifically where the burning smell was coming from, but
the fact that the fans did not spin up leads me to think it's the power
supply, and I might be able to put things right with a new one.

Am I right in thinking it's probably the power supply? Any PC hardware
gurus out there?

My PC is old enough that it may be time for a new one, but it worked just
fine (until the burning smell of course) and if I can get it running again
for the cost of only a new power supply I'd love to do that. I don't look
forward to spending $800 or so on a new PC.

Any advice?

--
John Gordon A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs
gordon@panix.com B is for Basil, assaulted by bears
-- Edward Gorey, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies"
7 Answers

Neil Cerutti

10/7/2011 4:10:00 PM

0

On 2011-10-07, John Gordon <gordon@panix.com> wrote:
> I'm having trouble with my PC hardware, and I'm hoping someone
> can offer some advice.
>
> Two nights ago, I came home from work as usual and turned on my
> PC to do some web browsing. After just a minute or two, the PC
> suddenly shut itself off.
>
> Am I right in thinking it's probably the power supply? Any PC
> hardware gurus out there?

Yes, very likely your power supply has died and with minimal luck
nothing else got damaged in the process. The smell was hopefully
a melting capacitor inside the power supply.

Replacing it will run between $40 and $150, depending on your
power needs. My computer died with a stink last weekend, and a
new power supply fixed it right up. Now, I didn't have
intermittent power problems first, but it did emit a horrid
whining noise for a week before it died.

> Any advice?

Antec supplies are crap. I've burned up three of them and won't
get another.

--
Neil Cerutti

twk

10/7/2011 4:24:00 PM

0

In article <j6n72j$m1i$1@reader1.panix.com>,
John Gordon <gordon@panix.com> wrote:

> I'm having trouble with my PC hardware, and I'm hoping someone can offer
> some advice.
>
> Two nights ago, I came home from work as usual and turned on my PC to do
> some web browsing. After just a minute or two, the PC suddenly shut itself
> off.
>
> I waited a minute and turned it back on. Everything came back okay, and I
> launched Wow. I had barely gotten logged in to a character and again the
> PC shut itself off.
>
> So I unplugged it and took it out to the porch to blow out the dust.
> There was some (we have three cats), but not an excessive amount. I put
> the side panels back on and plugged everything back in then turned it on.
>
> Nothing happened. The fans did not spin, no humming noise, nothing.
> Well, actually one small LED on the case top did come on. I think it's
> the hard drive activity light.
>
> And -- here's the bad part -- after ten seconds or so there was a
> noticeable burning smell, so I quickly shut everything off and unplugged
> it.
>
> I don't know specifically where the burning smell was coming from, but
> the fact that the fans did not spin up leads me to think it's the power
> supply, and I might be able to put things right with a new one.
>
> Am I right in thinking it's probably the power supply? Any PC hardware
> gurus out there?
>
> My PC is old enough that it may be time for a new one, but it worked just
> fine (until the burning smell of course) and if I can get it running again
> for the cost of only a new power supply I'd love to do that. I don't look
> forward to spending $800 or so on a new PC.
>
> Any advice?

Well that sucks.
Take the side off again. Some of the tiniest items can put out quite a
bit of smoke. Many times you can examine the thing and see what burned.
If not, sniff around. Sniff each end of the power supply. Sniff all
around the mother board. You'll be surprised how well your nose can
narrow things down. We do this at work all the time.

Do you know what a capacitor is? They are the tiny metal cans all over
your mother board. Every single one of them should be perfectly
cylindrical and flat on the top. If one or more are bulged you'll have
to replace the mother board. You generally won't see burns on a
capacitor.

It's possible that your power supply is bad and over heated the
capacitors. Caps should never get hot. When they burn, they stink. Badly.

Hopefully, it's only your power supply. Give it a sniff! Really.

--
A candy colored clown they call the sandman, tiptoes to my room everynight
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper, go to sleep, everything is alright

John Gordon

10/7/2011 4:46:00 PM

0

In <twk-E67599.12240107102011@news.eternal-september.org> twk <twk@sleepless.knights.com> writes:

> Hopefully, it's only your power supply. Give it a sniff! Really.

Would the smell still be noticeable after a few days?

--
John Gordon A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs
gordon@panix.com B is for Basil, assaulted by bears
-- Edward Gorey, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies"

S U N risr

10/7/2011 5:15:00 PM

0

On 10/7/2011 12:45 PM, John Gordon wrote:
> In<twk-E67599.12240107102011@news.eternal-september.org> twk<twk@sleepless.knights.com> writes:
>
>> Hopefully, it's only your power supply. Give it a sniff! Really.
>
> Would the smell still be noticeable after a few days?
>

yes - even more so 'traceable' as it's not filling an area but
pin-pointed to a certain location. I'd bet 2 cents it's your power
supply though. The shut-downs your describing are classic symptoms,
followed by a complete crap out. Usually, other stuff on the MB and
such start resulting in crashes, blue screens, instability, etc. before
hand.

But as far as the sniffing, yes - even after some time goes by and the
area is clear, the burnt smell is localized right at the spot. Bet you
that if you stick your nose by the vents on the power supply and take a
sniff, it'll smell burnt - not the "electronic" smell you;d expect....

I had a video card fan go on me a few years ago, where I smelt the burn
smell, then it went away. The PC worked fine though after that, as far
as the OS, etc. but when I started a game, the screen went all wacky.
Thought a driver was corrupted until I opened up the PC and went
sniffing. Smelt it right over the fan on the card. Tried to spin by
hand and it felt stiff. I then confirmed with a power up with the sides
off and saw the fan dead. Video only got screwed when the card got hot
on more demand from a game, but was fine for low demand from things like
MS Office, the OS, etc. replaced the fan and all was normal.

trident

10/7/2011 11:41:00 PM

0

On 10/7/2011 9:10 AM, Neil Cerutti wrote:

>
>> Any advice?
>
> Antec supplies are crap. I've burned up three of them and won't
> get another.
>

I've noticed that most supplies are crap as well. The smaller computer
stores around my town don't stock good supplies.

A very important metric to consider is Amperage, not just Wattage.

I have two video cards that are power hungry and both require 30Amps all
by themselves. They are not both installed in the same computer, but
that is a common situation.

On my last computer build I went with a Corsair GS600. It puts out
48Amps on the 12 volt rail. And it is stocked by my local Best Buy.
http://www.corsair.com/power-supply-...
Newegg.com has them as well.

I'm constantly amazed at my computer geek friends that can't read the
sticker that comes with their high end video card that states "requires
30amps minimum" and go out an buy a 1000watt supply that puts out 18amps.

Oh well. Just my 2 cents.

Checkers
Tauren Shaman - Cenarius

| || ||| ||||| || |

10/8/2011 1:25:00 AM

0


"John Gordon" <gordon@panix.com> wrote in message news:j6n72j$m1i$1@reader1.panix.com...
> So I unplugged it and took it out to the porch to blow out the dust.
> There was some (we have three cats), but not an excessive amount. I put
> the side panels back on and plugged everything back in then turned it on.
>
> Nothing happened. The fans did not spin, no humming noise, nothing.
> Well, actually one small LED on the case top did come on. I think it's
> the hard drive activity light.
>
> And -- here's the bad part -- after ten seconds or so there was a
> noticeable burning smell, so I quickly shut everything off and unplugged
> it.
>
> I don't know specifically where the burning smell was coming from, but
> the fact that the fans did not spin up leads me to think it's the power
> supply, and I might be able to put things right with a new one.
>
> Am I right in thinking it's probably the power supply? Any PC hardware
> gurus out there?
>
> My PC is old enough that it may be time for a new one, but it worked just
> fine (until the burning smell of course) and if I can get it running again
> for the cost of only a new power supply I'd love to do that. I don't look
> forward to spending $800 or so on a new PC.


First when blowing out dust wear a mask :-)
then stop the fans from spinning, spinning them until they howl is not good for them

(assuming not a portable)
Probably is the power supply, the power fan should have been running so the damage is
likely on the high voltage side before it passed enough juice to toast anything important

Given age finding a replacement may be harder thus more expensive.
Any corner computer shop should be able to test in minutes, often free or $25 for that
part then from $25-50 for a common supply type and fitting. Depends a lot on the model and
how gouging they are.

If it is a brandname type with custom power and fittings you or they can pick up a
replacement case, if not too old,
at IT auctions or ebay .
Often corporate IT will job-lot cases without HD for $25 or less.
This is also a useful path for replacement motherboards and other custom components.
PC years are 20-1 in PC years a 5 year old pc is about 100.
[ a 1 year old PC should be settling down and starting to work on its retirement plan
:-) ]

Just for illustration http://www.evansclarke.com.au/auction_items.a...
http://www.evansclarke.com.au/detail.asp... $AU25 , lucky to get even that, it
will be in the big bin if it doesn't sell

John Gordon

10/8/2011 11:16:00 PM

0

In <j6n72j$m1i$1@reader1.panix.com> John Gordon <gordon@panix.com> writes:

> I don't know specifically where the burning smell was coming from, but
> the fact that the fans did not spin up leads me to think it's the power
> supply, and I might be able to put things right with a new one.

The problem indeed turned out to be a bad power supply. I picked up
a Corsair 600W PSU over lunch and installed it that evening, and the PC
has been working fine since.

Thanks everyone for your advice!

--
John Gordon A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs
gordon@panix.com B is for Basil, assaulted by bears
-- Edward Gorey, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies"