HELP....!!!!!!!!

Skenkl

Skenkl

Member
Messages
367
Reaction score
0
Location
Ashford, Kent
Right, my PC has finally had enough and committed suicide on me.

Its a p4 2.8 800mhz, and as Norty303 advised it needs 2 identical RAM module/chips to run efficently. I have recently bought a new stick (as was mentioned in a previous post), as the others were shot. So I only had one new RAM stick in it. was going to buy another one this week, it seemed to be running ok with just one.

Now I went to boot the old girl up last night, and it emitted a cloud of burning wires and resistors melting kind of smoke. So I unplugged it from the mains and opened up the case, no burnt, toasted wires, no visable heat/smoke damage on any of the components!!

The two things that smelt smokey was the psu, and the processr heat sink!! but there is an air vent from the PSU, that empties right onto the processor heat sink, so thats why it may smell to.

Anyway what I want to know A) has this happened to anyone else, and what was the guilty hardware device B) Is it likley to be the processor(bearing in mind it was running ok before, and the bios allways said that the operating temp was fine) C) Would it be rccommendable to try another PSU on it

Otherwise I think i'l have to take it to a computer shop and spend a fortune for them to look at it.

Its just over a year old, and built by a friend!!

Any advice appreciated!!

:D
 
You may as well try a replacement PSU, both Maplin and PCWorld do "white box" units for £10 - £15 for a +300W PSU.

Not much to pay if it cures the fault, not much to loose if it won't ;)

PSU's have a tendency to turn into smoke machines from time to time :lol:
 
Sounds like your PSU to me. Have you tried firing up the PC with the sides off to see where the smoke/smell is coming from?

This will also allow you to see if all of the fans (PSU, processor, etc) are running freely & not sticking/getting fouled. Check also that the PSU is correctly rated for the motherboard & processor, and that you're not pulling too much current for your hardware.

Also, if you look carefully on the motherboard, around the processor mount, you should see a bunch of electrolytic capacitors - standing upright like mini bean cans. If any of these have ruptured then chances are you've cooked your board as well.

If it were me, I'd have a look/sniff around with the sides off, and if all else fails, swap out the PSU for a new one.

You can always use an application like Motherboard Monitor 5x to monitor your board conditions and alert you, or even take action, when limits are reached or exceeded.

Hope this helps. :)
 
RezN8 said:
Sounds like your PSU to me. Have you tried firing up the PC with the sides off to see where the smoke/smell is coming from?

No but to be honest have been to scared to fire it up again with the existing PSU in case of causing further damage to other components!! Also the amount of smoke that came out of the case, if it is the psu, I doubt she'll be in a stae to fire up an LED.

And none of the capicitor thingies seem to be fried around the processor which is a good sign.

Well have to rig up another PSU to check it.

Cheers for the advice dude :)
Click to expand...
 
Alls sorted, was the PSU in the end. Replaced it yesterday and shes fully operational battlestar, cheers for the advice peps!!

:D
 
Hope you got a bigger PSU than 300w tho (sorry only just looked) as if you're running a 2.8mhz P4, a reasonably hot gfx card and some pci cards (sound, etc) it may well want more power. If you start getting strange crashes/shut downs try a bigger PSU before other things. Hopefully you may well have found it hard to get a 300w unit now and got at least a 450w.
 
Yes I got a 400 Watt, dual fan low noise psu!! The one that blew was only a 300Watt!!

And yes I was getting strange crashes, will have to see if they improve with the new one!! Cheers again for the advice :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top