While playing through Crysis 2 there was an audible popping sound and feint smell of burnt plastic and my computer went dark. There is nothing happening when I try to hit the power button. I opened up the case to see if i could find out what happened and didnt see anything right away. the smell is coming from the graphics card or power supply area mostly, but am not certain that is were it is coming from. I am thinking of removing each unit to investigate further and thought it would be wise to check with the pros before proceeding. Is there anything I should know or are there any ideas what could of happend? I pieced together the computer myself but havent had any problems like this before so Im trying to obtain advise about what to do next. Thanks in advance.
Computer just blew
- Thread starter Munk
- Start date
Anti-static wristband before you do anything, especially if something blew chances are there's currents running around. If you're overclocked you probably didn't have enough cooling to suffice so over-heated and burnt out, but definitely take it to a Computer Repair shop if you don't know what you're doing.
This. Odds are the popping you heard was a large capacitor popping, like those in a power supply. Sure others can make that sound but it's not as common from my experiences.
Best thing to do IMO before buying parts is to take everything out and use a volt-meter to test the powersupply for the proper voltages. You can look up what all the difference colored cables mean on Google.
Also, if your motherboad has a power LED somewhere on it and it's out that will give you an indication that the motherboard isn't getting power. I don't know of anything else that will make a popping sound when it goes south like a power supply will. I've had it happen to me once, luckily everything else was still good and I just replaced the power supply.
~Darkseeker~
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Hate to be the negative one, but the popping sound you heard could well have been from caps on the graphics card as well, don't rule it out. Chances are, if your PSU did go south, it could have taken the card with it. Happens alot.
I've seen popped caps on GPUs from PSUs many times, mainly on older cards though. I would also say, get a little piece of insulated wire with bare ends and connect the green pin of the 24-pin mobo power to any of the ground cables. Obviously disconnect and remove the unit from the case first, place it on an antistatic or lint free surface and plug it in. This should turn the power unit on, just give it a sniff. It should be painfully obvious if it's dead.
I've seen popped caps on GPUs from PSUs many times, mainly on older cards though. I would also say, get a little piece of insulated wire with bare ends and connect the green pin of the 24-pin mobo power to any of the ground cables. Obviously disconnect and remove the unit from the case first, place it on an antistatic or lint free surface and plug it in. This should turn the power unit on, just give it a sniff. It should be painfully obvious if it's dead.
Great news! The power supply was the culprit and after replacement of my CoolMax 500 with an Antec 550, I discovered no damage to peripherals or any data loss! I am very happy with the outcome and I appreciate the help and advice from everyone. Thanks again.
