Not sure what happened, but there was smoke!

[Marc4]

I have a problem.

I was out of the house when my girlfriend heard a loud noise coming from the computer room. She came out to see some smoke, and a pretty bad odor. My computer was turned off, but she still cut all the power to the rest of the system. Now it won't start up at all. Does anyone have any ideas? It can be so many things, that I don't know what to exactly look for.

system:
abit bx6 rev2
p3-600 @ 702 mhz
256 mb pc-133 ram
geforce ddr
creative cd-rw
sb live! X-Gamer
maxtor 20 gig hd

 

[MCS]

Was your computer turned off before you went out or do you mean it was turned off as a result of whatever happened to it?

 

[stockjock]

My guess....Power supply...mine made a pop before it died....

 

[BadThad]

Look for BURN marks! Open it up and see what was burning, it will be quite obvious.

 

[Marc4]

the computer was turned on before the pop. when my girlfriend walked into the room, the computer had turned off as a result.

How will I know if it's the power supply?

 

[Marc4]

I can see no burn marks anywhere. Removed the CPU and it doesn't look any different, But the computer won't turn on still.

 

[TonyT]

It's probably the power supply. I'd try a new one and see if the computer boots.

 

[Marc4]

Anyone know what type of power supply I should get? I don't have another one to swap to make sure that's the problem...but if everyone thinks that's the problem, I might as well buy one and see if it works.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Barrak]

have you tried it in another outlet? you could have had a short inside the outlet itself. If this is the case you need to call an electrician. Since you dont see any burn marks anywhere, this could be the case. If its not the outlet its most likely your Powersupply, in that case you will have to buy a new one

 

[BadThad]

Glad you didn't see anything burnt on the components, your lucky. It MUST be the powersupply. You can open up the old one and I'm sure you'll see some fried components in there.

Just get an ATX 300w PS, don't get anything less. Any brand will do. Some people here have preferences for expensive ones like Antec, but I believe anyone will do.

Good Luck!

 

[Marc4]

I put another cable into the surge protector socket I have, and it still works.


Also, I took apart the power supply....I can't see any visible damage to the inside, but it does smell funny. I'm going to go order one online right now, and hope thats the problem.

thanks