Comments | goddessoflights: computer people?

goddessoflights

computer people?

Oct 03, 2006 00:47

i have acquired steve's parents old computer. they stopped using it after a strange smell, they said smoke or burning, was coming out the tower a little while (couple weeks or months??) after replacing the power supply. yes, the smell definitely comes from the power supply, but there is no smoke and all air output is cold or cool to the touch. to ( Read more... )

Comments 8

ganja21 October 3 2006, 07:39:58 UTC

It depends on the exact smell. Burning is bad, and it may be as easy as a power supply replace. Ozone is worse and usually means everything is fried. Take the outer case off and see if you notice anything odd next time you power it on.

dragon_rogue October 3 2006, 09:04:22 UTC

thats true, usually if you can counter the burning smell then you have the problem beat

goddessoflights October 3 2006, 18:44:29 UTC

i first powered it up with everything open. did not see anything strange. the smell is definately from the components in the power supply that heat up. the smell was faint but got a little stronger as it ran for a few minutes. the smell seems to have a sweet quality to it, like burning paper does and a slight chemical smell like melted plastic gives off.

dragon_rogue October 3 2006, 19:36:30 UTC

really sounds like the power supply has died then and needs to be replaced, they aren't a part you can fix, but they aren't too expensive usually. Best buy or CompUSA or circuit city should have what you need

goddessoflights October 4 2006, 05:40:38 UTC

if i can i have my old comp that the board went out on but the supply is still good, if they match up i'll just use that one. i need to get the zip drive out of it too, so that would be no big deal. i just wanna know why this comp goes through power supplies; this is the second in like a years time i think. the problem may be more serious.

dragon_rogue October 4 2006, 06:13:19 UTC

thats possible, you might try checking that all of the cooling fans are working. Other than that, it might be a jumper setting that needs to be changed on the motherboard

Thread 5

micka October 4 2006, 19:17:12 UTC

that description sounds like ozone to me. man, reed blew a computer component once and the ozone smell took over the room for a half an hour, even with the windows up and the fan blasting.

I could be wrong. I'm not a computer person. But i sleep on the sofas of computer people.