is my computer dead?

[sonicboom909]

i was sitting at home and suddenly I hear a loud popping noise and the computer smells like something is burning. of course my computer is now inoperable.

my question is, what caused this and how do i fix it. opening up the computer, i didnt notice anything out of the ordinary (except the smell of course). i could not determine exactly what had burned out, but i'm thinking its the power supply. the power supply is about 3 months old but i cant remember the brand name at this point.

is there any way to determine if this is the case? can i open the power supply box? what should i be looking for other then the obvious things that i can see have been burned? if it is not the power supply, where should i look next?

a couple things i should note....when touching the heat sink around the processor, it was almost too hot to touch. is this normal?

secondly, i'm fairly computer illiterate, so sorry if this question might seem rather basic or has been asked before (i did multiple searches already).

thanks for your help.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by sonicboom909 i was sitting at home and suddenly I hear a loud popping noise and the computer smells like something is burning. of course my computer is now inoperable. my question is, what caused this and how do i fix it.

Sounds like a capacitor in the power supply blew. You have to replace the entire power supply. I hope it's not a DEER or equivalent or you might end up replacing other parts as well. When DEERs die, they sometimes fry other components.

Originally Posted by sonicboom909 my question is, what caused this and how do i fix it. opening up the computer, i didnt notice anything out of the ordinary (except the smell of course). i could not determine exactly what had burned out, but i'm thinking its the power supply. the power supply is about 3 months old but i cant remember the brand name at this point. is there any way to determine if this is the case?

Just smell the power supply. If it smells burnt, it probably died.

Originally Posted by sonicboom909 can i open the power supply box?

If you want to...just don't touch anything inside...the remaining capacitors might still have a charge in them.

Originally Posted by sonicboom909 what should i be looking for other then the obvious things that i can see have been burned?

When you open the power supply the damaged part will be pretty obvious...it'll either look like charcoal or it'll be blown apart and there'll be small bits of paper and aluminum all over the inside of the PSU.

Originally Posted by sonicboom909 a couple things i should note....when touching the heat sink around the processor, it was almost too hot to touch. is this normal?

Yes. The CPU gets hot when it's running and the heat is transferred to the heatsink for dissipation...the heatsink will be hot near the CPU and cooler near the top where the fan is.

Cricket

[sonicboom909]

thank you for the quick response. actually it was an antec sl350 watt. its on the list of "good" power supplies that was in the "power supply reference" sticky on this site. guess it must have been a random thing. although i do pretty much leave my computer on 24/7 but like i said the power supply is only 3 months old.

[DarkHorse]

A good power supply can still fail, but what makes it good is that if it does go it doesn't take anything with it. Also, is there any way you can test the power supply to be absolutely certain it is what failed (unless of course you found a blown capacitor) and not another component?

[Cricket]

Every manufacturer (even the good ones) will have a certain percentage of bad parts leave the factories...that's just how it is. You just happened to possibly get one of the bad ones. But make sure that it is the power supply that blew and not something else.

There have been a few times in the past where Antec seemed to be having problems with certain power supplies. I remember back in 2001 or 2002 there were lots of reports of Antecs dying really prematurely (like within 3 weeks after being installed). The problem died out but then late last year there seemed to be an increase in Antecs going bad again. That problem died down pretty quickly and yours is the first Antec I've heard going bad since then...if it is in fact the power supply that blew. But the previous problems weren't blowing capacitors (if that's what happened in your case), the Antecs would just die or wouldn't supply enough power to power up the computers or to keep them running.

Cricket

[sonicboom909]

well i took the chance and bought another antec 350 watt because it seems this is pretty much the only brand available in retail stores around here. got a sweet deal---$64 retail with a $30 mail in rebate = $34.00.

got home replaced the old power supply and yep it worked. problem solved.

thanks again.

[TeenPcknowit]

I've found 80 percent of the problems on pcmech are either caused by evil RAM or a bad/blown power supply...how wierd is that.
Another wierd thing is that i've used so many different pc's over many years and not once have experienced a blown powersupply....*sniff*....whats that smell...

[shadowbreaker513]

For some reason my power supply seems invincible. I shorted it and my floppy drive out so bad the cable shot off the floppy and I thought it was dead. Let it drain for a few seconds; works perfectly now.

Also as for Antecs, they are very good except for the Smartpower line. Smartpower = poo.