Smoke from Computor

[tweedledee]

Last evening I did a clean re-install of Win2K and spent 6 hours updating, loading programs etc. Then I pressed the button to open the dvd rom drive and there were sparks and a smell of burning, and the computer died. Today I bought a new 400W power supply and this seemed to fix the problem. The computer was running okay till I pressed the button on the dvd rom drive. The screen went blank. The computer still boots up and the burner drive opens, but the monitor is giving a "no signal" message. I have tried another graphics card, and even changed the RAM sticks. The monitor has been checked by another computer and is okay. Do you think Iv'e fried my Motherboard?, or is there something I am missing. I have removed the DVD rom drive. What could stop the signal to the monitor. HELP

[Ripper2860]

By "boots up" do you really mean powers on? Do all of the fans spin and does the hard drive spin up? Are there any beeps? Have you tried removing power and clearing CMOS?

[tweedledee]

The fans start, and I'm unsure about HHD's. There are no beeps....now, there was at first. What's CMOS? I will need clear details as I'm not too cluey about the guts of the thing. Thanks for your help.

[Ripper2860]

1st of all -- unplug and remove all but the components needed to boot a system...

* Remove everything but the PROCESSOR and HEATSINK, VIDEO CARD, FLOPPY DRIVE and 1 stick of RAM.
*Disconnect POWER and DATA CABLES from HARD DRIVES, and CD DRIVES (all IDE devices). Disconnect DATA CABLES at the MOTHERBOARD end -- you can leave it at the drive end, as long as you have disconnected power to the drives.

Try powering up and see if it goes into POST (Power On Self Test) where it counts down memory, etc. If you get no video see if there are beeps now. If so -- notate how many long and short and the order (ex: 2 long, 1 short).

If no luck, do the following with the system in "bare minimum" config, as above ...

Look in the motherboard manual and find the jumper that clears CMOS or resets/clears BIOS. If you find it...

* Unplug power to the system
* Move the jumper to the CMOS CLEAR position.
* Move the jumper back to the original position
* Plug power back; power up and see if system boots.

If you cannot find the CLEAR CMOS/BIOS jumper ...

* Unplug power to the system
* Find the CMOS battery on the motherboard (round silver coin battery).
* Remove the battery and leave out for 10-15 minutes
* Re-install the battery.
* Plug power back; power up and see if system boots.

Also -- if you have a volt meter, you may want to check the 5v power (RED wire and BLACK wire next to it, on a 4PIN Molex connector (drive power connector)). It could be the DVD took out the 5v portion of the P/S. I assume the 12v is OK since the fans are running and most are 12v. If you want to check 12v -- it is the YELLOW and BLACK next to it.

It does not sound very promising, I'm afraid -- but you may get lucky !!

[tweedledee]

Thanks for your reply. I'm going to have a cuppa tea while I think about tackling your suggestions. I may "chicken" out and take it to an expert. I'll let you know the result. Thanks.

[Ripper2860]

I certainly understand. Being an IT guy, I appreciate those that know their limits. A professional might be a good idea.

On the other hand ...

Could you do much more damage than has already been done by the DVD drive?

If you feel uneasy about everything else -- at least remove the power cord and clear the CMOS via jumper or removing the battery. While I do not hold a lot of hope that this will "cure" the PC -- it might and it would be ashame to pay someone to do that if that is all it took.

Good Luck !!

[tweedledee]

Okay, I've took out the battery, I'll wait Min's. then try to start it.

[tweedledee]

No change, it has definitely died on me.

[Ripper2860]

I'm sorry to hear that. It's a shame when one component giving up the ghost takes more with it. I had a bad IDE cable short out and take out a power supply and motherboard. Woke up in the middle of the night to loud beeping and the smell of smoke. I can feel your pain.

It looks like it is probably time for a new motherboard. It is possible (although, slim) that the processor may have been damaged so you better have it checked out as well, wherever you buy the new motherboard.

Good luck !!

[tweedledee]

Thanks. I have had a run of bad luck. My spare computer, which I'm using now, had a CD rom AND an IDE cable go at the same time, and cost me 80 bucks to fix. Now it looks like a new M.B. and maybe a CPU.

[VCDHunter]

Your avatar says it all mate I had a friend send me a text message whilst I was in work saying "my pc has blown up" I went round and had a look and the lead from his power switch to the mb had actually melted, burnt plastic and molten metal from the lead was on the bottom of the case. I managed to salvage a HDD a video card and some memory.

I ended up building him a new one.

[gmatov]

Tweedledee,

Do you have a vid card on a board with built in video?

If so, try the onboard vid connector, first. You may get a screen.

I've had this happen to me just from going to DDR from SDRAM, can't get the AGP vid card to post a pic, "No monitor Detected".

Worth a try before you buy a new board, or a 3rd PSU.

Cheers,

George

[tweedledee]

I've just got back from the computer guy, and he said the motherboard is dead. So I'm getting a new Gigabyte 7n400 pro 2 ($158aus) and a bigger case. He says I really need a high priced 550W power supply instead of the usual 400W, any comments about that?

[redwudz]

I have that Mboard and I love it. I use a 300W good quality PS running 4 HD's, CD burner, DVD burner, DVD rom, zip drive and 3 case fans. The PS fan output runs about 80F, well within specs. A 400W good quality should be more than enough. If you have a few more $ to spend (I know, it's hard), the 2500 Barton is a great addition that this board can take advantage of.

[Ripper2860]

Excellent motherboard.

I also ditto Redwudz suggestion. A good 400-450 watt PSU (Enermax, Vantec, Thermaltake, or my favorite Antec TruPower) is more than sufficient. Go for QUALITY and feature set (i.e. adjustable fans, etc.) and not QUANTITY when selecting the PSU. Unless you have a server class box containing 1/2 dozen 15000 RPM SCSI drives, 2+ CD/DVD burners, 1/2 dozen highspeed fans and are overclocking a dual processor motherboard -- you just do not need 550watts.

CLASSIC OVER-SELL, as a 550watter is considered ESOTERIC and competitors w/ 550 are few. With a PSU, you do get what you pay for so beware of high wattage/low price units.

BTW -- throw the offending DVD drive as far as possible and do not let it occupy space in the asme house as this new mobo!

Good luck and have fun w/ your system. It's overdue !!

[gmatov]

Still sounds funny that the fans spin up, etc. That is not a sign of a dead board.

You didn't answer if you have onboard video in addition to whatever cards you have tried.

As I said, my machine will not post a screen after a RAM change, but all is well with the onboard vid chip and port.

And 550 watts is overkill, even for those who put 6 HDDs and 3 opticals, and whatever. My Antec 400 is doing quite well with 4 HDDs and 3 opticals.

Oh,hell, never mind, just go ahead and do as you wish.

Cheers,

George

BTW, this is kind of a proof of the "smoke" theory of electronics. All those little things are full of smoke, and when the smoke escapes, the device quits working.

[tweedledee]

Sorry George, I can see you are getting cranky, but I don't have a video onboard, and I don't have the expertise to fix things of this nature.
I am busy at work these days and the money I spend paying someone to fix it is less than I'd lose by stuffing around with it myself.
BTW I don't think the power supply that I'm getting is all that good. It's cheap, and made in china. Maybe I need a good brand like ANTEC, which they don't stock in 400W.
Don't worry guys, the dvd rom is on the scrap heap. I bought a new one.

[gmatov]

Tweedledee,

I'm always cranky after midnight when I know damn well I should be in bed.

Thanks for the reply, if you don't have onboard video, point is moot.

Pert' near all the power supplies are made in China, now, even some of the best brands. My first test is to just pick it up, if it has any heft to it, look closer. If it weighs half a pound, pass it by, not enough windings in the transformer coils or iron for the armatures.

I buy Antecs for myself, get others to keep in stock for some repairs I do at the shows, going by the "weight" test, as well as the price. You tell someone it's going to cost 60 bucks to put in a PS, they ain't happy.

Good luck with your machine.

Cheers,

George

[tweedledee]

I will get another power supply as this one is so light it nearly floats away. I have installed Win2k and when I boot up I get a long wait while it says "please wait for IDE scan" and then it won't pick up my 2nd hard drive. So back it goes tomorrow.
BTW George, take some POTASSIUM,also known as "SLOW K" it will make you feel better.

[gmatov]

Yeah, to get your daily requirement from bananas you gotta eat a whole stem of 'em.

I already do take it. Imagine what a grouch I COULD be.

BTW, are you re-using the cable from the old board, plugged in and un-plugged a number of times?

I'd lost a HDD a few days ago, got out all my used 80 wire IDEs, changed it a dozen times, find 1 drive, find the other drive, find neither drive, find them on 1 bootup, not the next. Just bought a couple on the way home this PM, installed 1, both drives now back on the scene.

If you have a new IDE cable, try that before you take it back. They seem to lose their grip on the pins of the drive, and I'd assume 1 bad connection of the 40 pins is enough to not see the drive. Well, 39, 1 is clipped out.

Cheers,

George

[tweedledee]

I have new cable. A strange thing happened. I run the cd that came with the HDD and tried to find drivers. A new set of drivers was found and I can see the other drive now, BUT, It turned out the cd was for the video card, and I still can't see the other HDD in BIOS. Very strange!!!
I must try and find out how my BIOS settings are going wrong.

[gmatov]

Tweedledee,

After you followed the suggestion to clear CMOS, did you go back into Setup, and reset those things you needed.

For instance, first page, time and date, then below the installed drives. It may have defaulted to "Not Installed" for the second drive. If you have the option to set to "Auto" (detect), it should find any others you have, and if you have an option to "Detect Hard Drives" allow it to do so.

You can, actually, I think you did set to "Default" when you cleared CMOS.

And, it would be unkind of me to ask if you're sure the drives are jumpered properly, wouldn't it? Check to see if the other is in device manager. I have had them there and had to check "Removable" to get some machines to see second drives. Beats the hell outa me why.

Cheers,

George

Ignore half of this missive. I just reread your post after submitting,

[808smokey]

Smoke from a computer is never good

[thayne]

I had a power supply burn up once and it ended up taking the main board, video card and a hard drive with it....

[rhegedus]

BTW George, take some POTASSIUM,also known as "SLOW K" it will make you feel better.

Don't bother - it will turn your stomach and you'll pee most of it back out

Back to the thread:

400W should be more than enough - I'm running 5 HD and 2 opticals as well as a few usb devices that take power from the PC on a 300W system. If I get another HD I'll upgrade the case and PSU bit it works fine for now.

Do you use an LCD monitor? I know that static can sometimes build up on the VGA output with LCD monitors that cause the 'no video input' message - just unplug the VGA lead and blow hard on the end of it and on the VGA card. Sounds wierd, but it has saved me from buying my girlfriend a new PC!

Like someone said earlier - it's abit wierd that the fans spin up if the mobo is out...