Pci card added (Burning smell and pc wont turn on)

Buffman · 30 Oct 2007 at 20:24

So I was putting in a tv tuner then once fitted I turned the computer on and it wouldn't turn on then I could smell a burning. I figured this was due to the PSU breaking (500 cheapo casecom) and this is to power my aging athlon 2300+, gigabyte motherboard, 2 hard drives, 2 dvd drives, 9600 pro (agp) GPU, 768 mb ram (512+256), sound card and newly added TV tuner. So I think it's the power supply thats blown but should I buy a new (branded prob. corsair 450W or something close) and stick it in or should I not incase it's the motherboard that's not working and it kills my new PSU! Before I added this it was working normally (slowly as you can imagine with the ageing hardware)
Thanks for answering

(Sorry if I didnt detail enough, if you need more info please ask)

peetee · 30 Oct 2007 at 20:40

dont think a mobo could fry a PSU, well a decent one.. dont hold me to that. Bad that like mate, unlucky

mejinks · 30 Oct 2007 at 20:45

Have you tried taking the card out and powering back up? Maybe the card is fried?

Buffman · 30 Oct 2007 at 21:00

mejinks said:
Have you tried taking the card out and powering back up? Maybe the card is fried?

Yeah I did take it out and it still didn't power up, also when I plugged the power cord into the power supply which was on it started sparking out the back (which leaves me to believe it's a dead PSU) and for the few seconds I left the power supply on there was a green light on the tv card so I doubt it's that.

Also anyone got any ideas about a good power supply to get I was thinking of getting a branded one and prob. the corsair 450W (I would prob. eventually take this onto another core 2 duo/x1950 pro build) any other good recommendations for power supplies in the £45 price range?

extra edit: any idea on the sound levels of the corsair VX450?

mejinks · 30 Oct 2007 at 21:07

I think you have answered your own question there.

If you can stretch a little more, then get the Coolermaster realpower 520. I have one and its cracking. Really well built and the rails are spot on.

Buffman · 30 Oct 2007 at 21:33

mejinks said:
I think you have answered your own question there.

If you can stretch a little more, then get the Coolermaster realpower 520. I have one and its cracking. Really well built and the rails are spot on.

So you would agree it's likely to be a psu problem? I dont think I'd be willing to spend >45 on the psu, and I wont be needing it for a really high powered system even if I do upgrade it won't require much juice.

peetee · 30 Oct 2007 at 21:44

if you dont think you'll require that much juice you have a predicament.
Basically you as a rule need to spend a bit of money on a PSU as an investment, else it will blow(which i think yours sounds like it has really..) and possibly it could take some of your new parts with it.
Is £50 much compared to the price of replacing a GFX card, or Motherboard, CPU aswell as the budget CPU. For the £50 you will spend you shall have peace of mind

The sparks will generally point everyone towards faulty CPU though

Buffman · 31 Oct 2007 at 16:48

peetee said:
if you dont think you'll require that much juice you have a predicament.
Basically you as a rule need to spend a bit of money on a PSU as an investment, else it will blow(which i think yours sounds like it has really..) and possibly it could take some of your new parts with it.
Is £50 much compared to the price of replacing a GFX card, or Motherboard, CPU aswell as the budget CPU. For the £50 you will spend you shall have peace of mind
The sparks will generally point everyone towards faulty CPU though

Well I've bought the corsair 450W now for £45, should be comming soon. I read a few reviews and they said it's good and should (hopefully) last me a long time