FIRE!!!

Fire_fly

Fire_fly

Fire_fly

Soldato
Joined
18 Jan 2012
Posts
3,918
Location
Derbyshire
Well that was a surprise....

I was sat am my computer about 10 mins ago and there was a faint smell of smoke, a bit like party poppers, which got progressively stronger. Pushing back from my desk I could now see there was light coming from out of the front of the case and an alarming amount of smoke escaping from the top. It was on fire...

I managed to quickly unplug it and the flames went out. The tower is now sat on the dining room table and i'm about to take it apart to work out what was the cause.

I can't see any obvious sign of burning but there is still a faint smell coming from the top part of the case around the cooler.

Anyone got any suggestions of where to start?
 
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Yeah I was very lucky in that I was there when it happened. 5 mins earlier and I was downstairs making a drink. If it had gone then it may have set fire to the whole room.

I would have hoped that as it was caused by a short the PSU would have detected it and shut off.
 
Antowns said:
Wow, you going to contact the manufacturer of the PSU / drive to get to the root cause of the issue? what PSU do you have? don't think i'll be leaving my PC unattended for a while.. :eek:
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I have contacted OCUK and arranged an RMA for the Fan Controller

The PSU is a Corsair TX750.

I'm unsure whether to risk it again and turn it to make sure that it is all ok.


Digit said:
And this is exactly why i have NEVER leave my PC on overnight. Well, come to think of it i go around every night before i go to bed and unplug everything except the fridge. And i don't even trust that :p lol

Although i trust the build quality of my system because i built it all, i have never trusted electrical components...

But i'm glad to see you found out what your problem was and i bet it'll keep you on your toes in the future ;)
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I never used to like leaving it on over night or when I was out of the house. Now i'm unsure if it is safe to leave it on while i'm not in the room.
 
Tealc said:
Was the melted part of that cable mess tucked right in up to the Recon controller's power transistors? Did you have several fans connected to one of the Recon's channels, as it's only when heavily loaded that the transistors get warm enough to melt PVC insulation.

To me it looks like the optical drive has shorted it's connections and heated the cable up. It's a wonder your PSU didn't notice and cut the power. Maybe the drive motor protection failed and caused a reverse power spike or something.
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3 Akasa Apache 120mm fans, 1 per channel.

As for the optical drive i'm not sure if that caused it, it was not in use at the time. The cables were not all crushed up in a large bundle they were not even linked together off the same Molex connector.

As for the PSU not picking it up would that suggest that I need a new PSU.
 
acme15 said:
So let me get this straight... you thought your computer might be on fire, but instead of turning it off straight away, you rolled your chair back and had a look 'just to be sure'? :p
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I noticed a bit of smoke and looked down. As the computer sits under the desk rolling back a little made sense, and it afforded me more room to get up and get to the plug behind the machine to cut the power.
 
I bet the Recon would probably power up no trouble at all, assuming you caught it in time before it blew the Recon electronics.
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Personally I would rather not risk it. Quite a bit of the the insulation has been burnt off the cables. It also reeks of burnt plastic and I would rather not have that smell in my room.
 
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