PC Fire!!

No-One · 16 Oct 2006 at 18:33

I just very nearly had a heart attack. Here's the story.

A few days ago I took the cover off my pc with the intention of giving it an annual clean out. When I got inside I saw that there was nowhere near as much dust as I was expecting and so just blew it out a bit and put the cover on. A couple of days later it started moaning that the floppy drive wasn't working. Today I decided to investigate. I took the cover off again the just wiggled the cables, suspecting that maybe I just nudged something when I was inside the other day. Then I pressed the power button and that's when it all started. A spark from the rear of the floppy drive followed by the floppy power cable smoking and then a flame appeared from it!

I quickly cut the power and blew it out. My room now stinks. I'm just glad I powered back up with the case still open, otherwise the whole pc could have gone up.

I took the floppy drive apart and it confirmed my suspisions that it was the cause of the problems. Here's some pics.

http://www.zen16617.zen.co.uk/fire/DCP_1838.JPG
http://www.zen16617.zen.co.uk/fire/DCP_1839.JPG
http://www.zen16617.zen.co.uk/fire/DCP_1841.JPG
http://www.zen16617.zen.co.uk/fire/DCP_1845.JPG

The drive was the oldest part of my system. Just over 10 yrs old. Never used it so I'm not bothered about losing/replacing it. I gave everything an extremely thorough check out before powering up again. Luckily everything else seems fine.

Pics are a bit big. Changed to links. FF.

Tru · 16 Oct 2006 at 18:36

Looks like you missed one of the pins on the floppy drive when you re-connected, I've done that before.

Trigger · 16 Oct 2006 at 18:39

Tru said:
Looks like you missed one of the pins on the floppy drive when you re-connected, I've done that before.

I did that only a few months ago. Knackered the PSU and the floppy drive, not to mention making a right stink

Moredhel · 16 Oct 2006 at 18:39

And there I was thinking you were going to tell us how fire was racist...

No-One · 16 Oct 2006 at 18:40

I am a bit worried that I might have done some kind of damage to the PSU. :confused:

Garp · 16 Oct 2006 at 18:41

Moredhel said:
And there I was thinking you were going to tell us how fire was racist...

Of course it is, all fires are set by blackmen as a way of getting back at 'whitey'!
Blackmen never suffer from fires.

fatiain · 16 Oct 2006 at 18:42

Garp said:
Of course it is, all fires are set by blackmen as a way of getting back at 'whitey'!
Blackmen never suffer from fires.

Neither do Muslims.

eXor · 16 Oct 2006 at 19:12

n00b.

Pookie Bear · 16 Oct 2006 at 19:16

I did the exact same thing many, many years ago - when floppy drives were the most popular way to load stuff onto your PC

Duke · 16 Oct 2006 at 19:19

Lucky you didn't have a Qtec PSU else you would be sat in a one mile wide crater now

No-One · 16 Oct 2006 at 23:02

Duke said:
Lucky you didn't have a Qtec PSU else you would be sat in a one mile wide crater now

I was under the impression that modern PSUs have short protection built in. Oh well, at least it's only a floppy drive that's dead. Not even going to bother replacing it.

Meridian · 16 Oct 2006 at 23:06

What is it about floppy drives. This is my floppy drive cable last month:

In close-up:

I fired the computer up and grey smoke started pouring out of the side extract fan. Powered down hastily and never saw any flames, but there was a LOT of smoke.

The essential cause was muppetry: I'd put the power cable on blind and had connected to the wrong pins.

M

SoliD · 16 Oct 2006 at 23:33

this is why i dont use a floppy drive

not to mention the fact they have no use except for bios flashing in todays modern pc.

Stretch · 16 Oct 2006 at 23:38

SoliD said:
this is why i dont use a floppy drive not to mention the fact they have no use except for bios flashing in todays modern pc.

Q4T

tang0 · 16 Oct 2006 at 23:41

aha ive done that before, connecting 3/4 pins up and then smelt a strong electrical smell

fried the floppy

Garp · 16 Oct 2006 at 23:45

SoliD said:
this is why i dont use a floppy drive not to mention the fact they have no use except for bios flashing in todays modern pc.

I take it you don't have an SATA drive that needs drivers during intial installation?

Vonhelmet · 16 Oct 2006 at 23:49

Sounds like you put the floppy power cable back the wrong way up. I've done that, with similar results.

SoliD · 16 Oct 2006 at 23:52

Garp said:
I take it you don't have an SATA drive that needs drivers during intial installation?

ye my raptor doesnt need drivers

No-One · 16 Oct 2006 at 23:55

Garp said:
I take it you don't have an SATA drive that needs drivers during intial installation?

I don't. Still using old fashioned IDE here.

ONESHOTKILL · 17 Oct 2006 at 03:06

i something like this happen to me a few weeks ago.I was putting some new fans in my pc and the fan had a connecter that you can cannot to the board to power or to psu.I connected to psu and the lead for the board was hanging and it touched the case when i powered pc on.And there was a puff of blue smoke then a flash and a lot of stink.I though i fudged the whole pc but seems to work fine,tho the fan has had it.