Smoke...

Kazatan

Kazatan

Kazatan

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Joined
10 Jun 2005
Posts
326
Location
Kent
Two days ago I came home from work, turned on my PC, and a few minutes later as Windows failed to boot a steady column of white acrid smoke starting wafting up from my computer. It was still "powered on", there was no "pop" and I quickly pulled the plug and got the case open. It took a moment to cool down and the smoke stopped.

Cue me thinking that this would be a PSU malfunction and so I purchased a new PSU.

New PSU in and the computer fails to boot. I have an ASUS Striker II Motherboard and it has an LED screen of the boot process. It reads "CPU INIT" and then goes blank.

The system does power on and I did connect all the components and they powered up (HDs etc). I left it in this state for ~10 minutes which is much longer than it took to start smoking originally.

Ok, so maybe some other hardware went will the PSU, I thought.... but then I decided to check and put the old PSU back on just plugged into the Motherboard and GFX card. Lo and behold, no smoke...

Are any other components prone to dying with smoke? I'm sure i'm going to have to replace something else but don't know where to start.

Incidentally, another feature of the ASUS board is that it has voltage lights for RAM, CPU, Northbridge & Southbridge. All these are light green meaning normal with both PSUs connected.

Next step advice would be appreciated, especially if you have had a similar situation or service PCs for a living.

My level of knowledge and tools is fairly high.

Cheers,
Kazatan
 
I know I had a motherboard chuck out some fairly nasty smoke once!

Have you tried disassembling it all and having a look at the components for signs of damage? (Burnt PCB, etc.)
 
If the psu is suspect, you really don't want to attach it to the computer again. I'd take it out, short circuit green to black then leave it for a while to see if it does anything interesting. I'd personally take the case off before doing this, but wise men suggest running a psu caseless on a desk is stupid.

I can't quite make out from your post, is the system still running fine on a different psu? If its something else that failed and gave out smoke, not psu or motherboard, at least you should be safe from further damager.
 
Would check the MB chipset for blown/bulging capacitors; do all or any the components smell burnt (discount all but a nasty lingering smell from a particular component is a sure sign) Guessing the PSU has fried some other component
 
idnt get it , is ur PC runnong fine on new PSU,is ther any kind of nasty smell cming from PSU ??? , try disassembling whole system and chk for damage
 
The only time I've had white smoke coming out of the pc it was a chip on one of the hard drives that burnt out (an old 80Gb maxtor). You need to have a good look at all the components for any signs of blistering or burning, the lingering smell should help you find it too.
 
Smoke

By the sounds of things, something has fried your CPU. Back in the day sof windows 95 I got my first pc. Booted up fine the first time. Came back to it later in the day, booted again and nothing except some smoke. Psu had failed and instead of shutting itself off had fried the cpu, memory and mobo.

I agree you shouldn't use your suspect psu, that's just asking for trouble, either now or later. If you can get or have another cpu that will fit that mobo then try to replace it and see what happens


Kelvin
 
Thanks for responses,

The computer doesn't boot regardless of PSU, it spins everything up and no further.

I haven't removed all the components from the case yet. Obviously I was hoping not to have to!

This could get expensive :rolleyes:
 
It is very unlikely to be the cpu. It can be, certainly, but its rare enough to be discounted unless you can prove otherwise. It is difficult to rma processors as a result of this, if you get someone reading from a script they assume the customer is wrong if he thinks the cpu has had it. This can be frustrating.

However it is probably the motherboard. I hope you're no longer connecting the suspect psu to anything valuable. How did running it short circuited w/ a fan for a few hours go?
 
JonJ678 said:
However it is probably the motherboard. I hope you're no longer connecting the suspect psu to anything valuable. How did running it short circuited w/ a fan for a few hours go?
Click to expand...

I haven't done that yet. I will take it apart tomorrow when I get some time after work. Will update then.

Cheers again for ideas.
 
Pull the baord get a new one, Asus P6T, or a cheap one. Then test with new PSU. If that does not work you have also fried the RAM and possibly CPU.

The if all works RMA the PSU and faulty mobo.
 
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