CPU burnt or alive ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rim
  • Start date Start date
R

rim

Hi,

Today, when I switched on my computer, it did an explosion noise and let
out a (charming) little blue cloud from the PSU. With the corresponding
acrid smell.

Clearly, a capacitor had exploded inside the PSU. (I opened it to confirm
it. It *was* a small capacitor, but now it was all over the place...).

I swapped the PSU for another one, which is known to work properly.

The trouble is, that when I switch the computer on, the keyboard will
briefly flash its 3 leds once (as usual), the CPU fan start up, but the disk
LED will stay dimly alight. No beep, no image on the screen.
I tried to remove every card, disconnect all the drives. With the same
result. I even tried to switch to an old PCI low-end video card.

The best part is that if I hold the power button for a few second (3 or 4),
the computer will power down.

I wonder what it really means :
a) the motherboard has suffer from a voltage spike and is utterly fried;
b) the CPU was the victim for the surge.

Any insight/first hand experience will be appreciate !

--Richard.

PS : Any recipe to get rid of the acrid smell ???
:-))
 
Have you tried resetting CMOS? I can't say that this looks good, though.

-
rim stood up, at show-n-tell, and said:
 
Any insight/first hand experience will be appreciate !

Doesnt sound good. Check the mobo and cards to see if any of the
electrolyte (sic) dripped on them. This doesn't seem likely so it is a
bit of a long shot, but then Ive never seen a supply give it up as
dramatically as you describe. Ground youself and remove the cards and
mobo to make sure they are clean. If the smell is lingering after
replacing the supply then some of the goop might have escaped the unit.
Not sure what to use for clean. Alcohol sounds good. Do NOT use
anything like acetone that might dissolve components or circuit board
coating. Give the parts plenty of time to dry before plugging it all
in.

That said, I have seen two power supplies go without taking out
anything else. Lucky me (throwing salt over my shoulder and clutching
my rabbits foot). However I was warned by the service tech when I
purchased the replacement for the first unit that power supplies can
sometimes kill other components while in their death throws because
they can create a substantial spike in the power, selfishly taking
whatever they can with them on their way out. You have my sympathy if
that is the case.

On the good side, this is a excellent opportunity to upgrade your
system :-). Anyway, its an excuse to get a nice begging-to-be-
overclocked Athlon board.

Good luck.
 
"envoy"
Doesnt sound good. Check the mobo and cards to see if any of the
electrolyte (sic) dripped on them. This doesn't seem likely so it is a
bit of a long shot, but then Ive never seen a supply give it up as
dramatically as you describe.
Click to expand...

All the parts of the capacitor were kept inside the supply. (But there
where part of it almost everywhere inside.)
By chance, the capacitor was located right in the middle of the supply and
along a huge radiator.
The remaining of the computer case is absolutly clear from debris.

(I saw more dramatical "give up" of power supply. But it was no in a
computer and even less in *my* computer !)
Ground youself and remove the cards and
mobo to make sure they are clean. If the smell is lingering after
Click to expand...

I have already made that. They are as clean as they were before...er... I
even remove quite a bit of dust from them.
No trouble there.
That said, I have seen two power supplies go without taking out
anything else. Lucky me (throwing salt over my shoulder and clutching
my rabbits foot). However I was warned by the service tech when I
purchased the replacement for the first unit that power supplies can
sometimes kill other components while in their death throws because
they can create a substantial spike in the power, selfishly taking
whatever they can with them on their way out. You have my sympathy if
that is the case.
Click to expand...

That's really my fear... I will try to grab from a friend another proc. to
see if it works. That should shade some light on my problem.

(Hope I will not fry this proc as well :-) !
On the good side, this is a excellent opportunity to upgrade your
system :-).
Click to expand...
Yep. But this was my secondary system. Which is NT (home)domain controller,
hosting my Oracle database and so forth. I hate to think about reconfiguring
the whole thing...
What I loved with this computer, is that it ran flawlessly
Anyway, its an excuse to get a nice begging-to-be-
overclocked Athlon board.
Click to expand...

And to go to water-cooling too ? :-)) Sadly, I lack the time to play with
it...
But that crossed my mind !

For this computer, I prefer a "no-trouble" solution. I had go even for a
PIII-1Ghz if any were stil available.
But, in the long run, it is not wise regarding the peripheral I will be able
to plug on such motherboard.

--Richard.
 
I repaired a lady's computer. She said she heard it "POP" and nothing would
work. It was the PSU and the CPU, everything else was fine.
Rob
 
I had similar experience recently. The CPU seems to have gone (tried
it on another board), Two HardDrives totally dead (again I tried them
on other boards).

Am unsure about the motherboard as it takes in the electricity from
another power supply and indicator light comes on but have not yet had
it running.

Memory was OK. The cards for video and sound were OK as were 2 CD/CDr
- so on the face of it things with electrical connectors at the more
sensitive end of things died.

Am not an electrician so find it difficult to interpret why some
things affected and not others

KM
 
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