[SOLVED] Smoke coming from pc followed by smoke smell

[Mj17477]

I was on my pc casually playing some games until, however the pc turned itself off.I unplugged all the cables connected to the pc and plugged it back in and switched the pc on and it booted up normally I heard something short circuit followed by smoke coming out from the system followed by the smoke smell after this I instantly turned the entire pc off and unplugged all wires connected to the pc itself. I tried with the help of someone to turn it on again and diagnose the issue, however this time no luck the second time I attempted to turn the pc on and this time i saw the motherboard spark followed by the same smoke smell.We think it could be the power supply causing the motherboard to short circuity need help with the further diagnosis of the pc.

 

[USAFRet]

Diagnosis? Something is burnt beyond functionality, and probably beyond repair. Maybe multiple somethings.

What might it be?
To start...what are ALL the parts in this system? Make/model of everything, particularly the PSU.

 

[Archaic59]

I was on my pc casually playing some games until, however the pc turned itself off.I unplugged all the cables connected to the pc and plugged it back in and switched the pc on and it booted up normally I heard something short circuit followed by smoke coming out from the system followed by the smoke smell after this I instantly turned the entire pc off and unplugged all wires connected to the pc itself. I tried with the help of someone to turn it on again and diagnose the issue, however this time no luck the second time I attempted to turn the pc on and this time i saw the motherboard spark followed by the same smoke smell.We think it could be the power supply causing the motherboard to short circuity need help with the further diagnosis of the pc.

First, you need to list all the components of the system for any troubleshooting to begin. Power supplies are designed to shutdown if they experience a problem or failure. Your further attempts to start the system after the initial failure may very well have damaged other components in the system and rendered it useless.

 

[drea.drechsler]

.... need help with the further diagnosis of the pc.

The PSU may be designed to shut down if something fails, but if something fails how can you be sure it doesn't involve the circuit(s) that shut it down. A conundrum that's difficult to resolve with smoke pouring out of your computer.

You have to isolate the source of trouble. Did you happen to note what area the smoke came from? if it was only coming out the PSU fan exhaust outlet that's a good sign it's in the PSU; which is also a highly likely area for troubles like this. The only thing is: did it failing also damage parts on your motherboard?

You might open the case and examine the motherboard: the area around the CPU is a good place to start since it has the VRM circuits that handle a lot of power. Look for blackened scorch marks around capacitors (small cylinders standing on end) and FETs (small square chips in a row). The FET's may be underneath a heatsink and so look around the edges of the heatsinks.

And a good tech always follows their nose: sniff areas of the system with power off. The smell of burnt electronics lingers and you can usually trace it to the area of failed parts. Remove the GPU to see if the odor goes with it: if so, it could be the GPU that failed.

But in the end, if you're confused about any of this then just take it to a computer repair shop since, whatever's wrong, it's probably well beyond your skill set to repair it anyway.

 

[InvalidError]

You shouldn't have attempted to turn the PC back on before finding out what had burnt, that will only make whatever damage already existed worse and even more likely to be unfixable.

Also, short-circuits don't really make noise. What you hear is arcing from something blowing up.

Since you have burned whatever had failed twice, chances are you have a layer-to-layer short through charred PCB at this point and whichever board this happened to is likely beyond economical repair.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

Your PSU is dead for sure, 99% certain your motherboard is dead too. If you're very lucky, your CPU, RAM, GPU and drives might be ok.

Get a new PSU, don't buy a cheap Chinese one this time, and get a new motherboard. Then you can start testing your components one by one and see which ones are still alive.

 

[InvalidError]

Your PSU is dead for sure

For an ATX PSU to meet the ATX spec, it has to be able to gracefully shut down from shorts from any rail to ground and any rail to any other rail without damage to itself. If something on the motherboard failed, there is a very high probability that the PSU is still perfectly fine assuming it wasn't the cause of the motherboard failure in the first place. I have shorted PSUs many times over the years from cheap no-name brands to a handful of major ones and it never killed any of them.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

For an ATX PSU to meet the ATX spec, it has to be able to gracefully shut down from shorts from any rail to ground and any rail to any other rail without damage to itself. If something on the motherboard failed, there is a very high probability that the PSU is still perfectly fine assuming it wasn't the cause of the motherboard failure in the first place. I have shorted PSUs many times over the years from cheap no-name brands to a handful of major ones and it never killed any of them.

I have a strong feeling his PSU doesn't meet the ATX spec.

 

[InvalidError]

I have a strong feeling his PSU doesn't meet the ATX spec.

In Linus' "Let's build a PC cuz bored" live stream from a week or two ago, something shorted out on the board and caught fire for a second. Turned it back on after not seeing what burned out and just carried on through the remainder of the video.

Cheap components don't have a monopoly on spontaneous combustion.

 

[WS1995]

Your PSU is dead for sure, 99% certain your motherboard is dead too. If you're very lucky, your CPU, RAM, GPU and drives might be ok.

Get a new PSU, don't buy a cheap Chinese one this time, and get a new motherboard. Then you can start testing your components one by one and see which ones are still alive.

Amazing how many people buy a cheap PSU for £20 and think that it will "do the job" because it's apparently rated to "500 watts".

Can't remember the name of it, ACE or something, but there is a brand notorious for this, they have a PSU which is a black design, with red fans, and multi-coloured cables coming out of it, those PSU's are notoriously bad.

 

[InvalidError]

Can't remember the name of it, ACE or something, but there is a brand notorious for this, they have a PSU which is a black design, with red fans, and multi-coloured cables coming out of it, those PSU's are notoriously bad.

Diablotek is one of the more notorious crap PSU brands.

CoolerMaster is no stranger to putting its name on junk though, being one of the most prominent vendors on JG's lemon list:
http://www.johnnylucky.org/power-supplies/psu-lemon-list.html

 

[WS1995]

Diablotek is one of the more notorious crap PSU brands.

CoolerMaster is no stranger to putting its name on junk though, being one of the most prominent vendors on JG's lemon list:
http://www.johnnylucky.org/power-supplies/psu-lemon-list.html

Look at that absolute beast of a machine junk.

It always amazes me how people can look at this and go "that looks like it will do the trick"... just one look at it says "AVOID", it looks like the cheap piece of junk that it is. A quick google shows people on eBay, with the audacity to be charging £45 for one of these disasters.

 

[InvalidError]

It always amazes me how people can look at this and go "that looks like it will do the trick"... just one look at it says "AVOID", it looks like the cheap piece of junk that it is. A quick google shows people on eBay, with the audacity to be charging £45 for one of these disasters.

What are crap PSU vendors/manufacturers to do when decent PSUs that used to cost $40-50 are now $100+? Fill the voids with their formerly $20 crap of course!

 

[Karadjgne]

We think it could be the power supply causing the motherboard to short circuit

Yes and no.

Something on the motherboard failed. That's the cause of the problem with no boot. It's the source of the smoke.

Whether or not that's related to damage possibly caused by the psu is irrelevant, the motherboard is non fixable, the motherboard needs to be replaced.

The psu might be responsible for causing that failure, or might not be, that's impossible to determine now, the actual component that failed is burnt beyond capacity to test, it could simply have been a bad component to start with, had a bad solder joint or of non compliant specs.

The psu itself Could be the reason, no actual proof that the motherboard is a victim, circumstantial evidence, if the voltage outputs are within atx specs, the board will only use what it needs to, and nothing more. Big IF.

The problem with the psu is its junk. It doesn't have the protective circuitry of better psus, it's quality of build is barely there, it's choice of components are below bottom shelf, it's junk with a shiny paint job.

But whether it caused the damage is not now provable, damage is done. Leaving only the nagging doubt in the psu, and whether or not it's possible involvement will similarly impact the new motherboard. Roll the dice.

 

[InvalidError]

The problem with the psu is its junk.

OP hasn't said what PSU he has in here. In fact, he hasn't come back in here at all yet. For all we know, he may have have a 1500W AXi and one problem with grossly over-powered PSUs like that is that arc-welding at 100A is a normal load to them.

 

[carocuore]

Look at that absolute beast of a machine junk.

It always amazes me how people can look at this and go "that looks like it will do the trick"... just one look at it says "AVOID", it looks like the cheap piece of junk that it is. A quick google shows people on eBay, with the audacity to be charging £45 for one of these disasters.

I always take a look at units like that and love how the manufacturers' solution to components overheating to the point of death was simply adding an extra 80mm fan and call it a day. I have several of those for... uh... experiments.

Built my first bench PSU with one of those when I was 12, and used it for a school project, teacher couldn't believe his eyes when he watched my miniature solar system with a lit sun and rotating planets lol, it was nothing more than a few toy car motors, gears and a tiny 12V light bulb as the sun but it gave me the 100/100 I was looking for, ah the good memories.

 

[gamerk316]

As has been said, something shorted out somewhere. I'd bet PSU, but regardless of where the source of the problem is, it's a certainty the motherboard and quite possibly other components are now fried.

 

[Mj17477]

made sure to take out the psu upon further diagnosis it doesn't smell of smoke. It must of came came from the motherboard as it seems to be coming from somewhere near the cpu.

 

[Mj17477]

should I get this motherboard for a AMD Ryzen 3700x https://www.amazon.com.au/msi-Mothe...ocphy=9071457&hvtargid=pla-976178944047&psc=1 is it worth it for the upgrade

 

[DSzymborski]

Hard to say as you still haven't provided any basic information.