A long story then a question at the end:
A few days ago this happened: I was using my computer playing Team Fortress 2 when all of a sudden it powered off. I pressed the power button to turn the PC back on a couple times but nothing happened. 10 minutes later I came back and pressed the power button about 5 more times trying to power it on, and then there was a small spark that came from the top of the motherboard (between the cpu and the ram) then a weird chemical smell that lasted for a few hours (maybe it was the smell of dust on the motherboard burning up?). After that I still pressed the power button a few more times and nothing has happened since.
I bought a new power supply hoping it was the culprit and plugged everything in, but the PC would still not turn on. I surfed the web and found out about the paper clip test. I did the paper clip test on my old power supply and the fan started indicating that the old power supply might still work. So anyways it seems like the motherboard is broken.
My question is: What could have caused the problem in the first place? Faulty power supply that destroyed the motherboard, or the motherboard just died? My PC is plugged into a surge protector and the power did not go out when my PC first shut off.
A few days ago this happened: I was using my computer playing Team Fortress 2 when all of a sudden it powered off. I pressed the power button to turn the PC back on a couple times but nothing happened. 10 minutes later I came back and pressed the power button about 5 more times trying to power it on, and then there was a small spark that came from the top of the motherboard (between the cpu and the ram) then a weird chemical smell that lasted for a few hours (maybe it was the smell of dust on the motherboard burning up?). After that I still pressed the power button a few more times and nothing has happened since.
I bought a new power supply hoping it was the culprit and plugged everything in, but the PC would still not turn on. I surfed the web and found out about the paper clip test. I did the paper clip test on my old power supply and the fan started indicating that the old power supply might still work. So anyways it seems like the motherboard is broken.
My question is: What could have caused the problem in the first place? Faulty power supply that destroyed the motherboard, or the motherboard just died? My PC is plugged into a surge protector and the power did not go out when my PC first shut off.