Fried my box :(

[throttlekitty]

I was away traveling for the week, so I powered down my computer, but left it plugged in. While out, we apparently had some manner of power flicker or outage: the clocks were blinking. I noticed a burning component smell in the living room the second I stepped in. It was relatively faint. Now my computer won't turn on, no POST.

 

When the power plug is in, all fans are on except the PSU and CPU fans. Lights on the mobo and vidcard do come on, I don't think the onboard LAN light came on.

 

Here's what I've tried:

-Removed everything including motherboard, and visually checked for shorts or scorch marks and found nothing.

-Reassembled, but only connected CPU, then CPU+Video card, same results.

-Cleared CMOS per mobo instructions.

-Swapped PSU with the unit from my brothers computer. With that, the fans stay off (as they should), the mobo light comes on, but still no powering up.

-Replaced my PSU, and noted that the fans and lights come on as previous.

 

So my question is, which component to start with for replacing? (Alternatively, anything else I can do to continue troubleshooting?)

Since swapping PSUs didn't exactly work, I'm leaning towards CPU and possibly motherboard. Though it's likely that the PSU is still bad, I can at least test CPU again with the borrowed PSU.

I recently lost my job, so running out for parts isn't easy right now. I also planned on a substantial upgrade later this year, so buying cheap replacements for now is how I'll proceed.

[scrivener07]

What psu do you have now? Did you check your motherboard for bulging caps. What socket motherboard do you have? Whats your budget for repairs?

 

It sounds like your motherboard is dead to me

edit- and are you sure you didnt bend ANY pins when you reset your cpu

[CommanderCrazy]

Yes, almost definately sounds like a fried mobo to me.

[Malchus]

 

When the power plug is in, all fans are on except the PSU and CPU fans. Lights on the mobo and vidcard do come on, I don't think the onboard LAN light came on.

 

 

I have seen this many many many times.

 

It's at least a new motherboard. I'm not saying that nothing else is wrong, but at least that is.

 

Sorry to be the harbinger of doom for your wallet, but if you post the hardware you have, I can try to recommend a mobo for the budget conscious.

[bben46]

I am very familiar with the scent of burned motherboard. However, make sure that smell is the motherboard as a burned Video, or any other card smells the same. Remove the MB, remove all removable parts and smell it up close. Then smell each part you removed individually, If it has that burned component smell, discard it. If not, that does not mean it's not bad, just that it is not what burned to cause the problem.

 

When looking to see if you can find something burned, besides the caps mentioned above, look at the chips. Any bulging or discoloration on the top of a chip shows it has overheated and probably let the magic smoke out - once that smoke is out, there is no way to put it back. The other components that fry are resistors and coils. A burned coil will look like a black capacitor, and when touched will leave a black smudge on your finger. A resistor will be bulged in the middle, or completely open with a small burn mark on the board where it was. Don't bother trying to replace these parts as the circuit boards are multi layer, with traces between the layers. Those traces can also burn and open up where you can't see them.

 

A cheap power supply will destroy itself if there is a short, while a good one will survive with no damage.

 

On my own system, I have a separate external power switch wired between my UPS and the NON surge suppressor power strip that feeds my computer power supply. I turn this switch off when I leave home and when I shut down for the night. That way, It's going to take a direct lightning hit to cause electrical damage while I'm not there. The only things that have power are The UPS, and the Cable modem and wireless router plugged onto it. I feed wireless to a neighbor who is currently unemployed or those would be shut down also.

[baduk]

Im sorry to hear you have a broken part on your computer.

 

I think you can get one of those surge protector things to have between your psu and the wall socket.

but Its probably most important to have a good psu to begin with cause those can have built in protection.

 

So after you figure out whats broken and replace it.

Buy a good psu and the surge protector thingy to prevent a future problem when you can afford it.