Help with fried computer

saulat_99

New Member
I have fixed a few computers for people lately and I got a ladies computer I work with and began working on it. It ran windows xp and was very slow. I was having issues getting malwarebytes to run but did a partial scan and removed 16 infected files. It is an emachine. I opened the case to see what it was was running and it had a 512 and 256 slot of ram in it. It was pretty dirty so I sprayed some air in it to clean it up a bit. When I started it back up it wouldn't start so I opened the case up and started it I thought I saw some smoke and smelled a burnt plastic smell I think from the processor area. Any insight on what happened if some condensation from the air got into the processor or what may have caused this. I am trying to think how to break the news and hopefully not end up buying this lady a new computer. She had something called bigfix running, I think an expired mcaffee and norton security center running. It is model T3406, hopefully they are cheap lol. Thanks.
 
Kind of at a loss but suggestions would be much appreciated. It could have been from a number of things but I am thinking it was probably condensation from the air. It makes sense and I guess that would make it my fault. Again insight would be helpful. Probably could use advice on getting a computer for a decent price as I guess I'll be buying her, or at least splitting the cost of a similar one. I found a better emachine model going for about 100 on ebay with 20 hours left, a T6520 model.
 
Why in the world would you blow wet air inside a computer?

Was it running when you did it?

Anyway, check Craigslist for your local area. Much easier and you can meet the person face to face. No shipping.
 
Yeah I was tired and it was a stupid mistake. Never done anything like it before. It was duster the stuff they make for computers and I held it upright. It seemed to blow some moisture out but I didnt think it got anywhere important. I found her a similar computer on craigslist, she is more concerned about the pics on the hard drive so I am going to take care of it for her. At least Ive never fried anything from being ungrounded.
 
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