System won't power on, PSU smells . . .

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whip-rush

New Member
System turns on but will not boot, PSU smells . . .

So I finally replaced my x1800xt card with a new one, RMA'd from newegg. Everything worked fine, and I decided to organize the tangle of cable inside the case a little better. In the process of reattaching the cables something was either not plugged in or plugged in wrong.

The PSU gave off a prominant smell. The computer did not shut off but will no longer boot. The case fans, psu fans, and cpu fans all run. I forgot to check the video card fan. Some of the lights are also on.I think I might of incorrectly installed the cable that smells. As in I may of skipped the first two pin holes so only 3 were plugged in. I am referring to the cable leads to the HDD.

The PSU unit itself smells bad.The cable end that runs into the psu from the HDD also smells pretty bad. The video card cable that is right next to it has a faint smell also but almost unnoticable, maybe from just being next to the other one.

I didnt notice an odor from the mobo or any other components other then the psu and cable.

Think its just the PSU or did it take down something else with it?

I can live with the HDD (nothing installed yet just windows) but the processor and video card were both rather expensive.


ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard

OCZ ModStream OCZ52012U ATX, BTX, SATA, P4 and EPS12V 520W PSU

Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A
 
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If you smell it in your cables, I wonder if it did go beyond the PSU. DO NOT TRY IT ANYMORE! My suggestion would be try to get a used PSU you know works and test the system out first, unless you're sure you could return a new PSU... I'm probably being overly cautious, but I've had machines die because of bad PSU's and kill good PSU's...
 
I edited the original:

The computer turns on but will not boot up correctly. I think I might of incorrectly installed the cable that smells. As in I may of skipped the first two pin holes so only 3 were plugged in. I am referring to the cable leads to the HDD.

I might have to get a quote from Computer Stop and see how much it would cost them to find the exact components that are shot : /
 
If it smells like burning (:P) then you might want to try a new PSU and see if it will boot with that. It is indeed most likely your PSU that is causing the problems though.
 
computermaineack said:
It's probably not a good idea to go shove your head into the PSU/cable....if you did blow something the smoke/smell may be toxic.
Click to expand...

Hmm . . .that would explain the convulsions and bleeding from my left ear. I really should not of stayed up last night sniffing the burned PSU for several hours. Oh well, lesson learned.

Seriuosly though, I took the computer in to Computer Stop and they tested the system and PSU. I guess one of the 3.3v rails blew according to the tech. They did it for free so I decided to by the new PSU there even if it cost a little more then newegg. Nothing else was damaged from what we could tell.

Cross your fingers and hope i dont fry something again.
 
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