Computer Hope
Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: Jon Mohajer on April 16, 2005, 06:06:04 AM
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Hello I have just built my first computer, and have encountered a very scary problem!
I will walk you through everything I have done, as that will be the easiest way for you to understand the situation!
I assemble the computer;
Intel P4 3.2 Prescott
Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 Mobo
512Mb Crucial RAM
500W PSU
Radeon AGP Video card
CD writer, DVD writer, 120gb SATA Maxtor HDD, floppy drive
A cheap Firewire (IEEE 1394) PCI card
and wire everything up. I boot it up, configure BIOS, everything running smoothly, install Windows XP. It installs, fine and I'm running windows. I check on the Device Manager to see if the Firewire card has been installed.. I cannot see it on the list, and Add hardware finds nothing. Then as merely a test to see if it was installed (I didn't think this could damage a PC in anyway), I inserted a firewire cable into the PCI card, which I was gonna hook up to my camcorder. As soon as this cable is inserted into the PCI card, the computer just turns off. About 5 seconds later, the power returns and smoke begins to come out of the PSU fan, and a horrible smell of burning plastic. I quickly knock off the power, pull out power cables and the firewire cable. I check inside the case some hours later, and I can see NO sign of damage to anything (i.e. the source of the 'burning' which caused the smoke), no burnt cables or burnt parts on motherboard.
I reconnect power cable and (without firewire cable in) turn on the little switch on the PSU to put the power back on. This then turns on the power supply, and thus computer, but CD drives will not open, and my HDD LED on the case is on. Nothing appears on monitor, so I hit the power switch on the front of the case. It sounded like the CPU heatsink fan came on at this point, but it was now I noticed the return of this smoke, so quickly knocked off the power.
Has anyone got any idea what is wrong? Is it a faulty PSU? Or is it the (probably fried) motherboard, as maybe the front control panel input was playing up, as it seemed to turn on with the PSU.
Please, somebody shed some light!
Any input appreciated greatly, I spent a long time saving to build this computer and now, the same day I switch it on, the thing starts burning (or something)!!!
Jon.
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HI
This is my advice don't mess around with this, take it in and get some-one to take a look, i know that is not what you want to hear but that is my advice be SAFE first always.
Regards Paul
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Sounds like your Firewire port shortcircuited... Did you remove the Firewire PCI card before turning your system back on? Or did you leave the card in when your system started to smoke up again?
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I removed the firewire card when i tried it again, still burning... I'm pretty sure it is a fault with the PSU, thanks for the help guys.
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i would try another psu>> the varistor <which is in the psu>maybe the cause of the plastic smell.........links>?>
http://www.buildyourowncomputer.net/step7.html
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/