I think I fried my PC ;/

But not exactly sure what may have fried....so I'll just do what I normally do, ask here for advice/past-experiances.

Anyway, I had my PC power-off on me during installation of Halfe-Life2:Episode1 today, but brushed it off as for some reason my PC likes to do that for some whenever I click an "Ok" button regarding game-installation screens.
(has happened in 4 other games so far for me)

Then it shutoff after I just rebooted my PC to re-finish installation, it shut off...

Again, booted it up, everything works fine, but after playing awhile between 2 games, my PC just decides to die, being unable to boot back up, and letting off a smell that had to make me evacuate the room before I tossed the cookies..

[EDIT] That smell actually began about 10min before it did completely die on me actually, but it wasn't nearly as bad. [/EDIT]

Anyway, the PC wont boot up at all now, so I think I've narrowed down the busted device to either the PSU, or the CPU, but I'm unsure which, as the mobo light does light-up when the power-cord is plugged into my CPU....

I did monitor the temperature earlier after the second shut-off, CPU temp seemed normal (40-50C) for the current outside temperature (not to mention humidity, god I hate that), although the side-panel of my PC was pretty damn warm when I took it off after my PC wouldn't boot up.

Guess I should also mention there were other times it just shut-off without notice in the past as well in a non-gaming situation....maybe that was an early indicator of something dying, you guys got any ideas?



In the meantime, going to let the fans in my room air-out the smell, makes me nauseous.....then I'll get a close look at the CPU, since that's easier to remove then the PSU. ;/

I would agree with your Interprtation (Specaly with the Smell), and would add the graphics card, but would add that it could simply be that the graphics card has come free of its socket. (I say this because I get the impression that you moved the pc whilst cheaking)

The PC would at least boot up and give me morse-code via PC-speaker if the GFX card came loose no?
(that and I got the AGP-slot lock on it)

Been doing some googling, and apparently it does look like my PSU is fried after reading other people's rants/forum-posts.

Doubt its the PSU. PSU's tend to either work, or not work. There isn't usually anything between.

Probably something on your motherboard has given up on life. You said there was a smell - that suggests something burning out so look over the motherboard for signs of this.

Are you overclocking anything?

Nope, never O/C'd once in my life, as I know the consequences that usually follow.

Going to take a look at the CPU now, bbiab.

Honesly, it happend to me once. Took it all to bits, no sign of problem, putit all back together worked perfecly.

bummmer dude... hope it's something easily remedied...

--Mike

I suspect the CPU fan stopped running, and because you continued to run it you have now released the magic blue smoke that makes electronic devices work.

I doubt the video card came loose.

If the power supply fan died, you probably would have noticed the PC had become very quiet.

Actually, it might not be the CPU you fried, but the GPU. But since your PC shut down during the install of HL2 rather than just during gameplay, it seems more likely to be the CPU that is gone.

modern cpus and motherboards have thermal protection so if the fan fails, the computer shuts down. Some cheap motherboards will burn out.

Other problems are wires melting and stuff. Cheap psus fry most things in the end.

on psp atm, xcuse ne type shortcut i take = /
couldn`t get heatsink off safeLy, took it 2 mY pc tech. he beleives cpu fried as wel, evrythin else looked fine 2 him.

odds r i be needing a new mobo 2 in worstcase scenario

been thinking of using this as an opportunity for small upgrade

had a amd64 2100+
thinking of grabbin me a dualcore cpu if they come in 64bit.

'nuff typin for now, this took 10min -.-

U CN BRWS WB ON PSP? THTS NEAT.
I STL REMBR 40 COL TXT ON C64.
MST B A BTCH NTRIN TXT WTH DPAD.

you could ahve lost a 12v rail on the psu and have it still power the motherboard enough to light it up... I'm betting the PSU has toasted itself.

Power supply could give the symptoms you described (occasional power-off when power level changes like launching a game) leading up to the final burn-out, which is often pretty stinky.

Nose around the actual power supply box, and you should be able to still smell the stench a little bit.

Make sure when you replace the power supply that you replace it with one rated high enough to power everything you have stuck in the box.

' Nope, never O/C'd once in my life, as I know the consequences that usually follow.'

I most be a lucky one, first thing I usually do when I buy a new system is oc! :)

currently running a +2500xp @ 2.1ghz / Gforce4 ti oc timing..
this is running like that for over 2 years.

amd1.5ghz @ 1.7ghz / radeon
running like that for over huuumm 4/5 years?

and some old systems I can't recall the oc.. 1ghz...500mhz...266mhz...133mhz...75mhz(^^)....dx4 100....
I never had a single problem due to oc.

I burnt 1 Gforce (the fan stopped)
and few hard drives (bad cooling)
....

Not necesarily. Some BIOS' do, others don't.

One way to verify wether the mobo is fried is to take out all the memory, All boards have a common beep tone when the memory is incorectly seated or faulty. If the thing beeps then your mobo/cpu is probably fine. If it doesnt then who knows -- get a cheap multimeter and check the 12v, 5v, and 3.3v rails on the PSU.

Black = Ground
Red = 5V
Yellow = 12V
Orange = 3.3V

The nose knows!
If something in a pc fries and gives off a detectable odor (described as having to evacuate the room or blow cookies), then there is residual odor from the component that doesn't go away. Just sniff, you can find what blew.