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[SOLVED] PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

3K views 55 replies 7 participants last post by  Masterchiefxx17 
#1 ·
Hi, one day my monitor was not displaying anything so I took one od the RAM sticks out, still nothing (that ussualy worked) then I put it back, turned pc on, all coolers spinning, still no image and a stronf smell od burning plastic is coming from the case and now it won't even turn off(only by the switch on PSU) the green light on the is on, red one is dead. What's the problem and is there anything I can do before i call someone?

Thanks!
 
#4 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

This "sounds" like a bad power supply. You should be able to put your nose to the back of the power supply and get a strong whiff of burnt electronics. I sure would not try to power it up again without swapping in a spare supply for testing.
 
#5 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

No, it doesn't smell anymore when I turn it on, I'm not sure where it's coming from, but it was strongest at the back of the PSU, PSU is Frontier ATX 500W, MSI H61M p31 g3 MB, Celeron g530, gt630 asus 2gb, 6gb (working at 1066mhz) ddr3
Thanks for replaying :)
 
#6 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

I can find nothing about Frontier power supplies, only companies named Frontier that sell computer parts, like Coolmax PSUs which are not known for their quality or efficiency.

Are you sure that is the brand of the supply itself?

Regardless, I would replace the PSU. With your hardware, you can easily get buy with 350 - 400W supply and I would urge you to get an 80 PLUS certified PSU, at least Bronze, Gold certified would be better. 80 PLUS Bronze or better ensures at least 82% efficiency across a full range of expected loads.
 
#12 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

Just to agree with the others, I have seen this way too may times, replace the psu with a quality psu, this is a text book case of dying psu. You may already have damaged other components so expect more issues here as cpu, hard drive and motherboard are all suspect when the psu gets this far, so debating this, is only going to prolong the solution.
 
#18 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

I am sorry that did not fix your problem. If you are sure you have the new PSU connected correctly, including the required extra ATX power connection to the motherboard and any extra power connections required by your graphics solution, then I fear your old supply took out something else in the process. Could be the CPU, or motherboard or something else.

Do you get any indication it tries to power up now?
 
#20 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

Again we did say that this was possible because a poor quality psu will often times damage more components. As Bill suggests many forget the 4 pin connection or if there was a connection to the pci-x video card. Tell us exactly what you now see when you try to start up. Cpus are very tough to kill but motherboards and hard drives not so.
 
#21 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

I press the button, pc turns on, all fans spinning, monitor isn't displaying anything, there are 2 lights on the front of the case, green and red, green is on, but the red one is dead, it's suppose to blink, I hear all the regular sounds like before when I turn it on, I also can't turn it off via the front case button, only by the PSU switch on the back and by holding the button for 5 seconds
 
#22 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

but the red one is dead, it's suppose to blink,
The only blinking light in front when the computer is awake would be the hard drive activity light. So you might want to make sure its power and data cable are securely fastened. That said, even if not, the monitor should be showing something.

I also can't turn it off via the front case button, only by the PSU switch on the back and by holding the button for 5 seconds
Holding the button for 5 or 5 seconds would be a BIOS Menu Setting.
 
#23 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

That would make sense that the light doesn't blink red because you are not getting far enough for the hard drive to turn on. Sounds like video is now the issue so if the motherboard is onboard video it's the board that took the hit. If not the video card did.
 
#24 ·
Re: PC displays nothing, burning smell from the case

It looks like your motherboard has onboard video as well as a pci-x video card used. Take out the video card and attach cable to the onboard port and see if you can post and boot that way. If yes then its the video card that quit.
 
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