URGENT - My mobo caught on fire!

ATIorNvidia · 29 Dec 2008 at 21:40

Okay, so i was just restarting my PC as normal and it decided to completely shut off during POST. Then i smelt a kind of circuit sort of smell, no burning, just that smell. Tried to turn it on again, all the fans ran for around a second then shut off.

Opened up the computer and tried again, this time as soon as i pressed the power button a spark flew out from where the CPU is and something on my Motherboard caught on fire. Now after reseating the CPU, everything came back on fine and booted up into Windows fine.

Now my CPU fan stops spinning whenever i open up a temperature monitoring program like easytemp or anything like that. What the heck is going on?

EDIT: what got burnt:

wombraider · 29 Dec 2008 at 21:54

Its one of the power Transistors that has died

I think your board will probably fail totally at some stage , depending on what you have installed gfx / cpu / ram / hard drive / cd-rom they might end up as casualties as well

Duke · 29 Dec 2008 at 21:55

RMA the board, that will be something to do with power or power regulation so best to get it sorted.

Ben Lee · 29 Dec 2008 at 21:56

what does RMA mean?

MooMoo444 · 29 Dec 2008 at 22:00

It means you get in touch with the manufacturer/retailer and get it replaced under warranty.

Duke · 29 Dec 2008 at 22:00

Ben Lee said:
what does RMA mean?

Return Merchandise Authorisation - i.e. send it back to the manufacturer for replacement under warranty.

ATIorNvidia · 29 Dec 2008 at 22:13

So it is unsafe to use this PC untill i get a fixed/replaced board? its working fine apart from the CPU fan not spinning when i open up a temp monitoring program. I have severly underclocked/undervolted the CPU as of now so the CPU can easily handle running without a fan.

Monkeynut · 29 Dec 2008 at 22:21

ATIorNvidia said:
So it is unsafe to use this PC untill i get a fixed/replaced board? its working fine apart from the CPU fan not spinning when i open up a temp monitoring program. I have severly underclocked/undervolted the CPU as of now so the CPU can easily handle running without a fan.

Put it this way: If you set your arm on fire and then put it out after it's moderately burned, would you continue to lift weights with that arm?

ChrisLX200 · 29 Dec 2008 at 22:32

Apart from anything else, it's a fire hazard! Anything functional you might still have plugged into it (like gfx and RAM and CPU) might be ruined by powering it up. Not worth the risk imo.

BlackBat · 29 Dec 2008 at 22:34

Yes it is unsafe to use it even if the cpu is underclocked and undervolted. Just a thought, but if it is under warranty then you will have to send it back to the manufacturer/retailer, so how can you use it? I wasn't aware that any mobo. manufacturers/retailers did advanced RMA. Unless of course it's not under warranty, which would have course mean either removing it for repair or waiting a couple of days for a new mobo. Is it really worth risking your other components?

DaveBennett · 30 Dec 2008 at 00:50

Dont take the risk, even if it is underclocked or w/e, its still a risk.

Do you ever leave your computer on when you go out? Im sure we all leave it on when we pop to the shops, wouldnt be happy to come home and find the entire tower is in flames.

Better safe than sorry, better to get it done or even get a new part than end up with a blown up PC or worse still..

Dave

PwnDirect · 30 Dec 2008 at 01:18

did u steal my pc! It looks nearly the same ( better cabling mangement on mine

)

ShaolinDreams · 30 Dec 2008 at 01:38

Monkeynut said:
Put it this way: If you set your arm on fire and then put it out after it's moderately burned, would you continue to lift weights with that arm?

Yes

SexyGreyFox · 30 Dec 2008 at 01:41

Same happened to me about 3 years ago.
I suddenly got a smell of burning, looked into my tower which has never got its side on and saw flames.
I took it back to OCUK and they give me a new one.

keyser · 30 Dec 2008 at 05:00

Duke said:
Return Merchandise Authorisation - i.e. send it back to the manufacturer for replacement under warranty.

We wouldn't have made the connection without the bold letters, cheers

Duke · 30 Dec 2008 at 08:59

keyser said:
We wouldn't have made the connection without the bold letters, cheers

Glad to help

NeilCardiff · 30 Dec 2008 at 09:21

How old is thus computer?
how cloged with dust was your computer. All that could have actually cought on fire as in flames was dust.

I never heard of a mobo catching fire, like televisions dont

Passive electrical components may smoke like mad but they are designed not to cause fires, Unless they overheat and are in the presence of combustable material, like dust build up etc

I dont think you have any recourse unless you can prove the computer was new, they will blame other factors, over clocking, faulty power supply spiking. dirt build up, bad airflow causing heat, lots of different reasons, like plumbing in winter we have failures and live n learn

PCZ · 30 Dec 2008 at 09:37

Once the magic smoke is released death is inevitable.

Sounds like the voltage regulator that controls the CPU fan has expired.
As others have pointed out you should stop using the PC and RMA the MB.

We don't want to hear any stories about your PC burning the house down

NeilCardiff · 30 Dec 2008 at 10:02

PCZ said:
Once the magic smoke is released death is inevitable.

Sounds like the voltage regulator that controls the CPU fan has expired.
As others have pointed out you should stop using the PC and RMA the MB.

We don't want to hear any stories about your PC burning the house down

he did say flames. pc's dont burn down houses asthey are in boxes, if those boxes are up to standards and not imported by rogues from "china" then they wont cause a fire

ATIorNvidia · 30 Dec 2008 at 11:36

Bought the PC in August so its quite new, its definately not dust or anything like that, so i wouldnt be able to send it back to overclockers? never dealt with RMA or anything like that before.