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Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:07 am

I tried to start my computer but instead of getting the sound of it starting up I got a large bang accompanied wit a flash inside my computer and a smell of burnt. Needless to say it is dead as a doornail. What I wonder though is, want part inside of it exploded and need to be exchanged?

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:15 am

Is it a desktop or a laptop?

I'm guessing probably a desktop and it's your power supply that has fried - hopefully it hasn't fried anything else when it went.

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:29 am

It is a desktop. And your theory sounds logical. With my luck though it has probably fried the whole lot. I've had both a busted fridge and a broken water pipe in the basement (communial thankfully) within a week.

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:53 am

The power supply is what I thought too. You can get a new power supply (I did once, for a computer that had trouble staying up and eventually wouldn't boot). You can also try putting the hard drives into another computer (perhaps as external drives with a USB adapter) and see if you can mount them. Maybe the motherboard is fried but the disks are not. Do you have an electrical multimeter?

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 9:28 am

Nope, no multimeter. But the computer was old and had had no upgrades since 06 so I think it is time to retire it and get a new one. The chassi is broken and all the components are old. No need in continuing to beat a dead horse. If the hard drives are alright I should be able to right?

Just realized that this thread is horribly misplaced. If belong in general forum. If someone will move it that be great. Thanks.

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 3877

maybe a capacitor on the mainboard?

I'd do this: open the computer (after disconnecting it from power) and extract the harddrive(s). install it in an external case and test it.

the rest of the computer can be repaired/replaced...

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 9:36 am

Dr Mike wrote:

If the hard drives are alright I should be able to right?

Something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bipra-SATA-Adapter-Power-Drive/dp/B001A5SK56 (first one I found - there may well be cheaper alternatives) will allow you to connect the HD to another machine via USB - you should then be able to retreive any important files off of it.

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:27 am

A bang and flash is most likely the power supply failing, but if you've got a cheap nasty Power Supply Unit (PSU), it could have taken other bits with it. The processor and memory are quite fragile and don't take power surges very well...

The only way we can really tell you what got popped or zapped is by you opening it up and telling us which components the burning smells are coming from. Photos of any obvious damage would help us see.

It's not likely your hard drives would have took a zapping, so all your data should be okay and you'll be able to get to it once your PC is rebuilt, or once you've plugged them into a new one.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 577

If the hrd drive is from 2006 you should back up all data ASAP if you haven't already. An 8 year old hard drive is quite old.

Baiting Guru Joined: 21 Nov 2010 Posts: 2200

For the popping sound, check the weasle first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b7mjukhTyQ

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 4:15 pm

It was a bit like the last one, but it is hard to say. Either way, I bought a new one. The one I had was old either way and it is likely that there were several invitees to the barbecue. I'll get in on Friday. Thanks for the help all.

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 9:21 pm

Philo Kvetch wrote:

If the hrd drive is from 2006 you should back up all data ASAP if you haven't already. An 8 year old hard drive is quite old.

I totally agree about backing up.

I completely clone my main drive weekly to my second drive in my computer (I have two internal hard drives). And then I also clone to one of my external firewire drives.

That way, if my Mac ever shits the bed, I can go out and get a new one, and just copy my entire system to the new one, and all my stuff will be there (albeit a week old).

Or--if the new Mac was compatible with my hard drives, just swap them out.

The only thing I would have to do would be to re-activate my Adobe products.

Anyway--in Dr. Mike's situation, a back-up now would be impossible as his computer couldn't boot up.

So how's your new computer doing, Dr. Mike? Per your last post, I gather that you got it yesterday.

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