Freshly cooked computer, anyone?

[Kinemortophobia]

Well, as the title goes, I think the computer's cooked. Meh.

 

Yesterday, as soon as I walked in the room I could smell a horrible burning stink, this was around the computer desk. So, I unplugged it, being smart and all, disconnected the tower unit and had a look-see.

 

Now here is the part I'm going to tell you that I do NOT use this piece of crap, I have a laptop which I take care of as if it were one of my children!

 

Anyhoo, yeah, the computer was dusty as hell. And stinky - my daughter claims there was smoke coming from the back, but, I didn't see this... So, even though it was Mothering Sunday and I was mean to be doing naff all, I cleaned it with the hoover. And left the bugger to cool down. This was about lunch time.

 

Later on in the evening, I thought I'd see if the computer was going to work normally, and guess what? The git wouldn't turn on. I looked on the back for a switch to see if it has been turned off, there is none. I tried another power cord, and this is the best bit. I got a really bad electric shock, and fused the house. Eeek. Now the sodding thing is sat here like a useless pile of crap. I just don't know what to do now. I don't even know what the hell kind of computer it is, as it's my daughters. She's 8 and unlikely to be able to sort this herself, so, even though I'm being vague, can anybody offer any advice?

 

I have another, brand new power cord in my room. Should I go dig it out, and try again? Or should I throw it out the window? Personally I like the idea of that.

 

Thanks in advance for reading this waffle.

Warm wishes,

Phobia.

[BeeCeeBee]

So many issues! First it sounds like something is shorted out so do nothing until you hear from a real hardware expert. They will be here, don't worry.

 

One word of advice though keep the hoover away from the PC. Use a can of compressed air to blow the dust away. It may be that you pulled something loose.

 

A few questions though. Do you know if your fans were operating properly (or seemed to be) before this happened? Have you added any hardware recently?

 

Finally if you can give us whatever information you do have about the make up of this machine it would be helpful.

[Dalo Harkin]

Hoovers - the sure way to an early PC heaven :)

Hoovers themselves create static and should not be used inside a PC, but we all learn.

Chances are that the burning was infact one of the components as opposed to the dust hitting something hot.

unfortunately it can be any of the components that have gone (its most likely to be the MOBO or the PSU as you suspect though)

So you need to weigh up - is it worth buying a new PSU and/or MOBO and hoping that it works, or window and then get your little un one that works and stay away from it with the hoover :eek:

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Here's some advice Kine, but first I need to know if you possess an electric drill, if so power down the pc and leave it for a day.

 

Remove the hard drive, place it in a vice and drill several holes in it.

 

If you have a neighbour that has a Skip handy toss the pc along with the hard drive into it.

 

If not, take it down to your local council pc recycling area.

[maynardvdm]

Sorry to say this but the others is right.

 

Also to add to what Dalo said, apart from the Mobo and PSU, the CPU and RAM also might have gone.

[Plastic Nev]

Well, now the dust, smoke, and albeit a small amount of laughter, has settled, even if you do everything yourself in the way of replacing all the by now possibly unrepairable parts, it would be cheaper to buy a new computer.

 

However, if there is the slightest risk of personal information being on the hard drive, do remove it and destroy it, for yours and your daughters security.

 

Wolfey, an electric drill? far more satisfying to smash it to bits with a big hammer, really flatten it, no one can get the data off it then. Besides, the hammer doesn't go on the electric bill either.:D

[danzil]

do you have a spare power supply laying around.

take the pc apart and put it all together on a flat clean surface,,,,, clean it all before obviously, i use a clean soft painting bush and some compressed air.......

then wire up a power button or you could alternativly use a electric screwdriver to breifly touch the power-on conncetions together.

 

you may be in luck and some components may work.

i have had numerous dusty blown pc's sent to me and into my workshop and all it has been is the power supply.

like the other guys said it may just be bad luck and the lot is gone.

 

if you take my advise please be carefully an earth yourself,,,an antistatic wrist strap would help,, there about £4

hope that helps.

regards

danzil

ps will have to dig some photos out,,,,,got some pics of pc's that are so dusty fans dont turn and you cant even make out the board form factor......nasty...not good when your allergic to dust.