Hardboot/Popping noise

[Vaktathi]

So, I just finished a World of Tanks game, the results screen loads, and my computer reboots itself, then gets to the "windows did not shut down properly, how would you like to load windows" screen at which point it just turns off.

I immediately unplug everything and open up the machine. I can smell what seems like heated plastic but not really anything burning. The CPU heat sink has a lot of dust build-up and is hot to the touch, but that isn't always necessarily uncommon.

I clear it and all the other fans out thinking it may have been an overheat issue and plug it back in and boot it back up. I then hear a loud "crack" sound and the machine doesn't boot at all (though it does power on) and I can smell a bit of burn-y-ness, and immediately unplug the machine and simply removed it.

At this point I'm thinking it's the power supply rather than any heating or CPU issue, but everything above is pretty much all I can tell you about what happened, does anyone think they can help confirm/deny or narrow down the issue any better?

Specs in sig.

Thanks in advance!

No Cross Posting, if you thing you'd get better results in a different category request a move.
AT MOd
Gillbot

 

[cytg111]

Bad hdd? I had a bad one back in the day that made loud 'clonk' noises .. many did, it was a bad batch of .. think it was hitachi.
Anyway, get ultimate boot cd or the like and see if that will boot your machine.

 

[Vaktathi]

So, I just finished a World of Tanks game, the results screen loads, and my computer reboots itself, then gets to the "windows did not shut down properly, how would you like to load windows" screen at which point it just turns off.

I immediately unplug everything and open up the machine. I can smell what seems like heated plastic but not really anything burning. The CPU heat sink has a lot of dust build-up and is hot to the touch, but that isn't always necessarily uncommon.

I clear it and all the other fans out thinking it may have been an overheat issue and plug it back in and boot it back up. I then hear a loud "crack" sound and the machine doesn't boot at all (though it does power on) and I can smell a bit of burn-y-ness, and immediately unplug the machine and simply removed it.

At this point I'm thinking it's the power supply rather than any heating or CPU issue, but everything above is pretty much all I can tell you about what happened, does anyone think they can help confirm/deny or narrow down the issue any better?

Specs in sig.

Thanks in advance!

 

[janas19]

So, I just finished a World of Tanks game, the results screen loads, and my computer reboots itself, then gets to the "windows did not shut down properly, how would you like to load windows" screen at which point it just turns off.

I immediately unplug everything and open up the machine. I can smell what seems like heated plastic but not really anything burning. The CPU heat sink has a lot of dust build-up and is hot to the touch, but that isn't always necessarily uncommon.

I clear it and all the other fans out thinking it may have been an overheat issue and plug it back in and boot it back up. I then hear a loud "crack" sound and the machine doesn't boot at all (though it does power on) and I can smell a bit of burn-y-ness, and immediately unplug the machine and simply removed it.

At this point I'm thinking it's the power supply rather than any heating or CPU issue, but everything above is pretty much all I can tell you about what happened, does anyone think they can help confirm/deny or narrow down the issue any better?

Specs in sig.

Thanks in advance!

Power supply. Only that much voltage would cause the noise and smell. Swap it out or you may fry the mobo too

 

[amdhunter]

Yep. Power Supply. Put your nose to it and take a good whiff.

 

[paul878]

Put your nose to the work, either power supply or power transistor around the cpu.

 

[mfenn]

I'm guessing by "does not boot at all" you mean that you don't see any POST messages. In that case, I'm thinking that you have lost either the PSU or the mobo. Inspect the mobo for obvious damage; if you don't see any try a new PSU.

 

[Vaktathi]

So I purchased a new PSU and replaced the old one, however getting the same result I got earlier but without the loud crackle sound, machine powers on but doesn't boot, no bios beeps and monitors don't display anything

 

[lk2500]

Obvious stuff, but...

Check all the wires and crap to see if anything melted.

Remove your hard drives, cd-roms, video card, RAM etc.. and check them on another machine to make sure they still work, preferably on a machine you don't care about in case they are what shorted out and caused your problem (don't know if that's even possible , but meh...).

If everything works then your mb is most likely fried. Next step would be to try a new motherboard and see if your CPU still works.

Check your mb to make sure it's not possible that it shorted out on a misplaced standoff (yes, I know that one from experience).

If you didn't do anything wrong (mislocated standoff, etc...) then also RMA the motherboard if it's within the warranty period.

Have fun.

 

[Vaktathi]

Well, I think at this point I'm just going to get together a whole new rig. I've been using my current one for more than three years and was planning to upgrade ~February anyway, no point in getting any more replacement parts for a machine I'm going to replace entirely in a few weeks. I went back through and checked all the wires and connections, still got the same result, so I'm going to call TOD on this machine.


Thanks for the help guys,

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

i would take out the cpu, and see if it fried.