Recently, I got the dreaded email from my wife:
“My PC started smoking. I unplugged it and opened the windows.”
Ugh.
Anyone who has been in technology a while understands that a PC smoking is a bad thing. I mean, not only for its long term health, but short term as well. Even if you know nothing about technology, you know that any electronics device shouldn’t smoke.
When I got home from work I took a look. These are the steps I followed:
1) Grabbed the PC and took it out of my wife’s office and into the kitchen. I needed more room.
2) Took the case cover off the PC. I need access to the inside.
3) Plugged the PC into the surge protector. You want to do this so if it is an electrical issue, you won’t blow or trip a fuse. Limit the damage to the surge protector.
4) Turned it on.
5) Verified it didn’t work.
Now came the fun part. What is wrong?
The options for finding out why a PC is smoking include:
1) Power supply.
2) Motherboard.
3) Expansion cards.
Survive any disaster in your own home. Prepare now. A must for the coming problems in the world!To check the power supply, make sure it is connected to the motherboard, the proper voltage is selected and that the power switch leads are securely attached to the case. I cannot tell you how many times a power supply issues comes down to the power switch or button coming lose. Everything checked out fine, but still no go.
The motherboard is an interesting device in its own right. You need to ensure the power is connected properly and that nothing metal on the motherboard is contacting the case. This was fine.
The last thing to check are the expansion cards such as network interface cards (NICs) or video cards. You should unseat the cards and pull them out one by one. After pulling a card out, test and see if it works.
In our case it turns out the PC was fine, but the video card had blown. Who knew a video card would take up smoking so late in life?
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