Helluva way to end an evening

So, it’s about 1:00 in the morning, my wife and I just got back from a concert, she’s going to bed and I sit down at the trusty desktop machine to see what’s happening on the ol’ SDMB. I dial up my provider, login in and just as I click on the Netscape icon, BANG!!! and a funny odor wafts up from the general area of under the desk.

“Well. This can’t be good”, I mutter as I unplug the power strip and crawl around under the desk. No sparks or flame and the lamp plugged into the outlet is still on. Nothing to do but try it again, so I plug the strip back in, push the power button on the machine and BANG!!! again, not quite as loud as a .22, this time accompanied by a distinct plume of smoke from the back of the computer.

“Oh, bother”, I says to myself. Or something like that. I pull the power, disconnect everything from the back of the machine and pull the cover.

Hmm, no black marks or glowing bits on the mainboard. I take a sniff at the power supply. <choke, gag> That’s it. Since I’ve got the case open anyway, I disconnect and pull out the box and crack the thing open. (It’s out of warranty and I’m clueful enough not to go poking around in there with a wet finger.) Sure enough, I tip the stinky (and dirty) thing to the side and the cans from two small capacitors fall onto the floor.

So, just to give this a point,

  1. Could it have been dirty enough in there to somehow cause those caps to go or was it just time?

  2. Anyone have a good source for PC power supplies?

  3. What are the chances I toasted the mainboard?

-mdf

Mods: not serious enough for GQ, not pissed enough for the Pit, so I put it here. Feel free.

mdf:

  1. It might have been the dirt, but it most likely was just their time. Or voltage spikes on the line could have done them in. (Although I hope your power strip has surge arrestors on it.)

  2. Check out PC Power and Cooling, who come highly recommended by just about everybody.

  3. Chances are the motherboard is OK. I have seen this happen several times, and each time the power supply did what it is supposed to do, which is sacrifice itself to protect the motherboard.

You don’t specify what make and model computer you have. Some computers are a very tight fit with respect to the power supply. One in particular is Emachines, which is well-known to have power supplies that give up the ghost. PC Power and Cooling makes a power supply which is an exact replacement, but better quality.

Good luck!

Well, at least you can post.