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[yodathesoda]

So I moved today.
Everything was going well until I set up my computer... I set everything correctly and proceeded to turn it on. I was then met with the scent of smoke and loud noises coming from the PC. Now everytime I try to turn it on it does not recognize that there is a HD in the primary master slot and asks for a boot disk. The smokey smell is still present. Anybody know whats up? Is the PC dead? Any help appreciated.

 

[jecclr2003]

you want my expert analysis?














YOU SIR... ARE FUCKED!

 

[Tekky]

Open the computer up and see where the heatsink landed.

Then go to newegg.com (or pricewatch.com or other shopping site) and order your new computer.

 

[Myllz]

I hear Dell has some nice deals going on.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

It's time to eliminate, and this usually means you need to spare parts to switch around.

Things to check:

BIOS settings
Hard Drive (dur)
IDE cable
Motherboard

see if you can get the disk recognized on the 2nd IDE channel; this could tell you something.

but rest assured: whatever went wrong, it's bad.

 

[Burger]

I once had a similar thing happen.

A capasitor blew up big time on the power supply, still worked fine tho. Taiwan Quality!

 

[yodathesoda]

OK so I'm pretty fucked then? That's what I figured but thought I'd just confirm it. Ah well does anyone know where online or off would be the best place to buy a PC? I am Canadian.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

If you're saavy and can put them together yourself, I like Newegg.com

if you get saavy, you won't need to replace every component. Your floppy drive is prolly fine, B.

 

[BigJonsson]

I once had a similar thing happen.

A capasitor blew up big time on the power supply, still worked fine tho. Taiwan Quality!

was it a flux capacitor?

 

[mattx5]

NCIX.com

Awesome site for us Canadians

 

[yodathesoda]

I don't have the know how to build my own so anybody have any ideas of where the best place to look would be for a new PC for about 1000$ CAN? Which store have you found to have the best packages?

 

[Vormund]

It's not hard. Do some research and build.

 

[yodathesoda]

Alright keeping in mind that I don't need a super state of the art PC gaming rig how's this compared to most places? I haven't kept up with prices in years.


Pavilion a530n A64 3200+ 512MB/200GB 48xCD-Rom DVD+RW/CD-RW


$1,097.49 ea CDN

Processor:
AMD Athlon™ 64 processor 3200+

Speed:
2000 Mhz

L2 Cache:
1024 KB

Base Memory:
512 Mb

Max Memory:
2048 Mb

Memory Type:
PC2700 DDR SDRAM

Hard Disk :
200 Gb

Hard Disk Type:
Ultra DMA

CD/DVD Type Comments:
48xCD-Rom, DVD+RW/CD-RW

CD-ROM Drive:
48X

DVD-ROM Drive:
None

Optical Storage:
DVD+RW/CD-RW

Communications:
56K V.92

Networking:
10/100Base-T

Audio:
Integrated audio

Video:
NVIDIA GeForce FX5200XT AGP 8X graphics with 128MB DDR to video memory and TV out

Bus Type:
PCI

USB Ports:
5 USB 2.0

FireWire (IEEE 1394) Ports:
2

Operating System:
Windows XP Home Edition

Warranty:
1 year limited warranty

 

[Kefkaff]

tigerdirect.ca

 

[Hitman]

That happened to my old PC when I turned it on.. Except I knew exactly what happened. I had dropped a screw between the motherboard and the computer metal case. So that screw conducting between the metal globs on the motherboard and computer case short something out and that smokey smell was everywhere.

 

[SickBoy]

Have you opened up your case yet? It could be as simple as a cable getting disconnected and jamming up a fan or something.

Look inside and make sure nothing looks out of place. If you're really adventurous, turn the computer on while the case is off and see if you can determine if anything's smoking, and if so, what it is.

-SB

 

[yodathesoda]

Yeah I've opened her up and looked for anything suspicious. The main problem is that it boots up and cannot find the hard drive. Then it prompts me for a boot disk. I just feel like saying fuck it because the computer is about 6 years old and is constantly shitting out on me.

 

[Ecrofirt]

You sir, need to buy yourself a new PC.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

You sir, need to buy yourself a new PC.

fuck that! That'll be like buying a new car because the alternator blew.

Unless you're PC is old and you want a new one anyway, you could almost assuredly get your PC back up and running for less than $200 (maybe MUCH less) if you knew what to replace.

You're never going to learn if you don't even try. I taught myself nearly everything I know about PC's, and when mine is not burning itself to a crisp (go Sapphire!) it's kickin' ass.

GET SAAVY

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Coupla things since I just noticed your posted specs.

1. Where is your HP warranty and tech support? Will they not replace it?

2. The only thing NOT state-of-the-art (or reasonably so) about your PC is the GeForceFX 5200. That thing is hanous, but you don't care and it's obviously OK.

 

[Maxwell House]

Your computer is six years old? Jesus, you needed to buy a new one anyways!