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Power supply issue...maybe?

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5 replies

by laneygirl32 3 views

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I have an Emachine T2682. I turned it on one day and it wasn't recognizing my monitor (46in flat screen tv). This was unusual because it has worked on this tv for about 8 months with no issue. So I tried to power down the computer by holding the power button. It would not turn off but it was running loud, I had to unplug it to turn it off. I gave it a couple hours and tried again. This time it made a sound (like a circuit going) and a small puff of white smoke came out of the back of the machine. The green light on the power button was still on so I quickly unplugged it and haven't touched it. Does this sound like a power supply issue or did I fry my motherboard? I would like to save this computer if possible. **I upgraded to an Nvidia Geforce video card and added ! GB of RAM.

5 replies

by oh smeg

After all they don't use good ones in their systems just the cheapest that they can buy. Though depending on what went wrong here it could have damaged the M'Board but start with the easy stuff and change the Power Supply.

As for the green LED being lit on the front this only means that there is 3 V DC present and in no way implies that any of the other Voltage Rails are working or that the 3 V DC Rail has enough current to do anything but light a LED.

However if the M'Board is dead you can always remove the HDD and fit it to a USB Lead and read your data off it so you don't loose anything important.

Col

by databaseben

seeing a puff of smoke is not good news. but the fuse in the power supply could have blown. in which case, pressing the power button would result in zero activity by the machine.

but its really hard to say what the problem might be--from our end. you will undoubtedly have to open up the unit and see where the problem is.

by gemmz

If there was white smoke then something was damaged.

The question is what and where, and the amount of white smoke would give you an indication of how extensive the damage was.

I would suggest taking a look inside the box - you have replaced a few things, which means you know what is inside and have an idea of what it should look like. Make sure the unit is unplugged (I don't really need to say that do I?) and take a peek. And a sniff too. The circuit boards give a distinctive smell when fried, and will discolor; that I am afraid is serious. Smoke usually means replacing things.

If in doubt, power up again whilst uncovered - stand back for a moment and see where the smoke comes from. It might help trace what is up. This is a counsel of last resort though. Sorry.

by coreyrosinski86

Hello. Just to let you know, in my opinion, this sounds like a fried motherboard. I am an I.T. student at the moment and that sounds like a classic case of frying your motherboard. Also, you were saying that you JUST replaced your RAM (telling me that you've been around your motherboard lately), so it sounds pretty likely. It's happened in this class several times so I've seen it in action. LoL. If your motherboard is fried, a suggestion for the future would be to invest in some anti-static mats or wrist wraps. Sorry to hear about it!

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