PC emits smoke & smell, OS does not load

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veritas7

Gawd
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Nov 7, 2007
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Hi all, please bear the incoming wall of text - I'll try and make the points as concise as I can. Please help this scared college student :[
  • This morning I decided to boot up my computer - the computer gets stuck on the Windows 7 boot screen (with the Windows logo).
  • So I decide to retry booting... still no luck, and I remember last night as I shut down, it got stuck on the shutdown process (which I thought was weird, but not uncommon to Windows) so I held down the power button to force power off.
  • I then try the Windows Repair Mode... it gets stuck on the stock blue Win 7 blackground, no cursor or anything... so again, I shut down.
  • The next time I try to boot up, the system emits a bit of smoke from the rear and has a sweet smell, to which I quickly shut it off.
  • I unplug everything, power cycle, then only plug in my kb+mouse, and boot to BIOS. BIOS is OK - I can load profiles fine, it detects my hard drives, etc.
  • I try Safe Mode - it takes forever on the driver/sys file classpnp.sys, but eventually loads... to my dismay, it takes forever again to get to desktop, and when I check [My] Computer, no drives (or ANYTHING!) shows up... Bad sign!!!
  • I then try the Repair Mode again... which works, albeit really slow loading it, which probably took just as long the first time, so I wasn't waiting long enough, not a good sign.
  • It finds no problems - WTF - and I can post the summary of all the diag tests it did (System disk check, Disk failure check, Disk metadata check, .etc) but they all passed.
  • I then tried the memory check after the Repair did not find any problems - the memory test passed %100, then Windows decided it should try and boot again...
  • Windows boots, however, just like before, it takes forever at the logo, and it comes to my login screen. I log in, but rather than being a few second/instantaneous login, it takes longer than normal, then just ends up on a black background with the cursor, and stays that way for 5 minutes before I shut down again.
So, what should I do next? Reinstall Windows, and see if my Windows copy is simply borked?

Memory checked out by Windows, OS drive is probably fine but the volume/Windows data may be corrupted, graphics card is fine as it's outputting normally...

My guess is either 1) corrupted Windows (doubt it now due to the SMOKE) 2) broken PSU or 3) broken motherboard.

I did not see any broken or charred capacitors from my visual scan of my mobo, but I could have missed them/they could not be obvious.

My system: (Windows 7 Pro x64)
OS Drive is Intel G1 80GB SSD
CPU: Intel Core2 Q9550
RAM: 4x2GB Gskill 1066 DDR2
Mobo: Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
PSU: Corsair TX850W
Sound: Creative X Fi
VC: Nvidia GTX 285

Please help! After I get some sleep, I'll be trying first
1) swap PSUs (I have a spare 750W)
2) reinstall Windows
3) RMA mobo (probably no matter what though now, as I don't trust it)

I can take any pictures/request if needed in order to help me solve this! Thank you! :(
 
Make sure your Videocard didn't burn out (Parts could hang that use the 3D aero if a memory unit partially burned out).

Also, could be part of your PSU burned out so the power to your graphics card/hard drive isn't enough so everything is running really slowly/unstable. Get a multimeter and check all the rails.
 
Alright, I'll be swapping out the power supply first, check if I can boot, if not, then reinstall Windows.

If I recall, during the Windows install, it uses Aero, right? If it does, then if the install DVD/USB fails to launch in Aero, then you're right, it's the graphics card (which I got replaced only earlier this year by RMA from XFX... ugh).

Edit: Also I'm not that competent when it comes to E E stuff.... I am absolutely terrible at it for my life, nor do I own a multimeter/ammeter/voltmeter :(
 
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Aero isn't used during the install IIRC.

My guess is this: The PSU killed the drives. .
 
Sha bam... hooked up a different power supply, now it actually boots to normal desktop with Aero.

However, it booted only with the OS drive. When I added my other drives (that hold my user folders, and other data drives, four in total) it would take an extremely long amount of time to boot and then when I log in, it goes to a black desktop.
 
So far, Games drive (E), Temp Files (recent downloads, scratch disks) (F), and my drive dedicated to movie projects and 3d rendering (I) are ok.

However, so far (without checking in another computer, I have a laptop, will be putting in an enclosure soon) the data drive for my user files (Documents, Pictures, etc) appears to be a casulty, that'lll teach me to backup more often (probably 3+ month old backup).

Luckily I don't really value my data that much, as I have my important stuff on other devices (which I should backup too... ugh - music on 2.5" hotswap/usb drive, schoolwork on laptop...)

However I lost obviously like 3+ months of saved webpages, desktop items (custom shortcuts I had to figure out) and saved images.

Bah. Hopefully it's just this one drive.
 
Went through Corsair RMA, and swapping in my power supply since it'll be a while for the next one to come (at least late next week).

What things do you guys suggest for testing/stressing other components in my system in order to see if anything else is malfunctioning or prone to kick it any time soon?
 
[Testing the RAM]
Download Memtest86+ v4.00 or whatever the latest version is, unzip it, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Let Memtest+ run for at least three hours on each stick of RAM separately as well as test the RAM all together. Go for a full 24 hours if you want to be completely sure that the RAM is not a problem. If you start seeing errors, than your RAM is defective or you have incorrect settings for the RAM.

[Testing the Hard Drive]
Download the CD image of Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Test the hard drive and see if any problems are found. DFT will run on most manufacturers' hard drives. Alternatively, you can use Seagate's SeaTools for DOS to test a Seagate or Maxtor drive. For a Western Digital drive, you could use Data Lifeguard Tools for DOS to test a Western Digital drive.

[Testing the CPU]
Use Prime 95, OCCT, Orthos or Intel Burn Tool to stress test the CPU.

[Testing the GPU]
Use Furmark or ATI Tool to stress test the GPU. If you see any artifacts, the GPU could be overheating, too overclocked, or faulty.
 
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