Potential Problem?

P

PainInverter

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 10, 2009
Messages
145
My wife went downstairs this morning and smelled a slight "warm plastic smell" from my system. I've never had it before, though I know the smell, am slightly smelling it now and it's not a good smell to be having.

It seems be to exhausting (where I smell it most) out the rear fan, and not the PSU, though the PSU is right above the rear fan, so who knows. Problem is, temps are completely normal, and I see no visible damage/burnt capacitors etc. on my mobo.

Since I've never had it with this system before, can someone please let me know if I should be concerned? What could emit this smell out of nowhere?

It's not massively strong, but enough to be noticed, and never had it on this system before.

*Note: I do serious work from home, and really could use feedback about whether or not I could have a potential problem and with what.

Specs:
Gigabyte UD5 X-58
i7 950 (stock)
6GB Corsair Dominator
GTX 480
Corsair 850HX
WD Raptor and a Seagate HDD for storage.

Temps (HWMonitor; perfectly normal/usual):
TMPIN0 34C (northbridge, I think)
TMPIN1 31 (southbridge, I think)
TMPIN2 41 (ambient, I think) ...these three could be mixed-up, but either way, temps are fine.

CPU - all cores between 37C-45C
GPU - 44C-48C
HDDs - 33C and 31C, respectively.

PSU is as cool as can be... not even warm air from exhaust.

Thanks in advance for any feedback/ideas.
 
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I had this one time and lightning had gone through my phone line and fried my modem. The smell was actually burnt silicone which is probably what you are smelling. If you have a telephone line hooked up to your computer check your modem. Other than that, and assuming everything is operating normal, I have no idea??
 
peanutskeeter said:
I had this one time and lightning had gone through my phone line and fried my modem. The smell was actually burnt silicone which is probably what you are smelling. If you have a telephone line hooked up to your computer check your modem. Other than that, and assuming everything is operating normal, I have no idea??
Click to expand...

Wow... well, no lighting here, fortunately.

I run cable, so no phone line.

Yeah, everything is running fine... plenty of airflow (HAF 932 case), temps are normal, but I'm seriously concerned that the smell has just started out of nowhere. I cant afford to have something die on me right now.

Could it be silicone off something else? Could it even be the rear fan itself somehow? Doubt it. I also think I can smell it a bit out of the top exhaust fan, but mainly rear.

It's not a burning smell, but a strong "warm plastic smell" (I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about) that seems to be coming from somewhere in my system and not the PSU, I don't think. Put my nose there, and don't smell it. Only out the rear fan... enough that my wife smelled it when she came downstairs and turned off my system just in case.

I don't know, but since I do serious work from home, as stated, I am concerned.
 
I had a sort of burning smell with my old P4. I used some compressed air to get the dust out. No more smell. It might not be your problem, but its good to rule it out as a possibility.
 
Yeah, I've done exactly that... keep it dust-free, even just blew the hell out of my system now. Unfortunately hasn't taken care of it as of yet. But again, it's not a burning smell, really, just that overly-warm plastic smell, slightly sweet maybe, as if something was getting too hot.

Don't get it... could it even be the rear fan itself?
Perhaps the bearings are going and that's creating the smell?

Considering I've no other symptoms, temps are great and PSU doesn't even feel warm... it's got to be just some odd thing. Why/how it started out of nowhere like this, I don't know, but I don't want to have to be concerned.

Even physically felt RAM and my mobo, GPU etc., and nothing feels hot at all. It's still here, though......
 
If you can, try a different PSU to completely rule that out.

Also, remove the motherboard from the PC and look underneath it to make sure that none of the plastic pins holding the heatsinks is melting.
 
The only other PSU I have is an HX620 which isn't quite strong enough to power my system, so that could lead to problems.

I cant remove my mobo right now because I'm swamped with work, but I don't think anything is melting. That would have a stronger, more burning scent, I'd think. This is just a slightly strong, sort of sweet plastic smell. I also physically felt around my mobo, and there's not a single area that's hot.

More-over, I just got my nose right up to my PSU, and no smell. It's coming from the rear exhaust fan, so let me ask...

...is it possible it could actually be the stupid fan?

Also got my nose right inside my case... and there's no smell in the case itself.

The only thing that even feels warm on my mobo is the NB sink, and it's a normal temp.

So, long story short: no smell inside the case, temps are fine, nothing feels hot, and I can only smell it from outside the case coming from the rear exhaust fan, not from the PSU exhaust... so I should probably now switch-out the fan to be sure.

If the bearing(s) in a fan are going or any lubricant leaking, the bearings are in a plastic housing, so me being a mechanic and all, it's the only thing that makes sense to me. I've also been looking around, and apparently, even with fans that aren't brand new and have that "new smell", some people have experienced this, possibly due to lube leaking from the fan bearings.

It started within a two or three hour period, and since it definitely doesn't seem to be coming from the PSU, from what I can tell, then is must be the fan itself. I've seen it happen with other things in mechanics. Sometimes bearings "just go" immediately, and that's it.

I guess I'll have to see what happens.
 
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