Small flame coming from my PC

[Hyperion]

I have just turned my PC on and after a few seconds there was a burning smell and then a little smoke and a small flame which extinguished with a few seconds.

Is this a common fault? I don't want to try again just on case it completely goes up in flames.

Any advice would be helpful.

 

[fleet]

Natures way of telling you to get a new one - and pray this one was backed up!

 

[Hyperion]

Partly backed up. Never seen this happen before. Guess this is beyond repair then. I am not sure if this is an electrical fault from the mains/battery or the unit itself

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I had an old flame cumming on my PC, but she made me delete it.

It could be a build up of dust? I'd be inclined to open it up and have a look in.

 

[Hillian1]

Turn it off and don't turn it on again.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Partly backed up. Never seen this happen before. Guess this is beyond repair then. I am not sure if this is an electrical fault from the mains/battery or the unit itself

Just an outside chance that it's dust that accumulated on the chip that ignited as the chip warmed up. If so, all will be fine. Pretty much any other reason I can think of means it's not good news....

 

[Hyperion]

Sorry it's a Laptop not a desktop computer. I tried twice and both times it done the same. Better see if my insurance covers it

 

[Boris Yeltsin]

In my experience flames coming from the PC aren't generally a good thing.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Dial 999 quick, you need the fire brigade!

 

[beorhthelm]

Is this a common fault?

i like the understated concern. no its not. if its from turning on, i'd wager its a popped capacitor. could be either power supply (easily replacable) or on motherboard (still replacable, have to remove and reseat memory, CPU, cabling etc. the drive will still be good to put in another machine to recover (very very unlikly possiblity a harddrive cap but ive never heard of that).

just seen its a laptop... forget about the easily replacable, pretty terminal/expensive to repair. drive will still be OK i expect. i'd discount dust etc as it takes minutes for a machine to heat up enough to start combusting stuff.

 

[nail-Z]

Have you recently installed a new firewall?


*boom* *tish*

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Sounds like you've been on one of the conspiracy theory websites and the laptop has been infected with the "Mission Impossible" trojan.

 

[Daffy Duck]

If I were you I'd run.
She's gonna blow!

 

[Hyperion]

i like the understated concern. no its not. if its from turning on, i'd wager its a popped capacitor. could be either power supply (easily replacable) or on motherboard (still replacable, have to remove and reseat memory, CPU, cabling etc. the drive will still be good to put in another machine to recover (very very unlikly possiblity a harddrive cap but ive never heard of that).

just seen its a laptop... forget about the easily replacable, pretty terminal/expensive to repair. drive will still be OK i expect. i'd discount dust etc as it takes minutes for a machine to heat up enough to start combusting stuff.

Thanks for that. Yep the flame was almost immediate. The bigger loss is the family photos so not sure if that can be recovered at all.

 

[willyfantastic]

Thanks for that. Yep the flame was almost immediate. The bigger loss is the family photos so not sure if that can be recovered at all.

yeh can get the hard drive out and get a usb convertor and use it as an external drive for your new pc

 

[Hyperion]

yeh can get the hard drive out and get a usb convertor and use it as an external drive for your new pc

Ohhhh you know I actually think I have one of those from 5 or so years ago. Forgot all about that. (sneaks off to loft) thanks for your help ppl. NSC comes good again

 

[happypig]

Drive is *probably* ok.
buy yourself a usb caddy off ebay but check connectors first to see whether you need Sata or Pata; Sata is two strips, a short one and a long one, Pata is two rows of pins:

http://www.newmodeus.com/harddrives/SATAPATA.jpg

 

[Hyperion]

Have you recently installed a new firewall?


*boom* *tish*

Very Droll, but made me chuckle still

 

[Hyperion]

Drive is *probably* ok.
buy yourself a usb caddy off ebay but check connectors first to see whether you need Sata or Pata; Sata is two strips, a short one and a long one, Pata is two rows of pins:

http://www.newmodeus.com/harddrives/SATAPATA.jpg

I have a 2.5 inch hard drive enclosure that comes with a USB connector cable. I think you place the hard drive in the unit then connect via USB to new computer. Any good?

 

[public school boy]

Stick it in the bath, turn on the taps and switch it on. Please let us know what happens.