So i bought a new PC in october that i assembled. I came back from a week holiday yesterday, switched on my PC, it ran for a few seconds and then it shut down and i saw smoke coming out.
I opened up the case, switched it on again and everything seemd to run (HD, graphic card fan, case fan, leds, ... except the CPU fan. Obviously also the screen remained black.
I'm going back to the store tomorrow and want to anticipate what they might say? Is this warranty? Can they blame it on me (saying i OC'd, but i didnt)? Could also the MB be damaged? Or should i just try to get a new CPU + fan?

The smoke part sounds scary. Other than that, I think that modern CPUs (or MBs) shut down before running too hot if the fan stops, so, although you might have some damage to the fan and cpu, the mobo should stay intact.

If you're using the boxed cooler for the cpu (the one that comes with the CPU), you shouldn't have any problem with warranty.

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Why snark works.

UPDATE:

I booted the PC again and, while running, i unplugged and re-plugged the cpu fan cable. It's been working again since then.

Also i investigated further what could've caused that large amount of smoke, and discovered that one of the transistors on my graphics card melted. So i guess i need a new graphics card instead of a new CPU... however, thinking it was the CPU, i removed the CPU fan and now it needs new paste between the CPU and the fan, no?

I installed a simple PCI graphics card instead and Windows booted fine.. but ofcourse the CPU temp warning came up after 2 mins.

Can a transistor burning be caused by OC'ing? I didn't do that but i want to make sure they don't doubt me if i claim warranty.

It was a Sparkle GF8800gts btw.

Anyone can help me on those 2 questions?

If you've removed the CPU fan from the CPU then you'll definately want to get a new layer of paste in there. Arctic Silver 5 is generally regarded as the best, though it's unlikely to make more than a couple of degrees C difference so if you don't wanna overclock then any thermal paste should be fine. You'll also wanna give the surfaces a clean before doing so - remnants of the earlier paste aren't going to be advantageous - so get some ArtiClean or Akasa TIM Clean or something to clean the fan and CPU up.

A transistor burning out definately sounds like something that could be caused by overclocking - I imagine trying to increase the voltage to the card could cause it to happen. To be honest though, that's not likely to be the only reason that might happen, and so I doubt they can refute your warrantly claim on that alone.

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Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

Rubbing alcohol all so works. Make sure to pick the bottle of the self with the highest alcohol content. I think you can get it at your local store up to 99% purity. Or if your worried about residue then you can head down to he computer store like Reno suggested. I picked up a little bottle of 99.9% isopropyl for like $4.

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Reality has become a commodity.

BlisTer said:
one of the transistors on my graphics card melted.

<DIV id=result_box dir=ltr>Que, independentemente do que derretido, get it fixada imediatamente. Algo que comecei derretida deve ser sempre fixo.</DIV>

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Speak English on the forums, stop being an ass, or f**k off and get banned. Simple really.

I've never gotten my hands on 99.9% but I did use 91% isopropyl alcohol and that worked fine enough for me. Make sure you clean both the processor surface and the heat sink surface.

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
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Mentholated spirits should be sufficient.

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Aaron's Stuff

"Methylated", and I'd be wary of that leaving residue. Residue = poor contact = less cooling.

I've always used isopropanol, >90% is best, 70% works in a pinch, the commercial products are ideal but probably have limited usefulness past cleaning TIM off heatsink contacts.

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o

The store owner doubted me... he said he'd give me the benefit of the doubt though and he would send it to Sparkle.. see what they say.

The CPU fan still gave me problems though.. after long trials, disconnecting the system fan made the cpu fan work again. Could the problem with the graphics card have cause some disruption to the motherboard or something?

Bah hate this :/

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These words are my diaries screaming out loud

Riven said:
I've never gotten my hands on 99.9% but I did use 91% isopropyl alcohol and that worked fine enough for me. Make sure you clean both the processor surface and the heat sink surface.

I too have only seen 91% maximum. Also you can buy, but I've never used it on a PC:

Camphor spirits: Tis a cleaner and a drying agent. Acetone: Cleaner and a drying agent.

Both are much purer than isopropyl alcohol. BUT as I said, I dunno if you can use them on a PC.

Acetone will remove paint, and can melt some plastics, so be wary.

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The best things in life, aren't things.