okay, the subject is a little off, I -know- I should be worried.here's the scoop.basically I have an old pc, celeron or something here, which I wasusing as a media PC, to watch my downloaded movies on my tv, with s-video out and such.anyway.since around when I put it together, I was getting little shocksoccasionally from it. I don't know what it could be. every time ithappened, I got the shock from the case itself. and each time Iquickly unplugged the computer. once plugged back in, it didn't haveany problems.recently I haven't been getting shocks at all, but just yesterday Iturned it on, and it was running for a while just idle, and I smelledburning, and then it froze. I quickly rushed over and unplugged it,and looked inside, and to my surprise there was a component on themotherboard that was glowing red hot. I don't know what the componentis called, but here's a link to a picture of it, then a picture of themotherboard to show reference as to where it is.first I'd like to point out, part of my problem is likely dust anddirt. but we'll get to that.as I said, this component was glowing red hot. but! the computer turnson just fine even now. it boots and everything.aside from dust, what might have caused this, and should I beconcerned, once I clean it?

Just buy a new PC. You'll be much happier in the end. Here you can get adual core ATOM processor (very low power), 1g RAM, 256G HD and a DVD drivefor $260 (including 16.5% VAT). You may have to shop around for one with an S-Video out, but if you arebuying an LCD TV in the near future, just get one with a compatible(to the new motherboard) video connection. Geoff.-- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

not be an expensive fix. > > Sams right, also no-one has mentioned to you, but DO NOT short outthe > connections where the cap was !! that would surely lead to pain :-)(You > would be short circuiting the power supply) > > -- > Regards .............. Rheilly PThen he'd REALLY see some glowin red stuff.G=B2

pc issue.. should I be worried?

Dec 09, 2009 25 Replies

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Paul 16 years ago

I had a similar thing happen about 4-5 yrs again, with a P4 system I had. I brushed my arm against the case one day, and felt a tingle.

Which, I knew didnt sound right. What happened in my case, was not only was the power earthing the case, it was also frying the CPU (the system kept crashing), and it was screwing up the videocard. If I turned it off and disconnected the video cable, and touched the pins, they were live

I found out what the prob was after. The earth wire had come out of the power point, it was plugged into. Lucky for me, I got onto Intel, who replaced the CPU for free (the fried CPU had to go back to Malaysia to get replaced). I used a lower spec CPU, in the meantime. The replacement took 2 weeks to come back. I had to replace the mobo tho. After that, it was all good

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stratus46 16 years ago

On Dec 10, 3:18=A0am, "Rheilly Phoull" wrote: not be an expensive fix. >

Then he'd REALLY see some glowin red stuff.

G=B2

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Gus 16 years ago

the component the OP has circled in the photo is labeled as a capacitor.

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bz 16 years ago

Gus wrote in news:33b62e5e-b2e5-408c-92b6- snipped-for-privacy@a21g2000yqc.googlegroups.com:

My bad. I should have looked at the pictures. Strange that the chip doesn't unsolder itself from the board if it gets that hot!

bz please pardon my infinite ignorance, the set-of-things-I-do-not-know is an infinite set.

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William R. Walsh 16 years ago

Hi!

Very well then. I'll stand aside in light of your experience here.

However, in the hope of not making things worse, I'd be very hesitant to suggest that someone just pull components out of a circuit and hope it still works properly...

William

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kronflux 16 years ago

well since the discussion here has gone on since I last commented, I'd just like to add that the system is running perfectly fine. haven't had a single problem with it. checked the temperatures and such too, everything seems rather normal. also, as I stated before, it was confirmed that it was not 'red hot' but simply arching inside the component, so it was lighting up, but not getting 'hot' persay. which is why it did not unsolder itself, or blacken the area around it. I haven't turned the thing off in days, and as I said, no problems. cheers!

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