PC throws smoke when turning on, possibly water damage?

Hardware Support
1

My issue is less about zorin specifically and more about hardware in general, so I won't be disappointed or anything like that if I can't get a concrete answer here

Arrived home yesterday, today I was gonna use the PC for homework instead of the laptop because worrying about battery health is very distracting, so I turn it on, as usual I realize I again forgot to also plug in the screen, so I go do that right after pressing the power button and hearing the fans and the HDD start, take two steps away, hear a weird noise, look inside the PC (the panel on the side is transparent), I see smoke so I unplug it immediately, and there was also a bit of a weird smell

I really don't think software was at fault here, since last time I booted it up it worked perfectly and debian didn't really update anything on that session, and the kernel from the backports couldn't be to blame neither because it didn't get time to get past grub, so I'm 100% sure the cause has to do with something physical.

I do know that my mom hired someone to do some cleaning in the house on Monday, and I do know they at the very least touched the PC (the end of the power cord was on the table while I usually leave it on the floor), and since the top of the PC has a lot of holes (by design, for easier cooling), my theory is that, assuming they cleaned it with a wet towel carelessly, a bit of water got inside. I thought about waiting a few weeks until the water gets time to fully evaporate (assuming it's water and not something else), but other than smoke there was also a weird noise made by I don't know what (maybe the HDD, since it's at the bottom and easier to reach by the water and is the only part of the PC that usually makes noises, aside from the fan? I'm not sure, but could probably be a possibility).

So the question here is; do you think it'd be safe trying again in a few weeks, or should I take it to a tech repair store when I get more free time to do so in a few months? I'd much prefer having the PC available again soon and without having to spend money on, at the very minimum, having someone check if something's wrong, but I also don't want to start a fire. What do you think?

Also, some extra info that may or may not be useful: PC isn't new, but isn't old neither. Built by someone else in around 2022 or 2023 (I don't remember exactly), 11th gen intel core i5, asus radeon rx 550, 800W power supply with the name "radix VII AG 800M", 16 GB ram that showed with the name "DIMM" or something like that in windows's task manager (pre-installed OS before switching to linux), seagate 2 tb hdd and kingston 500 gb ssd

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Smoke, ozone smell and noise?

Not. Safe.

I would have your Power Supply Unit checked.

4 Likes
3

+1
Do not plug in.
Get PSU checked.
Maybe take a look and see if any visible burn marks on wires, PSU, fan/s or evidence of moisture ingress inside. Does anything smell burnt inside.

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I'm not a Technician but I would think it is the Power Supply. A weird Smell could be a Short Circuit (hopefully right translated) and/or a burned Cable. When it is only the Power Supply, You would only need to replace that. If it goes further ... it could be expensive.

Maybe there is still Waranty on the Machine. If yes, You should send it for a check with the Description.

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I don't see anything that looks burnt. All I see is some dust here and there (not a lot on every component except the HDD, where there is... quite some dust and... a hair?) and quite bad cable management. I'm no expert in that, but I don't think it's a good idea to have most cables touching the ventilation of the power supply...

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Well, the cable that goes into the cpu cooler goes from a black-grayish that doesnt reflect the light of the phone's torch to a suddenly more pure black that reflects a lot the light. I have no clue if this was always like this or not, never took that deep of a look here

I don't know if I have the tools to open it, but back when the smell was still notable but starting to fade out, the smell was more notable from the back side (where the power supply, the cpu, the fan, gpu... actually almost everything except the HDD is)

I will check that and see if there's luck with that (that would be best-case scenario; a pc shouldnt start failing so soon)

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Just checked the website from where the components were bought and they claim to have 3 years of warranty

Matching some dates with other dates, I'm now pretty sure it was bought in early 2023, so the warranty should still apply

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Or possibly a power surge?

Well looking on the bright side it isn't something you have done. Many years ago, putting my first machine together I should have looked more closely at the Asus manual. I shouldn't actually have bothered with it as the auxiliary port concern would not have been in use. Historically, sensibly, connections that join up to a sheathed counterpart are usually in an opposite rotation. Imagine my surprise when I powered on the PC when the firewire connection ... yes, you guessed it, burst into flames!

Fortunately I got a warranty replacement from the shop. Any how, one of my key requirements around the house are power surge protected extension sockets like this one:

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If ever the green power surge diode no longer lights, it has done it's job ... and means replacing the extension device. Unlike the photo, my individual socket switches contain red L.E.D.s when poweed on.

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I have had similar things happen to two of my computers in my life. Both were exploding capacitors on the motherboard. The second time, I had the case open at the time and got to enjoy the cheery, warm glow of a small fire before I yanked the cable out of the back.

I strongly recommend against self-service other than replacing parts, and if you can't nail down which part failed, I'd be wary of that even.

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Also check the gpu pins (power cable to the gpu), some gpu’s from nvidia can burn those.

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Looking at the card he named, it's AMD and low power enough that it doesn't have power from a cable; it's strictly powered by the PCIe slot.

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Okay, that would be the best Case here when You can send it to a Control. What you could do: Check the Power Cables that go to the Motherboard. Plug them out and look if they are molten or if the Pins are damaged - on both Sides, Motherboard and Power Supply (if it should be a modualr Power Supply).

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My dad and the technician did not fully believe it, and my dad specifically kept insisting I tried again. So I did try but recording so they can see the problem (obviously with my hand prepared on the power cord to unplug it as soon as it starts happening again)... a few minutes pass and nothing happens. No smoke, only a bit of smell, which slowly fades away until not even the weird smell remains after a few minutes of running.

Kept waiting for 20 minutes just in case, but nothing. Plugged in the keyboard, ctrl+F2, log in and then type systemctl poweroff, the pc shuts down normally (for safety reasons, I had unplugged everything before plugging in the pc).

As of now, I have been using the PC with no issues for around an hour and so far there are no signs of smoke nor smell.

After thinking about it for a bit, here's my theory as of why that happened and isn't happening anymore: The desk is usually not fully all the way to the wall because the power cable wouldn't have enough space to go behind it without applying pressure onto it. I do know that the person that was hired to clean in here moved some furniture, so, if I had to guess, she moved the table until some parts of it touched the wall, but by doing so, the space where the power cable goes would be so tiny that the cable would be under constant pressure, making it malfunction when trying to use it.

Well, whatever happened, at least it didn't seem to harm the PC, so that's good enough to me

13

Could it be some dust in the power supply that got fried?

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That's another possibility. Some cables that go near the power supply had a bit of dust on the more visible parts

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That being the case, time to invest in a power extension lead with surge protection so the power lead from the PC goes into that and not the wall socket.

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Maybe invest into a UPS a small one will do, something that will keep it running long enough to shutdown gracefully.