Burning Smell From M17X R3

My R3 was charging while off and I came and booted it up and I smelled a mild burning smell coming from inside it, I immediately turned it off and opened it up to see the problem. When I opened it there was a burnt smell inside but I couldn't figure out what it was, I rebooted and the smell was gone. Anyone know what the problem could have been and if I should be very worried. Thanks

 

I would be worried, sometimes they leave plastic on the heatsinks inside the system, so you could check for that...but with a burning smell I would just call dell and tell them to replace the system personally

 

Occasionally, when a new electronic item is fired up, it can do that. If the smell is gone, I would be aware and monitor the issue. However, if the smell never comes back, I would not worry.

Burning electronics has a very unique smell. Do you know what that smells like, and is that what it was? If that is the case, I would worry even less (since you state the smell is gone). If electronics are really burning, your computer would be toast (or a particular component). It was most likely the solder flux burning off.

If it was a plastic burning smell, I would be more worried in that case.

 

Thanks guys. Looks like it was the GPU fan. There was a strong burnt smell coming from it while the computer was off and once I monitored it during boot up and watching a video it was not spinning at all so I guess I just need that fan replaced. Every component in the system seemed to be working fine so that might just have been it.

 

Now the GPU fan seems to be working, I think you may have been right about the plastic on the heat sinks.

 

Did it smell like burning components or burning flux? Two completely different smells. Either way, if something was burning, your laptop would not be operating at all right now. So in all likelihood it's nothing to worry about esp if it doesn't come back.

It's happened to me a few times on the various laptops I've owned over the years. Sometimes I'd get the hint of something burning, but it's be gone after a few minutes.

If something was really on fire you would know it. My Asus G71gx caught fire. Thick black smoke started flowing from the vents and the smell was so strong, it didn't leave my room for a week.

(it was ok, the lighting controller board caught fire idk why, but the rest of the laptop was fine and I used it for the next year without an issue.)

 

It was just a smell from the laptop during boot up. When I shut it off it was gone except when I smelled the GPU fan directly, now after using it a bit that smell is almost completely gone also. I don't know if you guys ever played with cap guns when you were younger but that is what it smelled like to me.