Area 51 m9750 being evil again......burnt smell

Hey everyone,

I thought I was going to be set with Alienware working on replacing both of my 8700 cards. As you all know, I've had to remove one to get decent performance, but it's still running hot. Just recently, the left rear fan vent started to emit a burnt plastic smell, and I was immediately on the phone with Alienware about the issue. Unfortunately for me, they seemed really calm about the issue and wanted me to wait for the video cards to come in before worrying about it. I was very persistent about sending it in, being that I'm grasping at straws here......this notebook is a nightmare. I gues if the thing bursts into flames, then they'll let me send it in.
I didnt' really want to waste any time, so I decided to pop open the bottom door myself. But do to my surprise, nothing looked burnt. I raised the heat sinks and everything looked fine. I think the fan itself may be going out......
Rest assured that when I get my new video cards this tuesday, and I power it on for all of about 5 minutes and begin to get that burnt smell, I'll be on the phone again.......
Just to be a little more descriptive, this almost smells like a silicon plastic type heat smell. The other vent is scentless.

Thanks,
Gabe

P.S. - If this issue doesn't get resolved, I'm affraid I'm going to have to return it all together.......with or without the restocking fee..... Here's 400 dollars rent for letting me use the compter.... ​

 

Gabez,

To be honest, I wouldn't worry too much about the burnt plastic/silicon smell you are experiencing. Electronics typically emit that smell the first time they are powered and usually go away a few days to a week later. This is due to "burn in" where the components are warming up to their operating temperatures for the first time. I would worry only if it persists for weeks on end. Heck, my new Samsung 42" LCD still has a faint odor occasionally. I wouldn't worry. Besides, if you graphics cards/cpu/memory are in the temp range to burn, you'll definitely being seeing performance issues such as tearing/artifacting/hard freezes.

 

Yeah, I agree with chris it burn off in a few days. If it doesn't go away in a week, open your CPU panel and see if AW left a piece of plastic stuck to the CPU or something.