Unknown Burned Smell from/around my Thinkpad

Two days ago while I was using my Thinkpad, there was suddenly a burned smell, like electric burning from or very close to my laptop. It seems to have come from the left side toward the rear, which was around where the AC adapter was plugged into the laptop (but the adapter block itself was on the right side, not where the smell came from).

I tried to find out what's happening but couldn't, so I shut down the machine immediately. A few minutes later, I turned it on, and nothing seemed wrong, and no more burned smell.

What could have been going on? Could something have been damaged, even though it hasn't shown up to me?

This is a T61 less than 2 year old. I had been just doing the normal web surfing, and nothing else except the Ethernet cable and the speaker were plugged in (both were also on the left side--both still work fine now). I always place my laptop in such a way it has ventilation underneath.

Just a couple days earlier, if anyone noticed, I posted a thread about hearing something clicking (as if the spinning of something was being blocked, such as the fan or the HD). I wonder if it could be related or not. Both happened suddenly, and both have not recurred since.

Any suggestions what could it be?

 

Is this t61 insured?

 

What do you mean by "insured"? Do you mean warranty?
Btw I have seen many other people had similar problems. Some say it may be due to burning some parts, some say the dusts. In my case, I just opened the laptop to take a look, and nothing visibly burned, e.g. the fan looks OK. Also it's not dusty at all. I didn't have any battery inserted.

 

The fan would have been my guess ..with a accumulation of dust.

 

Yes, I mean insurance or warranty, basically its the same thing.
-Renee

 

Could you check if the fan is still working?

 

It seems normal. The hw temperatures are usually between 40 and 50C, at most 52-53C (is this the only way to find out if the fan is working or not?). When I opened the machine I saw the fan without visible burns or dusts, nor the surroundings. But since the burning smell was real and almost certainly came from the left rear of my laptop, it's got to be some damage somewhere, no? Perhaps sooner or later it will cause something serious?

This machine's original warranty expired but I still have a few months warranty extension by the cc co.. Is there anything I should or can do before the warranty extension runs out?

 

Hmm well if you don't mind having the machine for whatever period it takes for the CC company to handle the request, I would send it in. If you smelt anything burning that usually is not something you want to just ignore, haha.

 

Did you ever hear the phrase "letting the magic smoke out"? Your laptop just did. Send it in while you still have warranty. Make sure that it is understood what exactly happened when you send it in for service. I am amazed that the unit is still working--usually when you can smell a burned stinky odor the system is immediately dead. When you send it in for service under warranty, make sure that you do a complete hardware inventory list and include the AC Adapter for testing. Since you have it running; now would be a great time to run the files and settings transfer wizard and burn a DVD with the resulting file. Back up everything and verify that the files are not corrupt in case the hard drive is wiped when they test for damage and repair the unit.

 

Don't send your HDD! Pull it, place it in an enclosure, rescue your data, and let whatever service channel(s) you have available to you examine and service your computer. Never send anything to EasyServ or anyone else that isn't part of the problem.

Good luck.

@Eqwatz: the machine kept running because it's a ThinkPad.

Cheers,
~tdr.