Burning smell

umm ok so i was using my laptop and the screen flashed a few times then turned off and i could smell a burning smell. I have a compal Hel 80 and i've only had it since early january.
I was just wondering what could be the problem, I turn it on now and it just goes to pheonix screen and turns off.
I bought it from milestonepc but i live in BC so if i can fix it without shipping it back to milestone i would like to do so.
any ideas.

 

Burning smell typically is a VERY bad thing...something is toast and will have to get replaced I'm sure.

 

yeah i assume as much...
is it possible to figure it out and get parts shipped out, so i dont have to ship it back to milestone in ontario

 

My old Sony desktop was smelling burnt one day, so about 5 days later it shut down and I opened, and there was small village of PC men living in the HD. lol Actually when I opened it was fried. And my optical drive was black. Luckily it was still 1 week under warrenty.

 

whats the part at the back left part of the laptop where the power cord is plugged in?
Hard drive? or is that front left?

 

I'd open it up and see if there's any visible burn marks on any parts.

 

I'd suspect one of your cooling fans went nose down and probably causing your system's "SHAZBOT!" sensor to go off and power down after a few seconds of being to warm. This could happen with either your CPU, or GPU(did you clock your GPU up?)..

I'd say to turn it on with the machine on it's side so you can try and pay attention to the fans, but I leave that up to you. I'm not sure how milestone is with self diagnostics of cooked or near cooked hardware..

 

Nope i didnt clock up my gpu, but i never turned off that auto overclock thing?
the smell came from near where the power cord is plugged in

 

I don't have my machine in front of me to be 100% certain on what IS there, but I know your HD is under your wrist area. Something makes me think your GPU might be back in that area (see what I said above), as well as your power inverter/regulator (which is a common servicable part from my history in notebook repair).


Thank Paladin44 and Powernotebooks.com for that nice photo I snagged...

 

left side whre that big fan is
SMell was coming from there

 

Thats your video card...

Like I said, start it up on it's side so you can see if the fan turns.. sounds to me like your thermal protection is kicking in and shutting your machine down.

 

great... how much does it cost to fix that?

 

actually it doesnt even turn on now... I found a place that can service it on the west coast so i think i'm just gonna take it in... *sigh*

 

That's going to run you a fortune... Trust me, I used to do this for a living...

Figure $85+ per hour:
1 hour diagnostic (pop off cover, and try and power it on)
~$500 for the video card...
1 hour repair (the 20 minutes to install a new card.. oh wait. it's only 10 cause the old card was already removed during the first hour)

Plus, you will have to wait for the part.. so you will most likely be without the machine at all for about a week.

Give your dealer a call first before you do anything, maybe they would be willing to ship you (or that repair center) a replacement card to try and repair yourself. The video card is pretty darn simple to replace, probably take you less then 20 minutes.

 

well given that its actually the video card, since my comp doesnt turn on at all now? But given the flickers i saw its probably the video card?
the person said the diagnostic costs 65 bucks and it can take 4-5 hours
He just said 65 bucks not 65 bucks an hour... i'll have to clarify that

 

actually it might not be the video card...
I just noticed that when i plug in my AC i see the orange light kind of flicker and then go away and the computer wont turn on... When i plug in my battery it turns onto the pheonix screen and then turns off... also when i try to charge my battery the orange charge light, lights up and disappears
any ideas?

 

All computer repair places charge you a 1 hour minimum "Diagnostics" Charge... then +$$ per hour.. usually the same price. So he's saying $65x4-5 ($260-$325) + Diagnotic first hour + Price of the video card.. it's a ripoff..

I'm pretty sure your video card is what is dead, your described what sounds like the fan failing and the card cooking. I've replaced ton's of machines both desktop and notebook that flicker and all that just like you said.

I'd call the reseller and see if they can ship you a card... or somehow meet you in a deal..

The real question you should be asking though, is what caused the card to go? Did the fan just fail? Or did the system get a power spike? (Another words, what is to say the fault isn't maybe in the power system and it will just toast the next card)

 

Read what I just said about a spike in the power system. Maybe your power supply went nose down and took some of the hardware with it (hope not, cause that is a big deal you definatly need your warranty for)..

Back to what I said before "Contact your Manufacturer". I think you said milestone? I know atleast one of those guys floats around here on PNB.

Call the USA branch?? Call the Canada Branch??

 

Hopefully you got this http://www.milestonepc.com/canada/product_info.php?cPath=187_285&products_id=1488
If you did, then you don't have to pay a cent for it.

 

ya i got one of those hel 80 though
i didnt see anywhere i could add an extra warranty so so i didnt look super far into it.

 

You got it in January, but you get 3 years warranty.

Compal HGL30, Core Duo T2400, 14" WXGA, 1280x800, GeForce Go 7600 256MB, 100G 5400rpm HD, DVDRW, DDR2 667 2x512M, 1.3M Camera, wireless abg, 3 year warranty(OS extra)

On the other hand if you got this barebone. You will not get warranty. http://www.milestonepc.com/canada/product_info.php?cPath=187_277&products_id=1311

 

ya i got the one with the3 year.
i'll talk to danny tommorow
thanks

 

i'd not service or even pry open the box if it's on guarantee... well it depends on how your reseller is on the self servicing, but most don't look too happily upon it.

if the fan is not lighting up then i'd say it might be the fan itself; normally compal hel80 runs a fan test upon boot; which in your case fails.

dunno about graphics and whatnot... it could be trivial then again it could not, the case itself that you had it on later after the burning smell came through could mean the graphics and friends could have had been okay then it got fried further on due to the lack of cooling. I'd not run the machine had it not had proper cooling.. maybe shorten somehow the fan outlet with a bulb or so so that the system 'thinks' a fan is running, then just put some proper heavy-duty fan next to the box and take it for a spin... taht is ofcourse if the reseller does not look down on so-called self-service.. which it probably does

good luck.
\

 

Actually, the power frying makes more sense than the graphics card or CPU. I don't remember hearing about smoke coming from a fried CPU or GPU but smoke and a burning smell from a dead PSU is pretty common. Generally, those are less expensive to replace unless you need to get a whole new chassis.

 

No, if it is a dead PSU, then the notebook will not even turn on.

 

Milestone said its covered...

 

Yay! Go me for bugging you to use your warranty!

/me gives self +rep!

 

Give me the +rep for reminding him of the 3 years warranty.

 

He's got what.. 5 points every 24 hours? He has enough to go around

 

Let us know when they fix it, what is wrong.. etc..

Hopefully it isn't anything all that serious so you can get back to your gam.. I mean studies, quickly..

 

its summer i had shoulder surgery a week ago so i'm stuck in bed/home
sooo bored already.
Probably gonan take like a week for it to get there, but atleast its covered.
i'm thinking just video card or power supply, since we might have had a surge or something werid happening with our lights.
Lights that dont work for 2 weeks all of a sudden turn on then my computer dies..

 

That sounds pretty bad.. you might want to get yourself a decent surge suppressor (one with a power cleaner on it, can link some if you want), and perhaps run to the store and get an outlet tester.. they are about $3 USD and really handy to see if your outlet is grounded or wired badly (or any kind of problem).

Lot's of machines that I repaired over the years with bad power supply's were caused by either dirty power (old homes that live in a state of brown-out, etc...), or lack of grounding..

 

yeah, it happens... electricians pay someoen 15 bucks an hour to run the wire and they do it wrong. I know some people who do it.
i got a couple friends that are electricians i'm gonna get them to fix it for my parents one of these days. I have a feeling that could be... not to mention i had a desktop just last year that died on the same outlet... time to go buy a surge bar

 

the real question now... to get a tv tuner or not?

 

Wow, there sure are alot of you all of a sudden that want TV tuners..

 

a lot of it has to do with the arrival of high res feeds for movie

 

Oh? I've got dvd's on demand from Netflix.. but that doesn't require a TV Tuner..

 

does netflix deliver to canada?
and pay per view feeds.

 

I have no Idea, netflix is a service that mails DVD's to me and doesn't have late fee's. It's $15 a month for the plan I chose, and they offer a service that let's me stream full movies to any computer I'm logged into with a broadband internet connection.

netflix.com for more information.

 

what about thermal paste
should i get that arctic silver stuff?

 

do you have blockbuster's in Canada because you can get a one month trial from them.

 

I'm always for keeping things cooler... it will be better on the hardware in the long run, and help keep the area's your hands/lap touch a little from being hot.

 

i'll ask to see if they dont mind doing it while its there

 

hmm depends. If the fan coming on and off constantly really bugs you to hell, get some of it. The fan won't come on as often, but only after having the paste on your processor for a few weeks. I got OCZ paste from Tigerdirect, and it works alright. Though I don't advocate www.tigerdirect.com for anything worth more than $100.