A couple days ago I booted up Left 4 Dead, but then heard a pop and my computer turned off. It smelled like dead electronics so I unplugged the computer. I figured it was a power supply failure, so I ordered a new Corsair HX520 and tried to install it today, hoping that was the only thing that needed replacing.
However my computer most emphatically did not work. Case fans turned on, a few motherboard lights and optical drive power lights turned on, but neither my GPU fan or my CPU fan turned on. Also one of my hard drives sprayed a few sparks from its underside and a bit of smoke came from it. I figure that one is dead. There was also no signal to the monitor or beep codes. I quickly turned the computer off to avoid any potential CPU overheating and tried with only 1 stick of RAM and no hard drives and got the same result.
What does this mean? Does the GPU fan not turning on mean the video card is shot? What does the CPU fan not turning on mean? Is the motherboard dead as well, or the CPU, or both? Should I just spring for a new computer at this point?
(edit) Also, can a power supply failure hurt your RAM?
Best Answer
Final outcome: PSU, system drive, motherboard, CPU and GPU were all dead. The memory survived, and a tech at Fry's repair department said that if you don't see burn marks on memory, it probably is fine and can withstand power surges.
Also if you try a fried CPU in a perfectly good motherboard, it can kill the motherboard. Bottom line is if your motherboard is fried, you better replace the CPU as well. Just trying to diagnose it can burn more perfectly good equipment.