Curse

Braxton619 · Jan 19, 2010, 04:44 AM // 04:44

I was at my friends house this afternoon and he is having PC problems. Whenever he plays a PC game (after playing it for about 10-15 minutes), smoke comes out of his case. After 15 minutes of playing the game, the PC freezes. To test the temperature, I downloaded Everest Ultimate Edition (trial) for him. When he is playing a game, his GPU rises to about 99C (210F). He has 2 cores and they are about 82C (180F) each.

What advice do you have for him? He is not computer savvy and does not know what to do. Thanks!!!

gone · Jan 19, 2010, 04:51 AM // 04:51

is it[tower] filthy inside?
has this[seeing smoke] just started?
is the PC/GPU overclocked?

Braxton619 · Jan 19, 2010, 04:58 AM // 04:58

It's not overclocked I believe. Yeah he said he has been seeing the smoke for a few weeks but only happens when he plays games.

I have no idea if its filthy inside.

gone · Jan 19, 2010, 05:20 AM // 05:20

common sense should tell the both of you to stop usage of it. in my many years of tinkering with computers, I can tell you, seeing smoke is a bad thing.

End · Jan 19, 2010, 05:36 AM // 05:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by flubber

common sense should tell the both of you to stop usage of it. in my many years of tinkering with computers, I can tell you, seeing smoke is a bad thing.

nah thats when you grab the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers and make smores.

On a side note grab a can of air and clean that thing out...then if possible grab a box fan take the side of the case off and turn it on in place of the side of the case. Load it up then and see what the temps are then...if it's still doing that with all those fixed theres something deeper to blame. In reality the cleaning out should be fine...but the box fan might just get rid of some of that smokey smell.

GWfan#1 · Jan 19, 2010, 05:42 AM // 05:42

Try running the game with the case open to see what the cause is, just be cautious. If it is filthy inside get a hold of a can of compressed air (dust remover) and clean out all the places that should allow air to flow. If that doesnt work you might want to check if everything is connected properly.

Songbringer · Jan 19, 2010, 06:34 AM // 06:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by End

nah thats when you grab the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers and make smores.

On a side note grab a can of air and clean that thing out...then if possible grab a box fan take the side of the case off and turn it on in place of the side of the case. Load it up then and see what the temps are then...if it's still doing that with all those fixed theres something deeper to blame. In reality the cleaning out should be fine...but the box fan might just get rid of some of that smokey smell.

Thats a terrible idea. A computer always runs better and cooler with the tower closed. I don't have much advice beyond replacing the fans and maybe look into see if the power supply could be having issues and cleaning it out really well. Maybe apply some new thermal paste to the processor but that wouldn't stop it from smoking. DONT LET THE MAGIX BLUE SMOKE OUT!!!

subarucar · Jan 19, 2010, 06:39 AM // 06:39

Open the case and as the others said, check for dust. While you are at it, make sure everything is connected properly, specifically the fan(s). You may also want to check how organised the wiring is, if it's messy and all over the place it can restrict airflow, if that's the case grab some cable ties or electrical tape and tidy it up.

notskorn · Jan 19, 2010, 06:45 AM // 06:45

If its smoke and not dust then the computer is probably gonna be really dead soon

Mojo Moo · Jan 19, 2010, 12:33 PM // 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Braxton619

I was at my friends house this afternoon and he is having PC problems. Whenever he plays a PC game (after playing it for about 10-15 minutes), smoke comes out of his case. After 15 minutes of playing the game, the PC freezes. To test the temperature, I downloaded Everest Ultimate Edition (trial) for him. When he is playing a game, his GPU rises to about 99C (210F). He has 2 cores and they are about 82C (180F) each.

What advice do you have for him? He is not computer savvy and does not know what to do. Thanks!!!

How old is the pc? from what you described it sounds as though he has a bad case of the dust bunnies, dust which has built up to such and extent that it's stopping all cooling. You need to give the pc a good clean with compressed air getting rid of all the dust, then start it up again, test the temps, if theres still a problem with smoke and high temps, shut down, if possible reaply thermal past to the cpu and maybe the graphics card if he has put his own fan on it. I can't really see it being a problem with the power supply, but if you feel you need to test it, try and find a similar model psu that you can borrow and swap it out. But i think cleaning out the pc and maybe reapplying the thermal paste should do the trick.

Elder III · Jan 19, 2010, 03:50 PM // 15:50

as almost everyone else has said, clean that thing - Wal Mart sells "Canned Air" in their Electronics section (should be near the mice, keyboards, speakers, etc...) for pretty cheap. Buy a couple cans of that and blast those dust bunnies to kingdom come.

If it's still "smoking" then you probably have killed it by letting it get so bad in the first place and then running it for "weeks"..... tsk tsk tsk

Quaker · Jan 19, 2010, 05:45 PM // 17:45

In addition to what Elder said - unplug the power cord before you blow it out, in case you happen to blow any metallic dust bunnies (like a staple or tinsle) around.
Pay particular attention to the heatsinks and fans (and the power supply)
After you've blown out the dust bunnies - turn it on while it's still open and make sure that all the cooling fans are running. In your case, pay particular attention to the processor fan. If it's stopped or just barely turning, you'll need to replace it.