psu Made stupid mistake and ran with PSU very hot - Need advice

[NCSGeek]

Hi. I occasionally blow some compressed air into my PSU for light cleaning reasons. When I do, I gently use a toothpick to keep the fan from spinning while I use the compressed air. Well this time, and I can't believe I did this, I forgot to take the toothpick out. So for 2-3 hours I played games with it like this she I only even noticed

Hi. I occasionally blow some compressed air into my PSU for light cleaning reasons. When I do, I gently use a toothpick to keep the fan from spinning while I use the compressed air. Well this time, and I can't believe I did this, I forgot to take the toothpick out. So for 2-3 hours I played games with it like this where the fan cannot spin. I only even noticed when I left for 5 minutes and came back and noticed there was a fairly strong somewhat burn-like or hot-smelling smell. At first I didn't think it was my computer because my temperature and performance that entire time was 100% great and as expected, but then I noticed my mistake. The toothpick didn't seem to be burned. It wasn't very deep in the PSU. Although the PSU was hot to the touch and hurt slightly when I touched it.

The PSU is fairly old at around 6-8 years old already and that's why I clean it so regularly, so I'm pretty worried right now. Can anyone advise me on what I should do/check to know if I can continue to use my PSU without risk of damaging my other components or anything else? I really don't want to have to rewire everything with a new PSU...

 

 

EDIT:

One clarification, it never shut itself off or showed and sign of issue other than the smell and physical temperature. I manually shutdown as soon as I noticed

[Godlygamer23]

What power supply is it?

[NCSGeek]

One clarification, it never shut itself off or showed and sign of issue other than the smell and physical temperature. I manually shutdown as soon as I noticed.

[NCSGeek]

2 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

What power supply is it?

A Rosewill Hive 1000W of some kind. Not sure if it's this exact one but it's something like this one

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XQjG3C/rosewill-hive-s-1000-w-80-bronze-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-hive-1000s

[Godlygamer23]

3 minutes ago, NCSGeek said:

A Rosewill Hive 1000W of some kind. Not sure if it's this exact one but it's something like this one

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XQjG3C/rosewill-hive-s-1000-w-80-bronze-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-hive-1000s

If the PSU didn't shut itself off, you're probably fine. It certainly wasn't running in an ideal scenario, but ultimately think you're okay. The smell may have been coming from the leftover dust getting hot. Giving the unit a quick look over internally should be enough to tell you its condition, if the burning smell was coming from a component(or various components). 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Godlygamer23

[NCSGeek]

2 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

If the PSU didn't shut itself off, you're probably fine. It certainly wasn't running in an ideal scenario, but ultimately think you're okay. The smell may have been coming from the leftover dust getting hot. Giving the unit a quick look over internally should be enough to tell you its condition, if the burning smell was coming from a component(or various components). 

I'm sure the smell was from the PSU as nothing else was hot. (Obviously the GPU is warm because it's under load but it's temps were as they always were. ~61C)

 

Do you think I'm safe to turn the PC on soon and also see if the smell returns?

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, NCSGeek said:

I'm sure the smell was from the PSU as nothing else was hot. (Obviously the GPU is warm because it's under load but it's temps were as they always were. ~61C)

 

Do you think I'm safe to turn the PC on soon and also see if the smell returns?

When I said component or various components, and doing an internal inspection, I was strictly referring to the power supply itself. 

 

Yeah, but it doesn't hurt to look at it with a flashlight beforehand to see if there's any obvious damage.

[NCSGeek]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

When I said component or various components, and doing an internal inspection, I was strictly referring to the power supply itself. 

 

Yeah, but it doesn't hurt to look at it with a flashlight beforehand to see if there's any obvious damage.

I see, I misunderstood then. My bad. And okay, I can't very easily get to it without some disassembly which I was hoping to avoid. I'll see if I can take a look.

[Godlygamer23]

2 minutes ago, NCSGeek said:

I see, I misunderstood then. My bad. And okay, I can't very easily get to it without some disassembly which I was hoping to avoid. I'll see if I can take a look.

No problem.

Can you see behind it at all with it installed in the chassis?

Edited March 2, 2023 by Godlygamer23

[NCSGeek]

3 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

No problem.

Can you see behind it at all with it installed in the chassis?

Yeah that's the issue. I just the Meshify C case by Fractal and it's pretty much impossible to see it except from behind. I can see some of the internals from behind but not all that well. I took some pictures if you think that'd be very insightful to have.

[Godlygamer23]

3 minutes ago, NCSGeek said:

Yeah that's the issue. I just the Meshify C case by Fractal and it's pretty much impossible to see it except from behind. I can see some of the internals from behind but not all that well. I took some pictures if you think that'd be very insightful to have.

Yeah, I'd like to see them.

@NCSGeek
The burning/hot smell may have been the motor too from the fan from trying to rotate, and heat building up inside the motor.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Godlygamer23

[NCSGeek]

6 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Yeah, I'd like to see them.

@NCSGeek
The burning/hot smell may have been the motor too from the fan from trying to rotate, and heat building up inside the motor.

Okay, I'm getting them- just a sec. I'm alot less productive when I'm constrained to my phone.

[NCSGeek]

12 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Yeah, I'd like to see them.

@NCSGeek
The burning/hot smell may have been the motor too from the fan from trying to rotate, and heat building up inside the motor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not a great view but it is what it is. To me it seems normal but that's not worth a lot.

[Godlygamer23]

3 minutes ago, NCSGeek said:

It's not a great view but it is what it is. To me it seems normal but that's not worth a lot.

Yeah, it's hard to see, but from that view, everything appears to be in order. Try to turn on the computer and see if you smell anything funny - make sure the toothpick is removed!

[NCSGeek]

4 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Yeah, it's hard to see, but from that view, everything appears to be in order. Try to turn on the computer and see if you smell anything funny

Alright will do.

 

4 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

make sure the toothpick is removed!

I will. I seriously cannot believe I did this in the first place. I don't even put drinks on the same desk as my computer- I'm so medicinally cautious about these things...

[NCSGeek]

42 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Yeah, it's hard to see, but from that view, everything appears to be in order. Try to turn on the computer and see if you smell anything funny - make sure the toothpick is removed!

I ran the first like 5 minutes of Time Spy and the fan seemed like maybe it's broken.

 

Unless this is normal behavior- I've never looked this closely before. I doubt it though. Thoughts?

[Godlygamer23]

2 hours ago, NCSGeek said:

I ran the first like 5 minutes of Time Spy and the fan seemed like maybe it's broken.

Unless this is normal behavior- I've never looked this closely before. I doubt it though. Thoughts?

It shouldn't be doing that. The fan motor is probably destroyed now unfortunately. 

[NCSGeek]

1 hour ago, Godlygamer23 said:

It shouldn't be doing that. The fan motor is probably destroyed now unfortunately. 

I thought probably. That's very disheartening. Thanks for all of your input.

[Godlygamer23]

2 hours ago, NCSGeek said:

I thought probably. That's very disheartening. Thanks for all of your input.

If you wanna take the plunge, you could try replacing the fan yourself, if you can find a like-for-like part. Otherwise, going with a different fan, as long as it's the same power draw and size, should be fine. 

[NCSGeek]

3 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

If you wanna take the plunge, you could try replacing the fan yourself, if you can find a like-for-like part. Otherwise, going with a different fan, as long as it's the same power draw and size, should be fine. 

I could do that, yeah. But honestly that'd be just as stressful if not more then installing a new one. So I'll probably just buy a new one. I'm really hoping I can swap PSUs without having to rebuild my PC at all.

[NCSGeek]

11 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

If you wanna take the plunge, you could try replacing the fan yourself, if you can find a like-for-like part. Otherwise, going with a different fan, as long as it's the same power draw and size, should be fine. 

Sorry to revive a solved thread but the fan is spinning the next day. I'm going to watch it and see if it ever stops or overheats. Any thoughts?

 

EDIT: Just played some games for an hour or two (GPU Load of ~250W) and it was fine. Checked the fan occasionally and it was spinning every time I checked. Still a residual smell but I figure that's just leftover smell. (It isnt nearly as strong so I feel like it's just leftover from the incident)

[Godlygamer23]

5 hours ago, NCSGeek said:

Sorry to revive a solved thread but the fan is spinning the next day. I'm going to watch it and see if it ever stops or overheats. Any thoughts?

[removed from quote]

EDIT: Just played some games for an hour or two (GPU Load of ~250W) and it was fine. Checked the fan occasionally and it was spinning every time I checked. Still a residual smell but I figure that's just leftover smell. (It isnt nearly as strong so I feel like it's just leftover from the incident)

Did it start spinning right away as soon as you turned on the power supply? 

[NCSGeek]

2 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Did it start spinning right away as soon as you turned on the power supply? 

I think so but can't remember honestly. I have not seen it fail all day today I believe.

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, NCSGeek said:

I think so but can't remember honestly. I have not seen it fail all day today I believe.

Then I'd say it's fine. 

[NCSGeek]

1 minute ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Then I'd say it's fine. 

That'd be more of a relief then I can express. I'm realized that in order to install a new PSU, I'd have to basically rebuild the entire PC.

 

I'll continue to monitor it and hopefully the smell will fade.

 

Thanks for all of your help/time.