Burning smell from GPU on second boot

[Zack Brown]

Hey

I built a new PC outside of my case to see if everything works fine. I turned it on and it worked fine, then I put together everything in the case and I turned it on. It switched on then switched off immediately, I turned it on again and it worked but this time there was a burning smell coming from the GPU.

 

What could have caused this and what do I do now?

PC specs in signature.

 

Update: I took the GPU off, turned it on again then there was smoke coming out of the top.

 

Burning smell traces are now coming out from here:

 

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Zack Brown

[flibberdipper]

You could have somehow shorted something out on the case.

[pagani123]

you could have fried something on the gpu or motherboard 

[DrM]

did you remove all the plastic covering the gpu?

[DevilishBooster]

Sounds like you fried something. Pull apart the system and inspect every part for scorching around components or along traces. If there is nothing that is immediately apparent, test build the system outside of the case again and see what still works.

[Windows7ge]

Is there any chance you left a standoff underneath the motherboard that shouldn't be there? That kills systems, makes them turn off, or might produce a burning smell.

[Zack Brown]

11 minutes ago, tmcclelland455 said:

You could have somehow shorted something out on the case.

Yes (check update)

[DXMember]

does it work?

maybe it's just dust burning?

[Zack Brown]

5 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Is there any chance you left a standoff underneath the motherboard that shouldn't be there? That kills systems, makes them turn off, or might produce a burning smell.

Standoffs are 100% not the probelm here (check update)

[Zack Brown]

1 minute ago, DXMember said:

does it work?

maybe it's just dust burning?

It works, but could it really be dust burning lol

[DevilishBooster]

If its producing a burning smell, stop turning it on. Double check to make sure that you have the front panel wired correctly to the motherboard.

[DXMember]

1 minute ago, Zack Brown said:

It works, but could it really be dust burning lol

either that or some generic residue from factory

you'll be fine

[Zack Brown]

1 minute ago, DXMember said:

either that or some generic residue from factory

you'll be fine

But there's smoke! I'm freaking out

[The_Denks]

1 minute ago, Zack Brown said:

It works, but could it really be dust burning lol

I've had this happen once or twice.

For me, it was just the thermal paste. It wasn't burning, it had just dried up and solidified, and the smoke was just tiny bits of it sublimating in the heat.

 

For me, it caused no problems, just left it running AIDA64 for 30 minutes to re-liquefy the thermal paste.

[DXMember]

3 minutes ago, Zack Brown said:

But there's smoke! I'm freaking out

wait what? what smoke? is it black, gray, white or blue?

did you plug your front panel correctly??

there shouldn't be any smoke, turn it off immediately, check for burned wires, connectors, capacitors or otherwise

refer to your manual

[DevilishBooster]

4 minutes ago, Zack Brown said:

But there's smoke! I'm freaking out

If there is smoke, stop applying any power to the system. Unplug the PSU from the wall. Pull everything out of the case and inspect each component as I said above. Do another test build outside the case to see if anything is not functioning. If you believe that the smoke is coming from the Front I/O board, remove that from the case as well and inspect it. If everything seems to be working correctly, rebuild the system - triple checking every step you take - and make sure that you plug the Front I/O wires into the motherboard correctly. 

If you are unclear on ANY step or process, read the manual for your motherboard (multiple times if needed) and ask questions here.

[Zack Brown]

2 minutes ago, UberGamerKing said:

I've had this happen once or twice.

For me, it was just the thermal paste. It wasn't burning, it had just dried up and solidified, and the smoke was just tiny bits of it sublimating in the heat.

 

For me, it caused no problems, just left it running AIDA64 for 30 minutes to re-liquefy the thermal paste.

I turned the system on before installing the heatsink just to see if everything works, the cpu has dried thermal paste, maybe that's the problem?

[The_Denks]

1 minute ago, Zack Brown said:

I turned the system on before installing the heatsink just to see if everything works, the cpu has dried thermal paste, maybe that's the problem?

The thermal paste on CPU's is supposed to dry out. However, it looks like you didn't put enough on.

[DevilishBooster]

2 minutes ago, Zack Brown said:

I turned the system on before installing the heatsink just to see if everything works, the cpu has dried thermal paste, maybe that's the problem?

-snip-

Don't risk further damage. Follow the steps I laid out in my last few comments and take it slow. Make sure that when you are doing the test build outside the case and booting it up inside the case, put on a heatsink. I realize that "the pros" might do a POST test without a heatsink, but unless you are also a "pro", don't power on a system without a heatsink properly mounted to the CPU. Assemble the system outside the case, clean off that old TIM, apply some new TIM, and mount a heatsink. After you have confirmed that the CPU and motherboard are still good you should be able to reassemble the system inside the case without removing the heatsink.

[Zack Brown]

6 minutes ago, DevilishBooster said:

Don't risk further damage. Follow the steps I laid out in my last few comments and take it slow. Make sure that when you are doing the test build outside the case and booting it up inside the case, put on a heatsink. I realize that "the pros" might do a POST test without a heatsink, but unless you are also a "pro", don't power on a system without a heatsink properly mounted to the CPU. Assemble the system outside the case, clean off that old TIM, apply some new TIM, and mount a heatsink. After you have confirmed that the CPU and motherboard are still good you should be able to reassemble the system inside the case without removing the heatsink.

But how am I supposed to install a heatsink outside the case because I have a liquid cooler

[Zack Brown]

11 minutes ago, UberGamerKing said:

The thermal paste on CPU's is supposed to dry out. However, it looks like you didn't put enough on.

That thermal paste is from the heatsink 

[DevilishBooster]

1 minute ago, Zack Brown said:

But how am I supposed to install a heatsink outside the case because I have a liquid cooler

If you are using an AIO loop then you can still mount the water block to the CPU and just stand the radiator/fans on the table next to the motherboard- I do it all the time. If you have a custom water loop then just use the stock heat sink for the testing purposes both outside and inside the case. Once you have determined that all the components are working correctly then you can remove the stock heatsink and mount the water block.

[Zack Brown]

1 minute ago, DevilishBooster said:

If you are using an AIO loop then you can still mount the water block to the CPU and just stand the radiator/fans on the table next to the motherboard- I do it all the time. If you have a custom water loop then just use the stock heat sink for the testing purposes both outside and inside the case. Once you have determined that all the components are working correctly then you can remove the stock heatsink and mount the water block.

Will do, i will quote you when I done everything 

[flibberdipper]

2 hours ago, Zack Brown said:

Yes (check update)

If it's coming from that, it's possible it could have shorted or had a bad connection as well.

[Zack Brown]

@DevilishBooster I installed everything outside the case and everything was good, no smoke and and no burning smell. Now what?