Computer smells like burning and shuts off when playing GTA V

[Zadon]

Hi all.

 

Last night when I woke up, I went to go on my PC (it was left on as it is mostly always left on when I sleep) I then smelled some sort of a burning smell but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. I was on the PC for about an hour and then I launched GTA 5 and played, after about 30 minutes of playing my PC just completely turns off.

 

I thought it was a plug or something that made it shut down. I got some food, came back and made sure the power cable was on, switched the power supply button on and off and then switched the wall plug on again and it booted up, after about 5 minutes it started smelling like burning again but I ignored it. This time after booting up GTA 5 after 2 minutes of playing my PC switches off again.

 

What is the issue here? Is it my Power Supply or something else in my PC? I’ve had this computer for 2 years with no issues before.

 

Specs:

i7 6700k

GTX 970

16GB DDR4

500GB HDD

Corsair CX750M PSU

 

Please help me out, I’m not very experienced with PC’s and I just want to game again 

[FastRDust]

Well i guess you'll have to use your nose to get to the source of the problem. ( literally )

 

something has or is frying so i would start with the power supply.

 

also Please for the love of god do Not turn on a burning electronic device for your own safety!

[martward]

If you are not very experienced I would suggest bringing it to a repair shop in stead of trying to fix it yourself. Usually a burning smell is not a very good sign and you may end up breaking even more if you continue to power it on and off. If I had to guess it would probably be the power supply or the GPU.

If you are determined to figure it out yourself (which I would strongly discourage) please make sure you are not physically near the PC when you turn it on and to make sure that you can easily pull the plug in case something goes wrong.

[NinJake]

What @martward said. Better safe than sorry.

 

However, if you do want to try, do you have any type of monitoring software installed? Also, my first step would be to take out your graphics card and use the PC off the integrated graphics as a test.

[Zadon]

3 minutes ago, martward said:

If you are not very experienced I would suggest bringing it to a repair shop in stead of trying to fix it yourself. Usually a burning smell is not a very good sign and you may end up breaking even more if you continue to power it on and off. If I had to guess it would probably be the power supply or the GPU.

If you are determined to figure it out yourself (which I would strongly discourage) please make sure you are not physically near the PC when you turn it on and to make sure that you can easily pull the plug in case something goes wrong.

I can smell a strong burning odor coming from the back of my PC (That’s where my power supply is located) I’m not sure if it’s  my GPU but I hope not. What shall I do?

[Zadon]

3 minutes ago, NinJake said:

What @martward said. Better safe than sorry.

 

However, if you do want to try, do you have any type of monitoring software installed? Also, my first step would be to take out your graphics card and use the PC off the integrated graphics as a test.

Shall I download some monitoring software and have a look?

[FastRDust]

1 minute ago, Zadon said:

I can smell a strong burning odor coming from the back of my PC (That’s where my power supply is located) I’m not sure if it’s  my GPU but I hope not. What shall I do?

Well if you happen to have a spare or another computer try to swap it out, the PSU is the only thing that can somewhat work and still be frying after all.

 

But like i said before don't use it as it is. unless you want to start a fire...

 

[martward]

Just now, Zadon said:

I can smell a strong burning odor coming from the back of my PC (That’s where my power supply is located) I’m not sure if it’s  my GPU but I hope not. What shall I do?

Pull the plug and bring it to a professional. Seriously, you could get hurt.

Also every time you power on the PC you increase the risk of frying something else, regardless of where the problem comes from.

[Zadon]

7 minutes ago, FastRDust said:

Well if you happen to have a spare or another computer try to swap it out, the PSU is the only thing that can somewhat work and still be frying after all.

 

But like i said before don't use it as it is. unless you want to start a fire...

 

 

6 minutes ago, martward said:

Pull the plug and bring it to a professional. Seriously, you could get hurt.

Also every time you power on the PC you increase the risk of frying something else, regardless of where the problem comes from.

I do not own a car so I cannot take it to a shop. I went  ahead and purchased a new PSU for testing.

 

EVGA 700B 80+ PSU

 

I really hope it’s a PSU issue and nothing more. I will call someone to my house to take a look if this new PSU doesn’t seem to work.

[martward]

2 minutes ago, Zadon said:

 

I do not own a car so I cannot take it to a shop. I went  ahead and purchased a new PSU for testing.

 

EVGA 700B 80+ PSU

 

I really hope it’s a PSU issue and nothing more. I will call someone to my house to take a look if this new PSU doesn’t seem to work.

Just to be on the safe side I would also pull your GPU out when testing the new PSU.

[comicsansms]

Can you turn the PC immediately on again after it turns off, or do you need to unplug the PSU and replug it in again?

[Zadon]

Just now, Comic_Sans_MS said:

Can you turn the PC immediately on again after it turns off, or do you need to unplug the PSU and replug it in again?

The longest I waited was about a minute or 2, but to get it to turn back on I had to switch off the power button on my PSU and switch it back on again, not unplug the PSU

[comicsansms]

6 minutes ago, Zadon said:

The longest I waited was about a minute or 2, but to get it to turn back on I had to switch off the power button on my PSU and switch it back on again, not unplug the PSU

Yeah, that's what I thought. It's a short and the PSU has detected that and forced itself to shut off.

 

Here's what I'd do. Dissassemble your PC, and have a quick look over everything, and work out what has died.

 

 

 

Alternatively, if your PC immediately trips its PSU when you have pressed on the power button. Remove components one by one, until it stops shorting.

Here's a reply I made for a similar thread the other day

On 23/09/2018 at 7:59 PM, Comic_Sans_MS said:

Yep, that's a short.

 

Here's what I'd do (follow until it stops tripping)

Unplug each HDD or SSD one by one (both sata power, and data), until you have none left in, or until it stops tripping

 

Remove the graphics card.

 

Remove each the RAM, until you have no RAM plugged in, or until it stops tripping.

 

Unplug the EPS power connector. (if that fixes it, it's the motherboard VRM, or could be the CPU - probably VRM)

 

Now the only things plugged into the motherboard will be the CPU, fans, front panel I/O, and only the 24pin power connector - if it's still tripping, it'll be the motherboard.

 

[Tristerin]

9 minutes ago, Zadon said:

The longest I waited was about a minute or 2, but to get it to turn back on I had to switch off the power button on my PSU and switch it back on again, not unplug the PSU

 

When you power on is the fan in your PSU spinning?

[Zadon]

4 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

Yeah, that's what I thought. It's a short and the PSU has detected that and forced itself to shut off.

 

Here's what I'd do. Dissassemble your PC, and have a quick look over everything, and work out what has died.

 

 

 

Alternatively, if your PC immediately trips its PSU when you have pressed on the power button. Remove components one by one, until it stops shorting.

Here's a reply I made for a similar thread the other day

 

There is a strong burning smell from the PSU side though, but you are saying PSU is fine? I’ll have a look over it though 

[FastRDust]

Just now, Zadon said:

There is a strong burning smell from the PSU side though, but you are saying PSU is fine? I’ll have a look over it though 

Definitely not, and i would not rely on it to work again.

at least for your own safety. 

[Zadon]

Just now, FastRDust said:

Definitely not, and i would not rely on it to work again.

at least for your own safety. 

I ordered a new PSU, I really hope that’s the issue. I don’t have the money to start purchasing a new GPU and all that.

[Zadon]

13 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

Yeah, that's what I thought. It's a short and the PSU has detected that and forced itself to shut off.

 

Here's what I'd do. Dissassemble your PC, and have a quick look over everything, and work out what has died.

 

 

 

Alternatively, if your PC immediately trips its PSU when you have pressed on the power button. Remove components one by one, until it stops shorting.

Here's a reply I made for a similar thread the other day

 

Also how can my PC stay on fine but as soon as I load GTA 5 it just shuts down. 

[FastRDust]

1 minute ago, Zadon said:

Also how can my PC stay on fine but as soon as I load GTA 5 it just shuts down. 

so it seems like the PSU cannot deliver the full power anymore when the GPU is being used.

[Zadon]

Just now, FastRDust said:

so it seems like the PSU cannot deliver the full power anymore when the GPU is being used.

Sounds like it. My PC can run while watching YouTube videos and browsing the web, there is that burning smell, but it runs fine. As soon as I load GTA 5, after a minute or 2, black screen with pc shutdown

[comicsansms]

16 minutes ago, Zadon said:

There is a strong burning smell from the PSU side though, but you are saying PSU is fine? I’ll have a look over it though 

How do you know it's the PSU, and not the GPU? Is the smell just in the bottom part of your case?

 

8 minutes ago, Zadon said:

Also how can my PC stay on fine but as soon as I load GTA 5 it just shuts down. 

That sounds like it'll be the GPU, the PSU's maximum output wattage wouldn't change if something is dead in it, it just wouldn't turn on at all. Remove the GPU and run GTA V

[Zadon]

Just now, Comic_Sans_MS said:

How do you know it's the PSU, and not the GPU? Is the smell just in the bottom part of your case?

 

That sounds like it'll be the GPU, the PSU's maximum output wattage wouldn't change if something is dead in it, it just wouldn't turn on at all. Remove the GPU

Smells like the bottom part of the case yes.

 

So my GPU is fried then or done? I legit don’t have money to replace it

[FastRDust]

2 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

How do you know it's the PSU, and not the GPU? Is the smell just in the bottom part of your case?

 

That sounds like it'll be the GPU, the PSU's maximum output wattage wouldn't change if something is dead in it, it just wouldn't turn on at all. Remove the GPU and run GTA V

Blown Transistors impact maximum power output of a PSU.

and also explain the burning smell.

[Zadon]

2 minutes ago, FastRDust said:

Blown Transistors impact maximum power output of a PSU.

and also explain the burning smell.

If my GPU was fried, wouldn’t that mean I would not get a picture on my monitor?

[comicsansms]

19 minutes ago, Zadon said:

If my GPU was fried, wouldn’t that mean I would not get a picture on my monitor?

No, you can have a partially dead GPU. Lots can fail in a GPU, so there is lots of different symptoms to a dead GPU