My brother's computer blew up!
By SilentRose19
@SilentRose19 (1733)
United States
May 20, 2007 10:46pm CST
My brother just called me like a few minutes ago, and boy was I shocked. He was playing on the computer, just surfing the net. He had just logged off and went to turn of the comp when the back exploaded and almost caught the whole wall on fire. He was so freaked out and didn't know what to do, turns out that something in the mother board had shorted out and caused a spark. The police said that it was due to the older date of this model and could have been avoided through proper care and having newer up to date products. It doesn't sound like the police helped him very well, but you know it wasn't really an imergency either. Anyway thought it was wierd, thought i'd share it with my fellow mylotters.
5 people like this
16 responses
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
21 May 07
Well it sounds you need to contact the Consumer Product Saftey Commission! That sounds terrible. Actually my coffee pot blew up as well. It was a bad experience, but I loved dealing with this commission because they are now running an investigation about the coffee pot. If you would like to see the discussion you may go here:
http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/878540.aspx
Actually, that just sounds terrible that there was an actually fire. When my coffee pot did that there was no fire, but there was smoke. It wasn't too bad, but it made me upset since I did take care of it. Have a nice day.
Palo
1 person likes this
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
27 May 07
Wow! Thanks for the best response, that was SO nice of you. Well, the investigator that contacted me said it was never recalled, and she said they would send me a report of their findings. Have a nice day.
Pablo
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
Yeah I hate it when things like that happen, its just factory default on newer products. I've had new products that smoked and sparked, I found out later that they were recalled.
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
22 May 07
What do the police know about computers anyway? They are probably just rubbishing up a reason. :P
I am glad that your brother was ok though (I suppose he is since you didn't mention more). A pity you need to replace the computer. ;(
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
22 May 07
Yes I agree about the police, they were just trying to get him to calm down. Yeah he is fine, but still shocked and angry.
@TrevaUK (142)
•
22 May 07
Sounds like the Power Supply Blew.
The PSU is the only part of the computer that deals with high voltages 240/120 volts.
Except for the PSU the maxmium voltage in most computers is only 12 volts, not really enough to cause fire, just smoke.
Did you check fuses/trip switches if these have blown then it was likely caused by a short circuit.
1 person likes this
@michaelalwynrabago (256)
• Philippines
22 May 07
hehe. happens all the time in computers. Your brother should really kepp it up to date.
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
22 May 07
I agree, but he had a certain afinity for that computer. I don't know why, because it was slower than a snail.
@cobrastyle (26)
• Canada
22 May 07
Hahaha oh my. Hmmm maybe I should upgrade mine. I've had it around 3 years and its getting pretty old. Sometimes its will just start making a LOT of noise and I'm afraid its about to explode. Never knew it was possible though.
1 person likes this
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
22 May 07
I would upgrade if its more than two years old, its not that hard. You could actually get yours updated at a best buy or a circuit city, its very easy. Sometimes if you need to many upgrades its just cheaper to get a new computer, thats what we did the first time we upgraded. I would worry if its making lots of noises, thanks for the response.
@hoghoney (3747)
• United States
21 May 07
OMG, i really feel for your brother. my tower for my computor a few months back the mother board in mine crashed but it didnt catch on fire. the computor that I am useing right now still has windows 98 in it and it stinks but it is so old. Tell your brother I know how it is with them mother boards sometimew I just want to take a hammer to mine.LOL.
1 person likes this
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
Yeah he loved his so much, i feel for him. He would get mad cause it was slow, but he loved that comp.
@yanjiaren (9031)
•
21 May 07
Oh my days!! That wasn't very nice was it? I have never had anything blow up on me like that but I sure would have freaked out too if that had happened to me? Was he insured at least? Or was the computer too old and with out a service guarantee? I am also sorry the police were not very helpful and I hope yu guys can fix him a new one. He must have been pretty cut up about it, I couldn't do without a computer now. M work is all online too. One good thing though at least he wasn't too hurt and didn't get electrocuted, that in itself is a blessing!
1 person likes this
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
I just think that the cop was having a bad day, or just didn't care. He was very upset, the computer was an old one. He liked that computer so much though, even though it was old.
@webbuff (926)
• Philippines
21 May 07
These things happen.. but its weird, for me with proper maintainace, cleaning and environment these thing will can be avoided. Proper pc checkup.. giving it ample ventilation will make computer life longer and avoided blowing up.. Goodluck and take care!
1 person likes this
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
Thanks for the advice i'll tell my brother, but its doubtful that he will listen to me. He just has a hard time doing things himself, he's got so many other priorities lol.
@saivenkaat802003 (4823)
• India
21 May 07
ya, this short circuits and small fire i've seen in my office. Once i had a hands on experience. I was busily engaged in my regular routine on my p.c,and one of my friend just sitting behind me told," Hey where from the smell of a something burning coming from", he asked me.
But i digged at him that itz the becoz of the jealousy he had on me, and continued my work.Within few minutes smoke came from behind the monitor and hence the fire and the entire system got damaged.Luckily i had only few splinters just hitting my shirts only,and no injuries.
It proved me a base of dogging my work for that day,that is the another side of the coin. LOL
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
Wow, that sounds dangerous. Its comforting to know that my brother isn't the only one that has had this trouble. I would have dodged my work as well, getting off of work is the best.
@Candid_Ishida (659)
• United States
21 May 07
That's almost happened to me twice, though not quite that extreme. My very old monitor that went along with my old computer had to be replaced when sparks started flying out of it and smoke came from the top. I'm not sure what happened, but it seems like there must have been a major short inside there somewhere.
Smoke also started spewing from that computer when something in the power supply shorted out. So, now I have my laptop, and luckily none of my information was lost even though my computer was literally smoking.
1 person likes this
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
That would worry me to, the loss of information. I actually do all my work on a laptop, I find that they are better for working. They are relativly easier to handle, and you can take them just about anywhere.
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
No he wasn't hurt, just shocked. I thought so too, but I guess its common because he said the cop told him it had happened three times before him.
@icehut (508)
•
21 May 07
How did he find out that it was the motherboard? Sounds like either dust build-up in the PSU (power supply unit) causing one of the larger capacitors to explode (either through overheating or electrical conduction) or a damaged power cord... I've seen a lot of power cords that have split where people decided to push their computers as close to the wall as possible, causing the cable to bend too sharply and split outer and inner sheaths, exposing live wires that can easily cross...
1 person likes this
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
I don't know how he found that out or even if he took it to someone to find out, I think that's what the cop told him. It was most likely something like you said though, now that I think of it.
@inallduetime (741)
• United States
21 May 07
That is rather unusal, I surely have never heard of it - at least - not in that manner. I had something similar but it was the cmos battery....Regardless, he can salvage the computer though so tell him not to throw it out until he gets all the useful parts out of it....hard drives, cards, adapters, etc. Good-luck.
1 person likes this
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
I will do that, thank you for the advice. I find it quite odd, but weird things happen to my brother so i guess it wouldn't be a shocker. Thank you again.
@nicmichiole (151)
• Philippines
21 May 07
haha! that happened to me last year, it was our first family computer, i think it's already 8 years old. the hard drive can only store 8gb! then we bought a 40gig hdd just 2 years ago. but i guess it made a tiny explosion inside, yours is much cooler. haha
the computer technician told us that our computer was old too (which was so true) and the pc should rest after a day or two's work. i think the computer was so old that when you leave it for a few hours, it would overheat.
we got a new cpu now and i could leave it on for days. hooray!
1 person likes this
@SilentRose19 (1733)
• United States
21 May 07
Wow, I couldn't imagine. My husband has always been good with computers, so we stay as up to date as possible. Sometimes you checkbook doesn't accomdate change or keeping up to date with modern technologies. I do hope that you enjoy your new cpu, good luck with it.
