I got another computer the next day, but the old one is sitting on the floor.
2006-12-12 03:26:06 · 8 answers · asked by ? 6 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
I smelled an electrical smell that got stronger and stronger and then it just died. Everything went black, no sound or anything. Only the monitor was working.
2006-12-12 03:35:27 · update #1
Did it actually catch on fire or just crash? Depending on what happened to it, you may be able to use parts in it. We have no clue though as you are not too descriptive.
Now, if there are any parts in it that will be of use.
You could have burned out your power supply. If that is the case, then it may have taken the motherboard and processor with it. Take a look at the motherboard and look for bulging capacitors and or leaking ones. This will let you know if other things took damage. Also, take the processor off and look for any black marks on it. It is truly hard to say if anything made it though.
2006-12-12 03:33:28 · answer #1 · answered by chuck g 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It may not be the hard drive that got fried. It maybe that the power unit burnt out. I would unplug the power unit to the hard drive and try to power on the computer.
If you turn on the computer, BIOS should give you give you a beep sound that it does not have a boot device, and you should be able to open and close the CD-Rom drive, etc. - then you have a bad hard drive. Depending on the age of the computer, hard drive are cheap enough that I would get a new Hard Drive.
If it still does not turn on then it is the power unit has gone bad and the Hard Drive is still good.
2006-12-12 11:45:50 · answer #2 · answered by afox1998 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably it is dead for good but there are still things you might try to do to recover lost data if you had valuable pictures or documents. In any case, do not just give away the old computer. Make sure that you professionally erase the hard drive before someone steals your information. If you don't know what to do, take the hard drive out, donate the computer, and then either just hang on to the drive or take a hammer, destroy it completely and then throw it away.
2006-12-12 11:37:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The old computer might be good for some parts, yes.
The old hard drive is only good for a conversation piece. If you're curious about what's inside it, you could open it up and leave it out for your friends to see. :-)
2006-12-12 11:34:53 · answer #4 · answered by Navigator 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's a small motor inside, a platter (that's where the data is stored) and a magnet. The magnet is small but it's a very strong one. It's fun to take these apart but about the only useful thing inside is the magnet.
2006-12-12 11:36:29 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If it's just the hard drive, you can install another hard drive and use it.
(Mind you, you'll need an OS to go on it.)
2006-12-12 11:35:29 · answer #6 · answered by Dennis_Yates 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably it's not good for anything now except a door stop.
2006-12-12 11:33:22 · answer #7 · answered by Zelda Hunter 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you can not read anything on the disk, then it's not even good for parts.
2006-12-12 11:33:25 · answer #8 · answered by ? 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋