Snap, crackle, pop! No milk required!

Tragedy strikes! My desktop decided it had had enough; at least the power supply did. I was moving it up north so I could get back to photo editing. I plugged it in, started getting the router hooked up, and POP! I thought it was simply an outlet breaker popping for whatever reason and quickly realized that there was no breaker on any nearby outlet. I got closer to my aging PC and got a whiff of a familiar scent. It was the smell of burnt electronics.

I unplugged all of the cables and took the side cover off. The smell become increasing strong at this point, obviously. As I looked over the motherboard I became concerned that I would not be able to simply spot the problem. I decided the best coarse of action would be to take things apart and start sniffing. First, the power supply. My sniffer didn't even need the unit removed before I knew that that was the source of the odor. I took it out, just to make sure. All was good as far as smells go with the rest of the computer.

Earlier this week I had problems with it and concluded, with a small amount of certainty, that it was my motherboard. I was really hoping that wasn't the case as I would basically need a new system. After today's events, I am glad that I can fix it for under $30, thanks New Egg!

My only concern at this point is that the new power supply will bring a motherboard problem to light. Currently, I don't have a spare unit to do any testing with so I will just have to be patient and hope that all is well.

It shouldn't be long before I can get back to publishing more interesting and insightful posts, such as the plans for that Oriole feeder.