Something's Burning

[billroper]

I came home from lunch and walked into my office where there was a distinct smell of escaped magic smoke. This is a bad thing.

On the other hand, all of the devices that I've played with so far seem to be working. I wonder what's dead.

Comments

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

You just invoked the memory of a Monday morning about 15 years ago when I arrived at work, sat down at my desk, turned things on -- and the surge protector under the desk erupted in sparks & For Realz smoke. Hope your case turns out nothing like that.

[groblek.livejournal.com]

Yipe. That one reminds me of a story of my Dad's, about why he makes sure to use a UPS on all his computers at work. A storm blew the high-voltage powerlines down such that they crossed the stepped-down ones leading into the building. All the UPSes smoked and died (luckily not starting any fires), but the computers were OK.

Fun with free-association on magic smoke events. :)

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm asking. What does magic smoke smell like?

[hms42]

Expensive repairs. (I know that feeling from experience.)

[billroper]

"Magic smoke" is what computer users refer to as the distinct aroma of burned electronics, usually a chip that has decided to fry itself. It's a sharp odor, similar to some of the stuff that people spray on lawns.

Interestingly, it's entirely possible that what I was smelling wasn't magic smoke, but someone spraying our back yard this afternoon when I wasn't paying attention. You see, I have an intake fan in the window when the weather is good to try to dissipate the heat buildup in the room from multiple computers... :)

[hms42]

Good luck finding the dead part and hopefully its an inexpenive part to replace. (Preferably something under warranty and that is very easy to pull out.)