Man, what a hectic two days it has been for my computer. Yesterday, I was just playing some games on my computer when suddenly the power went off and a scent of smoke come out. This usually happens every now and then in the past (before I had a room fan placed in the exposed side of the computer) but when it happen this time, I didn't have the patience to wait for it to cool down for an hour so I switch it back on. BIG MISTAKE. Sparks come popping out like motherboard and graphics card like a metal fork in a microwave. Scared the crap out of me! I quickly switched it off and figured I just killed my own computer. I waited for about an hour and decided to check if it cooled off so I could turn it back on. Nothing happened. After pressing the power button like a dozen times, I quit and decided to go to bed, thinking that it just needs to cool off some more.

Later on in the middle of the night, I check again. Still wouldn't turn on. Since it had been so long and the fact that the motherboard light never turned on, I figured that the motherboard was fried and decided to just go buy a new motherboard the next day.

The next day (today), I go down to Best Buy with my mom (she is paying for it) to buy a new motherboard. When I got home, I immediately got to work and put the board in and turned it on. Nothing happens. I then realized that the motherboard wasn't busted at all - it was the power supply. I decided then to put my deduction to the test so I swapped my power supply with my mother's computer (both computers have the same case and power supply model because I built them both with similar parts) and tested out my power supply on her computer. Nothing turned on. Bingo! I found the problem.

So... in the long run, I just realized I wasted my mother's money on a motherboard that I didn't need and now her computer needs a power supply (I'm using hers right now, teehee ). Hopefully Best Buy will take back the motherboard for a refund. If not, I'll have to get an RMA from the manufactorer.

So... the moral of the story is... whatever you do, DO NOT TURN ON YOUR COMPUTER IF THE COMPUTER TURNS OFF BECAUSE IT WAS OVERHEATING. You'll be in for a big sparkling surprise if you do.

BTW... the game I was playing when it exploded was none other than the Dark Forces TC for JA. You killed my power supply, you bastards!!! I demand you pay for the new one, NOW!!!

Hehe, exactly why I'll never use a PSU that costs less than 60$ ever again

Since when does Best Buy sell motherboards

They have for a while. I bought two motherboards from them this year. They usually have a very low supply of them so they can be hard to catch depending on when you go visit the store. They also have a very slim selection as well. At least they actually CARRY them unlike most stores in the area. Usually the only place to get them is online but considering that pretty much all the motherboards I got on the internet were always defective, I'd be damn to go through the net again for that.

I work at Fry's Electronics, and this a good point that I try to make to customers. Although from the sound of it and depending how long he had the power supply, it seems like it did what a good PSU should do, which is it died without taking anything else with it.

This is one of the main problems I have when selling a case to a customer because we just don't have a lot of cases with good, even half-way decent PSUs in them. They want to through a Prescott P4 in a case with a crappy brand PSUs that also can only put out 10A on the 12v rail and they get frustrated when I tell them it's just not gonna work.

If there's one thing you shouldn't go cheap on, it's a PSU. Get a crappy enough one, and not only will they most likely be loud and die quick, a lot of the really bad ones will take something with them when they die. I'm not saying get a PC Power & Cooling PSU that costs $200, or like me, get an Antec 480W that was $120 :D, but for most people an Antec SmartPower 350W would do fine and they only cost $60.

I've had two cheapo power supplies go out on my computer. Both ordered for virtually free over the internet (just pay shipping & "handling"). They both popped and sparks flew, but nothing else had issues. It is certainly surprising. Also run scandisk on your drive if you're on windows, or fsck on linux.

Slightly related...

Tonight I had my roommate help me jump-start my car. After I took the cables off his car, and proceeded to work my way towards my car to take them off, I stupidly allowed the metal between the positive/negative cables at the end where my roommate's car was...touch.

Bright...flashing...spark
I'll just say that he asked me "did that get your shirt dude?" By my shirt I'm referring to my chest, and I had both cables outstretched in front of me fully extended in my hands at the time.

Just a small update. I was able to return the motherboard and got my refund and I got my mother's computer a new power supply (cost 89 bucks. Hopefully that is a good deal).

Yea, it better be one *****in' PSU though. You should be able to get some pretty high quality power supply with $90.