short circuit? burnt smell?

[eaumana]

I sold a computer to a friend but it did not come with speakers. She went out and purchased speakers at a store and when she went to plug them in she says she smelled something burning and now the computer won't turn on. Apparently it's fried.

I am at a loss as to what could have caused this. Any ideas or suggestions? Could the computer just been old or is it a problem with the speakers she bought? Should she go back to the store she purchased the speakers from and complain about them frying her computer or was this an error on her part?

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond!

 

[DrB0b]

Do you know what speakers she bought? Are they USB powered or do they have an external power adapter? How old was the PC you gave her? What model?

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[vacunita]

There's a possibility a static discharge may have caused some damage, but that's unlikely.

It could be that the speakers caused a short as she was plugging them in, if the machine was on as she did so.

I doubt you can argue the speakers as the cause, more likely a case of bad luck.

It would also be good to know if the speakers still work as well.

If you can take a look at the PC, It would be useful if you could peek inside and see if there's any discoloration or bulging capacitors. This would point towards a problem with the PC even before the speakers where brought into the equation.





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Phil AKA Vacunita
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Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

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[cdogg]

The burning smell was likely coming from the power supply, but could have also been a capacitor on the mobo as Phil mentioned. I would agree that it was just coincidence that something failed on the PC around the same time she plugged the speakers in. Heck, just turning the computer on/off (which the user might have done) could have caused a component on its last leg to fail.

Carl

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test
a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
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[eaumana]

the pc was a dell optiplex gx280... so it was an older pc. I'm not sure what type of speakers she bought but I will be taking a look at it later.

Based on everyone's response I'm guessing it was just the age of the computer... so I will proabably see if I can replace the pc for her since I have a few extras here at the house. Thank you for your replies.