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Gassing Off - Motherboards that Smell?
dmauer asks: "I recently purchased what ought to have been my Dream Machine. An uber-fast dual Athlon with oodles of speedy RAM, a Geforce4, and a hard drive big enough to choke a horse (all in a snazzy aluminum case, even). So I get the thing home, set it up, and proceed to install Debian, making sure all my hardware is working nicely, etc., etc., and then I realize that there's a problem I hadn't anticipated. It smells." Usually when consumer electronics have a distinctive smell, something is wrong. Has anyone else run into such a problem, before? Assuming this isn't a electronic or health problem, what can one do to eliminate the odor from the immediate area without resorting to periodic fumigations?
I have an Athlon 1600. When I first got it, it had an odd smell, too. All I did was run it for 48 hours with lots of cooling. After that, no smell.
Try attaching a drive-bay fan, run the computer for a while, and see if it helps.
Only in slashdot are posts of solidarity modded at -1 Redundant, while posts of antagonism are modded as -1 Flamebait.
yep, it had to have farted.
what are you smelling? if its something like burning rubber or toast or something acrid, its probably the equipment, and its probably a fire hazard. kind of gives new meaning to the idea of a burn-in test :)
if its just your average stinky smell, why didn't you smell it before you got everything installed?
Unless the store that you bought the board at has an obscene return policy (or is thousands of miles away), just take it back and get a new one that doesn't stink. It'll probably drive you nuts and you can't blame it on the dog forever.
Otherwise, stick a plug-in deodorizer in your power strip and keep it fresh.
As an aside, isn't the most common computer 'stink' burn-in which usually goes away? Just curious.
type "apt-get remove odor" and that should do it. Let that teach you to heedless select everything in tasksel ! Always unselect the "workstation that stinks so people will leave me alone" option.
Remove the MB and any cards. You can use rubbing alcohol to cleanse the boards. That might get any oder off. Make sure to let them dry for a few hours after dipping the boards.
01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01010011 01001001 010
A friend called me o month ago when he make him self a new computer and there was a horrible plastic burning smell. I picked off his heatsink to fing he didnt take the sticky protection of the top of the silicon. It was too late to scrape it off so I just let it burn away by running it without a heatsing for a while and the smell went. I DO NOT RECOMEND THIS!!! Dont cry when your cpu has popped.
Mouse powered Chips, Open source Processors and Lego
FYI, I've had great luck with my dual athlon tyan board. It's going on 9 months uptime. So, there's choices out there if you want to look around.
Most electronics do have a smell when you first begin using them. The smell usually goes away after a week or so.
This happened to me, I got her home unwrapped her and found out that she stunk. I dumped her the next day and meet my wife shortly there after.
We have been married for three years now and have two wonderful children.
The lesson is I guess take it back and get another one.
I'm reluctant to say it's normal, but I can definitely say that it can be normal. My monitor smelled like burning plastic for a week after I bought it, and there's certainly nothing wrong with it. (It probably was small styrofoam chunks that broke off the packaging material and slipped through the grille on top.) My computer smelled like "new electronics" for a week, because someone at the factory got thermal grease on the inside of the case and the heat just magnified the smell. Gave me horrible, splitting headaches too.
I think it's pretty common to encounter strange smells during burn-ins.
Umm,
if I were you, I'd just return it. (if you are certain its the mobo).
Tell them that it smells and makes you feel ill. They will most likely replace it rather than risk any legal action.
The thing is, its gotah be a fault board, because no one else seems to have the problem (otherwise there would have been a recall).
Cheers
stuff
i remember reading something about a product called ismell. it was a card or something that was capable of reproducing any type of smell from grass and flowers to a baby's diper! but i dont think they have made the 'burning electronics' smell yet )
sideone
ITBitch.com Your reason for leaving work!
There's NOTHING better than that "new computer smell."
"And like that
I once remember my parents dragging me to a PTA meeting run by a bunch of old smelly school mothers.
I am traumatized to this day!
I've noticed that *all* new electronic toys smell at first, but it shouldn't be too strong. Kinda like that smell, but I do realize it's probably not too healthy.
I remember my 15" Hitachi smelled for a month or two when I first got it--and I had to sleep in the same room with it!
Well, as others have already mentioned, new components will likely out gas during the initial operating period. There's various new rubbber and plastic parts, and there may be some pastes (like under the heatsink) and adhesives that will also release the "new car smell" from your computer.
The important thing is to recognize the normal out gassing from something that's burning. If the smell tastes burnt, investigate the smell right away. If you see any sooty deposits (especially the black kinds), things have overheated to a dangerous level.
Perhaps your manufacturer has not burned in your new machine as long as what had been the norm. Computer manufacturers used to talk about having "72 hours of burn in" or "5 days of burn in". So, maybe you're on the earlier part of the curve in amount of smell being released.
I've noticed that most of the power supply units I get (mostly Enermax) put out a strange odor (smokey smelling) for about the first week of usage. I've been told by Enermax that this is normal and just a "burn in" (no pun intended) period for the electronics inside.
Perhaps this is what you are smelling, and not a motherboard or CPU. I've never had one of those smell. Just my power supply.
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
(I know, offtopic)
Using plug in deoderizers is generally a bad idea. How they work is by spreading a chemical agent that overloads certain neurreceptors in your brain, the ones that sense the "bad smell", so you can't smell it. Using these can really mess up your brain chemistry over the long term, and cause headaches, etc, over the short term.
BBK
It must be a bug in your computer. Moths and June Bugs are known to stink like hell. I remember when my dad used to catch them buzzing around his monitor late at night, and then burn them with a little butane torch. Those bugs stunk so bad that even the dog wouldn't eat them!
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
The first +5 post on this topic is a troll advocating removal of the thermal grease from a cpu. 4 clueless knuckleheads have voted him up as informative.
If it's a coordinated Troll effort, bravo. Even if it's just stupidity, these people need their mod privs. revoked. More than likely anyone trying this is going to have a burnt-out Athlon.
Thermal Grease
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
To protect the thermal paste during shipping, there is a little removable plastic film over it. It is similar to the plastic bits that you peel off of a band-aid before applying it.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
Keeping dual-athlons relatively cool is a bitch.5
/usr/src/linux ; while (/bin/true) ; do make bzImage ; done"). If something else *is* this hot, evaluating the cooling is in order.
Both my home machines are such, so I know of which I speak.
That said, observe the machine running with the top and at least one side of the case removed for a while.
Seriously, if your spouse can handle the smells that come from laundry detergents, then the smells from your computer should not be making her ill if everything is in working order.
- No part of the inside should be hot to the touch other than the metal portions of the CPU heat sinks. At slight risk to yourself, touch *everything* after leaving the computer running for more than 4 hours, preferably doing something irritatingly hard (e.g. "cd
- No proper application of either thermal tape or paste should create smells of this magnitude during operation.
Off-topic, but just a factoid: the fumes from burning aluminum are toxic.
"The Devil does not know a lot because He's the Devil, He knows a lot because he's old." -- unknown
Use charcoal or a box of Arm & Hammer baking soda. Leave it in the box and remove the lid.
Cheers
You're right, I didn't read carefully (note to self: stop reading Slashdot when you're trying to rush out the door).
Still, I've seen the cover on boxed chips, but never on a shipped system. Is that really common practice now?
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
nor is he talking about the sticker to cover the heatsink compound. He said "the sticky protection of the top of the silicon"
Perhaps by "silicon", he was trying to refer to the "silicone" of the heatsink compound, not knowing the difference between silicon implants (processors inserted into a body) and silicone implants (fake tits inserted into a body).
Will I retire or break 10K?
Ideally, you should place activated carbon / activated charcoal around and inside the machine for as long as possible (a week or so is best) and, if possible, store it in a well-ventilated room with outside air circulating freely; the carbon will absorb 95% of the odor. You can pick up activated carbon at a number of places, including pet stores (it also comes in the form of "odor absorber" sponges, which I dislike because they are perfumed themselves!) I've also seen people purchase big bags of charcoal briquettes (for grilling) and place them in paper bags. They don't work quite as well as activated carbon / activated charcoal, but they are good for large spaces (if you've just painted a room, for example).
Your girlfriend seems to have a provocation specific to the type(s) of epoxy or resins used in this machine. Might want to see an allergy specialist. My English instructor back in grade school had a serious provocation to most any smell; especially prefumes. One student forgot my teacher's warnings and wore perfume to class one day; the teacher went into something similar to an epileptic seizure. Not good!
Wrists killing you? Not in 2 weeks. Learn Dvorak.
EBRS/HCF: little known asm opcodes for Emit Burning Resistor Smell and the more severe Halt and Catch Fire.
I actually saw these with an ECS K7S5A. I think those boards are really neat but their QA SUCKS. I can't think of any other boards that have (literally) arc welded themselves to the case as the northbridge underside underwent catastrophic failure... Lord, nothing smells worse than burning PCBs.
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
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New electronic devices have just been assembled in the factory, they have been melted from plastic and metal, ofcourse it smells.
If the shit aint smelling, the shit aint new.
It's probably ok, just ignore the smell, or use a spray or smth. Buy da little smelling tree that u have in a car
My brand new tv smelled for a day or two, so did my radio and so did even my f***ing nokia cellphone. just ignore it. it will pass
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#ps. the 'whoos' are just here so someone would notice it
I'd tell you the chances of this story being a dupe, but you wouldn't like it.
...a Beowulf cluster of these.
Have you considered that the small comes from the case? Freshly machined aluminum has a 'metallic' smell that you described.
I suspect that the smell will go away as the aluminum oxide forms and seals off the metal from the air.
Doug Eleveld
Nearly all new electronic equipment outgasses for awhile, especially while running. I've noticed it with TVs, VCRs, my DVD player, stereos, and computers. I'm sure the fumes are quite toxic, like the fumes that give us new car smell - shown to be carcinogenic.
My wife is very sensitive to chemicals in the environment (yeah, smartass, I know the environment is made of chemicals, you know what I mean). Almost three years ago she bought a new Viewsonic 17" monitor. It smelled so bad when running that it gave her massive migraines. I took it to work and left it running on my development system for 6 months, and it still smelled. Then she loaned it to a friend who used it for a year and a half. We just took it back a few weeks ago and it's just about usable now.
One thing that helps is to place bags of Zeolite on top of the monitor. This is a rare earth substance that absorbs odors and chemicals in the air. We also use these in our new car. Google will find it for you.
No sig? Sigh...
It is the OS. Remove Linux from your box. That should remove the smell.
I work at a company that does a lot of RF electronics work.
We needed a piece of test equipment for one of our lab setups. While we were turning it on and setting it up, we smelled an odd smell.
We immediately shut down the lab setup, assuming that it was the cause. (Early research/development effort, we fried a LOT of the stuff we were working on in the process.)
Turns out that the super-expensive HP network analyzer we had came complete with the "brand new electronics" smell. After an hour or two the smell was gone.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
youch... i have a k7s5a at home (i'm at college), i hope it doesn't do any welding.... after updating the bios it seemed to run stable before i left it with my parents.
out of the box it ran well for about 15 minutes
Need a Catering Connection
I have a sister-in-law that has this "affliction" and talking about offgassing. I think that it's complete bullshit. Everytime you turn around new smells are some kind of poison that only causes problems for her.
I think your gf has a mental problem.
While watching a marathon of The Prisoner.
>I actually saw these with an ECS K7S5A.
>Lord, nothing smells worse than burning PCBs.
You know what they say.
Looks like PCChips.
Smells like PCChips.
Works like PCChips.
It must be PCChips.
Here's hoping they put a real chipset, cache, silkscreening, and BIOS on your next board rather than pirating or faking them!
[Pirated BIOSes and plastic blobs for cache chips, what has the world come to?]
ECS has always been no more than one step above PC Chips...IIRC, they bought PC Chips a while back. We had a couple of P!!! servers at work that were built around ECS motherboards. (Don't blame me...they were purchased before I got there.) Both boards failed. One was replaced by the builder with another board of the same model and has worked OK since. When the other system started flaking out (when Linux starts acting funny, it's more than likely a hardware problem), I replaced the motherboard and processor with an MSI motherboard and a Duron...never a problem since. (At least that incident gave me an excuse to blow Redh*t off of that box and build LFS on it instead...also freed up lots of disk space because the moron who installed Redh*t on it gave about 10 GB of a 20-GB drive to /var.)
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.