I have a computer I built myself, and it has been working fine for a few years. The other day it randomly started smoking when I turned it on. It booted up fine, and got to the Windows main page, but after about 30 seconds smoke started coming out of the case. It did not shut down on its own from overheating, only when i turned it off. Other than the smoke coming from it, it seemed to be fully functional. A friend of mine thinks it may be the power supply, since the computer typically would have automatically shut itself down if the motherboard or CPU were overheating. Does the power supply sound like the right place to start looking?

1) Check all fans for dust or debris
2) Examine all internal parts for obvious scorchmarks
3) IF you find ANY obvious overheating signs DO NOT startup again.

Smoke is never good-- what could it be ?
anything-- most likely candidates ? PSU/ MOBO/ RAM/Video card

Have a compaq EN, it will come on, but after about 5 seconds the power light turns from solid green to blinking red and the computer does nothing further.

maybe someone knows, i thought maybe the PSU, it is a 24 pin with a built in "thermal protector", i have a 20 pin to 24 pin adapter ordered, should be here soon, if that doesnt solve the problem, does someone else have an opinion on this?

nothing is dirty, the fans are working until it starts to blink red, then they turn off. but the power to the board itself stays on. (it is the kind with fan from the PSU blows directly on the processor)

it is a 866 mhz, nothing spectacular, but it is in one of my rooms that has net-connection, it is just used to browse the net. (when it worked)

KnightMetal