Member Avatar for peteuk2006

hi everyone, great forum you got here. not sure if ive posted this in the right section, but please help me out if you can.

on my other desktop pc, i have got a 200gb hard drive, its about 180 gb full of my own music recordings that i have produced,

i just had it on earlier, running my decks into it, recording some music when i smelt burning... i thought it was my dinner that i had sitting on the table behind me, then the PC just shut down, and it was apparent something had burnt inside.

not, the prob is, all that stuff is saved on my C drive... does anyone know what is LIKELY to have happened? it just shut down totally, now when i turn it on, it sounds like its working, the fan is on etc.. but nothing comes up, it doesnt boot etc.. no beep noises for it checking for the CD rom, or nothing. i cant eject the cd roms, its as if "the lights are on but nobodys home"

im really just needing to know if its burnt up my C drive,, nd if ive lost all of that hard work.

devastating :(

please someone let me know, just so i have an idea of what to expect to hear tommorow from my PC shop

thankyou very much

peter.

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A few practical notes that build on the suggestions from and , and that will be useful at the repair shop.

First, do not power the machine on again. Repeated power attempts can make electrical damage worse and reduce chances of recovering data. Unplug the PC, take photos of the inside (so the shop sees the original wiring and any scorch marks), and note where the burning smell seemed strongest. If comfortable handling hardware, remove the drive and place it in an anti‑static bag; if not, bring the whole system to the shop intact. Do not open the hard drive enclosure under any circumstances.

What a competent shop will typically do (and what to request): they will measure PSU voltages and/or swap in a known good PSU, visually inspect the motherboard for scorched components or bulging capacitors, and run a controlled test to see whether the drive spins and is electrically detected. If the drive can be read, the correct next step is a read‑only clone/image to a separate drive (so no writes are made to the original). If the drive electronics or the heads/platter assembly are physically damaged, professional data‑recovery in a clean room may be required.

A few practical questions to ask the shop and points to insist on: get a written diagnostic and a cost estimate before any irreversible work; insist that the technician clone the disk or provide a forensic image before doing repairs or reinstalling an OS; and ask whether repairs involve PCB swaps or clean‑room work (the latter is much more expensive). If the data is priceless, stop all DIY attempts and use a reputable recovery lab.

These steps preserve the best chance of recovery while giving the shop the information they need to diagnose PSU, board, or drive failures.

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Member Avatar for nizzy1115

well if your hard drive is tost, it would give an error like no primary hard drive found or no os found. I'm willing to bet that something else went toast, whether it is your processor or something on your motherboard. Pull off the heatsink off of your processor and see if you see any visible damage on the processor and inspect your motherboard for any signs of damage too. Let us know what you find.

Member Avatar for Justin01

Yeah, while I've heard plenty of tales of hard drives crapping out(dealt with two this week at work), I've never heard of one shorting out or giving off a burnt odor.

Most likely it was either your power supply, which is rather unlikely if the machine still powers on, or something on your motherboard. Your hard drive very well could have survived. You might want to try pulling it out and throwing it in another machine and backing up whatever data you have on it.

Good luck.

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