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Recently, I decided to rebuild a ten year old computer to use as a Linux server. After running it as a Minecraft server for five months, I got a new machine and took the HDD, power supply, and Optical drive from it. Well, now I've gathered enough replacement parts to get it working again. After powering it on, I got an intense smell of ozone.

I'm worried about testing it further because my wife is pregnant and I don't want her inhaling the fumes.

The only parts that I've installed since it was working are the PSU, HDD, and Optical drive. Which one of these is most likely the culprit and why?

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  • How does ozone smell looks like?
    – Diogo
    Jul 19, 2012 at 14:49
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    @Diogo: Wikipedia says "Ozone's odor is sharp, reminiscent of chlorine, and detectable by many people at concentrations of as little as 10 parts per billion in air." If you've smelled it once, you'll recognize that smell readily. I'd call it "metallic", but as with all smells, words usually fail to really give the right impression. Bon's "electrical" is good, too.
    – DevSolar
    Jul 19, 2012 at 14:54
  • I asked because I never smelled ozone odor before...
    – Diogo
    Jul 19, 2012 at 14:56
  • I doubt that you're smelling ozone, since it requires several hundred volts to generate. You'd only possibly get an ozone smell if you have fluorescent lights, either in the display or with one of those weird case lighting setups. More likely you're getting a "hot electronics" smell, which can be due to simple overheating or something like a blown capacitor. Jul 19, 2012 at 15:56
  • (You can also get the burning smell from a fan with a bad bearing.) Jul 19, 2012 at 15:58

1 Answer 1

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The PSU.

You put in a brand new one? It will most likely be pushing out that "electrical" smell for the first few hours of operation... like a day or so.

If it's not brand new, then I'd replace it.

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  • It's old and cheap. It's a very light gold chrome unit that came with a bare bones kit. I bet you're right. Jul 19, 2012 at 14:53
  • @Kalamane just out of curiosity, how well is the fan in the power supply working? If it is old and cheap, the fan might not be spinning all that fast any more... if at all.
    – Bon Gart
    Jul 19, 2012 at 21:51

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