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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Merkuri" data-source="post: 4398672" data-attributes="member: 41321">So, a couple of weeks ago I <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=235409" target="_blank">posted</a> about some computer problems I was having.  I eventually broke down and got a new computer, which seems to be working fine.  My new problem is with the old computer.  This may be a long story, but I don't know what details are necessary, so I'm including all I can remember about the problem.  Please bear with me.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />Now, I had no doubts when I bought a new computer that I could get my old one working with enough elbow grease and reformatting, but I figured that if I was going to go through all of that I would rather throw out the really old PC in our living room acting as a DVR (for those who don't know what a DVR is, think "homemade Tivo") and use the recently-replaced one as the new DVR.  So that was the plan for the old computer.  My boyfriend, Awayfarer, expressed interest in the memory it had (it had 2 GB of RAM... don't remember how much he had, but it was less) so today we decided to swap RAM sticks before the old computer started its new job.  I was fairly certain we had already done this once before (I tend to upgrade my PC first and give him the pieces I'm replacing), so I had no worries about memory compatibility.  The sticks came out of my machine fine and went into Away's machine with only a little bit of pushing (which he said he remembered having to do the last time he replaced the memory).  His box booted up just fine and recognized the new RAM.  My machine was another story.  The first memory stick I put in took a little pushing, just like when I put my sticks into Away's box, but the second stick just did not want to go.  It seemed like it was just a millimeter or two too long for the slot.  I thought I must be imagining it, since it seemed exactly the same length as the other one that went in.  I kept trying to put it in longer than I should have, and eventually a piece of the plastic memory holder on the motherboard broke off.  There was no circuitry on the piece that came off, so I figured it wasn't essential to the performance of the computer.  Since the machine was just going to be used as a DVR I figured one stick of memory would probably be enough, so I put the second stick aside, closed the box up, and tried to start it.Now, when I had swapped this older PC for my new one I had just unplugged all of the cables from the old PC, moved the physical box aside, put the new box in its place, and plugged all the cables back in.  This includes the power cord, so the brand new PC was using the power cable that came with the old PC.  The new power cord for the new PC was still wrapped in plastic in a box somewhere, unopened.  When I tried to start my old PC after replacing the memory I pulled out the brand new power cord and plugged the old PC in with that.  So the new PC was using the old cord and vice versa.  I didn't think twice about this because as far as I know all of these cords are identical.When I tried to start the old PC the lights flickered on the front like it was starting, then went black.  I tried to hit the power button again and nothing happened.  I figured it was a problem with the memory and decided to deal with it later (though I did think it was odd that it refused to power on instead of powering on and giving a beep code or something like that), so I left the machine as it was and went back to play with my new box.  Some time later (not sure exactly how long, but I'd guess somewhere between a half-hour and two hours) I heard an electrical-sounding series of pops and crackles.  I rushed around to see that the old computer was slightly smoking.  I unplugged it quickly, brought it outside, and opened it up.  I saw no scorch marks anywhere.  I felt around gently inside the machine for heat sources.  Everything was cold except the power supply, and when I sniffed the power supply's fan I smelled smoke.  Seemed pretty obvious to me that something bad had happened to my power supply, but I had no idea what or why.  I have not tried to turn on or plug in that computer since.What happened?  Can anyone tell from reading this story what went wrong?  Did the memory somehow cause a short in my power supply?  Could they have sent me a power cable with crossed wiring?  Or was it a mistake to use a new power cord with an old computer?  If that's the case, should I not be using the new computer with the old power cable?  On the chance that it's a bad power cable I don't want to use it on the new machine for fear of blowing its brand new power supply as well.If it matters, my new machine is <a href="http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3098130&CatId=332" target="_blank">this barebones system</a> with a few pieces added on (none of which I believe matter - nothing was taken out of the barebones, just added to it).  My old machine is another barebones from Tiger Direct.  I don't think there's a link still available to it because it's about four or five years old now.  I believe it had a 300 W power supply.  My boyfriend's computer (where I got the memory that wouldn't fit) is a Dell Dimension 3000.  At some point he replaced one or both memory sticks.  I don't remember what their sizes are, but I know that they were not matching (I think they might have been one 512 MB and one 256 MB).  I don't know which one ended up in my machine.  (The one sitting on my desk doesn't have a size written on it that I can see.)Any ideas?  Do you think my old machine is salvageable if I get a new power supply?</blockquote>

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