P4C800 Deluxe, Sonata, G550 - offgassing smell

[sswain]

Anyone else get a strong offgassing smell lasting over a week when using
anything close to the following combination:
P4C800 Deluxe,Antec Sonata,Matrox G550, Mushkin Level II 3500 256mb, P4
2.4C stock, bios 1014, XP(runs fine).

Smell is more of strong offgassing as opposed to burning - not strong
enough to drive you from the room but you really don't wan't to be in
there - after a week normal running, a fair few sandra burnins and just
plain idling.

MB temps 24-30, CPU 30-36, HD 31-46 all during sandra burnins.

No front panel cables are connected to the system board.
Smell persists with or without front case light connected.
Smell persists with or without using Antec 380s fan only connectors to
fans, with or without case rear 120 fan or extra vantec stealth 120 for
cooling HD. Have untied all PSU cables. No visible hot spot on board.

The G550 is warm to touch but no different than running in the other
system. Looked for unused system board mounting stud but no such luck.

I have swapped in a PS from another working system with no improvement.
Swapped out CPU, HS and fan, G550 into another system with no smell.

Rma'd board after a week and new board has same smell (although only
after 1 day).

Any ideas?

 

[Peter T.]

Anyone else get a strong offgassing smell lasting over a week when using
anything close to the following combination:
P4C800 Deluxe,Antec Sonata

I have the same mobo and cabinet and all cables from frontpanel is wired.
No problems here at all from the beginning.

Any ideas?

Tried to unplug hardrives, cd-drives and gfxcard and put your nose close
close to them after a few hours of power-on?

But depending how new your mobo is it can have such a smell for 2-3 weeks
because it needs to "burn off" - if you understand. I tried that with my
old asus k7v mobo when I bought it. And actually any new electronic smells
now and then, no matter what it is (new radio, telly, comp etc).

 

[KJ]

I built a very similar system (see pasted detail below) this weekend, but
none of the strange symptoms you are describing are duplicated.

A complete burn-in has been done, and all front panel connectors are
connected to the proper spot on the motherboard.

With your replaced motherboard repeating your symptoms, I'd suggest you look
into the case PSU. Maybe a ton of cat hair got sucked in there? Or maybe
just a funky smelling PSU?

Antec Life Style Series Black Case With 380W Power Supply, Model:Sonata.

Specification:Case Type: Mid Tower

Color: Piano Black

Material: 1mm SECC Steel

Drive Bays: 3x5.25" & 6x3.5"

Expansion Slot: 7

Front Ports: 2xUSB & 1xIEEE1394

Power Supply: 380W

Cooling System: 2x120mm Fans

Mainboard Compatibility: 12"x9.6"



ASUS 865PE Motherboard for Intel Pentium 4/Celeron Processors, 800MHz FSB,

Model "P4P800 Deluxe" Retail

Specifications:

Supported CPU: Socket 478 Pentium 4/Celeron Processors

Chipset: Intel 865PE + ICH5R

FSB: 800/533/400MHz

RAM: 4x DIMM support Dual Channel DDR400/333/266 Max 4GB

IDE: 2x UltraDMA100/66(4 Drives),2x UltraDMA133(4 Drives)

Slots: 1x AGP 8X/4X, 5x PCI

Ports: 2xPS2,1xCOM,1xLPT,1xLAN,1xSPDIF Out,2xIEEE1394(Rear 1),8xUSB2.0

(Rear 4)

Onboard Audio: AD1985 6-Channel CODEC

Onboard LAN: 3COM Gigabit Ethernet

Onboard SATA/RAID: 2x Serial ATA 150, RAID 0/1/0+1,JBOD



Matrox Parhelia 128MB Triple-RGB, Dual-DVI,TV -RETAIL

Specifications:

Chipset/Core Speed: Matrox ParheliaT(PH-A128R)/220MHz

Memory/Effective Speed: 128MB DDR/550MHz

BUS: AGP 1X/2X/4X/8X

Ports: DUAL DVI connector

Support 3D API: DirectX®8.1 and OpenGL®1.3

Cable/Accessories: DVI to Dual VGA Cable,VGA to RCA&S-Video Cable,VGA via

DVI Adapter,Driver CD,Manual

Max Resolution@32bit Color: 1600X1200 dual digital&1920X1440 dual analog

Retail Box (See pics for details)



Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading

Technology - Retail

Specification

Model: Intel Pentium 4 2.8C w/ Hyper Threading

Core: Northwood

Operating Frequency: 2.8GHz

FSB: 800MHz

Cache: L1/12K+8K; L2/512K

Voltage: 1.525V

Process: 0.13Micron

Socket: Socket 478

Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2

Warranty: 3-year MFG

Packaging: Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan)



Mushkin 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 Level One Dual Pack - Retail

Specification

Manufacturer: Mushkin

Speed: DDR400(PC3200)

Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM

Error Checking: Non-ECC

Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered

Cas Latency: 2-3-2

Support Voltage: 2.5V-2.75V

Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s

Organization: two 64M x 64 -Bit

Warranty: Lifetime



Alps DF354H121F Black 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, OEM

Specifications:

Capacity: 1.44MB

Average Access Time:3 ms (track to track)

Interface: 34 Pin Standard Floppy Connector

Form: 3.5 inch

Media Type: All Standard 1.44MB & 720KB 3.5 Floppy Diskettes

Features: High reliability attained by the employment of a direct-drive
motor

Remark: OEM



Western Digital 36.7GB 10,000RPM SATA HARD DRIVE, Model WD360GD, OEM

DRIVE ONLY

Specifications:

Capacity: 36.7GB

Average Seek Time: 5.2ms

Buffer: 8MB

Rotational Speed: 10000 RPM

Interface: SATA

Features: Not specified

Manufacturer Warranty: 5 years

Remark: OEM DRIVE ONLY



Seagate 160GB 7200rpm EIDE Hard Drive, Model ST3160023A, OEM

Specifications:

Capacity: 160GB

Average Seek Time: 8.5 ms

Buffer: 8MB

Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM

Interface: E-IDE ATA100

Features: 350 Gs non-op shock, 3D Defense System

Manufacturer Warranty: 1 year

Remark: OEM





Plextor 708A-BPS/BL Black 8X DVD-RW/+RW DVD Recorder, 2MB, OEM

Specifications:

Write Speed: 8X DVD+R,4X DVD-R,4X DVD+RW,2X DVD-RW,24X CD-R,24X CDRW

Read Speed: 40X CD-ROM,12X DVD-ROM

Interface: ATAPI EIDE

Buffer: 2MB

OS Support: Windows XP/2000/Me/98SE

Features: Buffer Under Run Proof,Lossless linking

Remark: OEM (see pictures for details)



Samsung BLACK 16X DVD Drive, MODEL SD-816BEPB, OEM

Specifications:

Read Speed: 48X CD-ROM, 16X DVD-ROM

Interface: E-IDE/ATAPI

Buffer: 512KB

Access Time: 90 ms

Data Transfer Rate: DVD: 21,600 kByte/s, CD: 7,200 kByte/s

Features: Reduces noise and vibration with DVA, Stablizing DVD Play Back

Remark: OEM Bulk (see pictures for details)

 

[Paul]

Anyone else get a strong offgassing smell lasting over a week when using
anything close to the following combination:
P4C800 Deluxe,Antec Sonata,Matrox G550, Mushkin Level II 3500 256mb, P4
2.4C stock, bios 1014, XP(runs fine).

Smell is more of strong offgassing as opposed to burning - not strong
enough to drive you from the room but you really don't wan't to be in
there - after a week normal running, a fair few sandra burnins and just
plain idling.

MB temps 24-30, CPU 30-36, HD 31-46 all during sandra burnins.

No front panel cables are connected to the system board.
Smell persists with or without front case light connected.
Smell persists with or without using Antec 380s fan only connectors to
fans, with or without case rear 120 fan or extra vantec stealth 120 for
cooling HD. Have untied all PSU cables. No visible hot spot on board.

The G550 is warm to touch but no different than running in the other
system. Looked for unused system board mounting stud but no such luck.

I have swapped in a PS from another working system with no improvement.
Swapped out CPU, HS and fan, G550 into another system with no smell.

Rma'd board after a week and new board has same smell (although only
after 1 day).

Any ideas?

Don't you hate that smell ? I thought it was just me, as many people
claim they cannot smell it after a week or more. I seem to be able to
detect the smell really well, as even if the computer is turned off
and unplugged, I can smell it sometimes if I walk within a couple of
feet of the computer.

My theory is the chemical is a flame retardant applied to either the
Antec PS or to the whole of the inside of the case. I tried cleaning all
the metal on the inside of the Antec case with rubbing alcohol (propanol),
but that made no difference.

I cannot say that I enjoy living with this stink, as it tends to fill
the room while the computer is running. Some day, when I can afford it,
I'll get another case and a separate power supply from some other
vendor.

Paul

 

[Bubba]

I have P4C800 DLX and Antec case and have noticed it also. It seems to
lessen after the computer was 3-4 old and running continously.

Bubba

 

[Jim Shaffer, Jr.]

Anyone else get a strong offgassing smell lasting over a week when using
anything close to the following combination:
P4C800 Deluxe,Antec Sonata,Matrox G550, Mushkin Level II 3500 256mb, P4
2.4C stock, bios 1014, XP(runs fine).

My Antec TruePower supply stunk for about a week. Does it smell like vinyl? I
could smell it as soon as I took it out of the box; I never suspected it was any
other component.

 

[gawderho]

Oh Yeah! My Sonata and P4P800D AND Enermax465PE had that new just recently
manufactured smell. I personally thought it was the PSU. Just new parts
heating up.....plastic and all the toxic metals too. BUT. I had'nt smelled
it this bad before or in a long time. When we used to build Heathkit radios,
that new electronic parts smell...........Oh yeah........