Eep... any ideas on what just happened to my computer?

[Cold Quake]

I was trying out EvE when I heard a rattling noise from my computer. A lamp connected to a different plug in the same outlet flickered, and then the desktop completely shut down (the monitor went into power saver mode). Right after that, I saw smoke coming up. The computer didn't feel hot to the touch, nor did the wires. However, I could smell the smoke more strongly when I opened up the computer.

Sorry if it's a little too vague, but does anyone have any idea of what kind of damage I could be looking at here? :look:

[Lorash]

Could be anything from the power supply hitting it's load limit to frying it...or anything inside. It really is pretty vague. If it starts up again and runs ok, then you'll probably be fine.

Now that I think about it...rattling noise? Could be the cpu fan went out and the heat threshold was reached on the processor and the BIOS shut everything down...if it worked properly. If it didn't your cpu could be fried.

What I would do in this case would be take a look at the cpu fan (with the side of, of course...unless you have a window) and try to power it on, but only for a second or two. The heat starts building up on those things pretty damned fast. If you do that and the fan doesn't move, shut down, pull the power cord and start hunting down a replacement.

[Cold Quake]

Thanks, Lorash. :)

Fan doesn't work at all. The test switch on the power supply doesn't come on either. I managed to get a hold of a customer service rep, and it sounds like the power supply could be a goner. Meh.

[ThunderMace]

power supply