A while back I bought a used 500mhz computer on Ebay. (that was my
big mistake). When I got it, it worked well, except for the floppy
drive. I contacted the seller immediately and he sent me another
floppy drive to replace the bad one. I replaced the drive and turned
it on. It worked fine but since I wanted to add another harddrive (as
soon as I got one), I left the cover off the case. That turned out to
be a good thing, because I was sitting at my desk on the web when I
noticed a hot burnt odor. Then I saw smoke. I looked at the computer
and saw smoke coming off the motherboard. There are these donut
looking things on the board. They look like a white lifesaver candy
wound with 20 or 30 loops of a fairly thick enamelled wire (actually
not all that thick, probably a 20 gauge). Oddly enough, the computer
continued to work the whole time, and I know that because I saved
whatever I was typing before I shut off the power. I found all the
enamel burned off the wire on that coil and it was black. I was glad
the cover was off the case so I could see what was happening.

I carefully looked for anything that might create a short and found
nothing. I got my fire estinguisher (just in case), and turned the
computer back on. It booted up, and worked fine. I turned it on and
off several more times, and it still worked, and I never saw more
smoke. The seller would not replace it because it was 2 ot 3 weeks
later by then.

What could have caused this? What are those coild called and what is
their purpose. It seems there are 2 or 3 of them on all motherboards.

Needless to say, I do not use this computer. I dont trust it. I just
took out all the drives, ram, and cards and put them on another
motherboard. I know I can use that case again, but question the power
supply. I definately will not use the motherboard again, and worry
about the CPU.

Anyone have any idea what caused this? I'm just curious more than
anything else. I figure the MB is best going into the trash, and I
have a faster CPU now too.

Thanks

Plumber