On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:48:53 +0100, Dave Headley wrote:
Hmm, well I've downloaded and burned an Ubuntu LiveCD then booted my own
machine with it to see what I could expect. It worked well and I got to
the Ubuntu desktop. However, when I tried it on the suspect machine it
doesn't work - I get a screen with two symbols at the bottom then the
screen goes black

I'm wondering if your CPU isn't hosed - although you don't have a spare
CPU, can you perhaps lay your hands on a known-good board supporting that
particular CPU in which to try the one that you have?

Perhaps there was some problem which caused the machine to overheat
severely - e.g. failing fan, dust build-up, something jamming (PSU wires
are good for that) the fan, PSU glitch (possibly due to marginal PSU).

That could account for the burning smell reported. I've seen severely-
overheated CPUs fail in ways where they still semi-work, but problems
subsequently manifest in all sorts of odd ways.

cheers

Jules