PSU problems

[Disgruntledtate]

Ok Guys, i have a problem, I'm not too sure if it's a minor problem or a serious one because I don't know a huge amount

For the past few weeks, my computer would power off randomly from time to time until finally, my power supply starting to smoke and stink. I removed the power supply and bought a new Retail Plus+ 465W "ultimate power supply" I put it in and fired up my pc and it looked like everything was booting up ok until i got a message that read "Boot Disc Failure - Please insert boot disc and press enter". Unfortunatly I dont have any boot discs because a buddy of mine built this pc and I dont live close to him anymore and I'm in a pretty remote spot and the closest computer store would require a plane to get to.
Since my computer wont even boot to windows I'm not 100% sure on the specs. What i know is I have a:
AMD athalon motherboard 2.3GHZ
512MB of RAM
Retail Plus+ 465W "ultimate power supply"
80gb HD
XP pro(copy thats of questionable legality)

Does anyone have any idea what could have happened when the PSU melted could it have fried something?

 

[wolfram]

Welcome to Techspot!

I don't really think that the PSU has fried something. That's a software problem. If you have the windows XP cd, you could try to fix the boot files.

Do you have it?

 

[cgarza]

I will make my own post for more help.

Thanks

 

[Disgruntledtate]

Wolfram,
Thanks for the invite, no, I dont have the xp cd's or anything like that. Am i screwed? do I need to perhaps just get a new hd with a new copy of xp? Like i said before there arent any computer techs for about 500 miles so I'm pretty much on my own for this problem and I dont really wanna mail my pc for fear of any more damage lol but thx for the suggestions

 

[sllewe]

First off, cgarza, you should make your own post. It will get alot more attention that way.

Secondly, that message is coming up because there is no boot device present. This could (as said by wolfram) be a problem with a corrupted install of the OS. But without a disk it will be hard to fix.

It could also be that your HDD is dead. If you turn on your PC and put your hand on the HDD you should feel a little vibration or here a spin up.

EDIT: I missed the part where the PSU smoked. Then it could easily be your Motherboard. A HDD controller could of gotten damaged or something of the like. Is there another PC that you can put your HDD and see if it get recognized?