For the second time now I’ve had an Asus EN9600GT catch fire on me. The first time was a few years ago when I first built my media centre. At the time the media centre was on but wasn’t actually doing anything, when suddenly there was a loud pop and flames shooting out the back of the computer. I RMA’d the device, which is a needlessly painful process with Asus, and installed the replacement.
This evening I was logged into the media centre from another computer and running an update on it (I run MythTV). Suddenly, progress seems to stop. I turn on the TV, and there’s nothing there. I try to power cycle the media centre to no effect. Finally I pull out the computer and pull off the cover – nothing is happening. I pull the power cord, give it half a minute, plug it back in and try again. Fire.
The burned component
The first one was far more spectacular than this one. But regardless, I certainly don’t need the extra expense and hassle of having to rebuild or replace my media centre right now.