Friend's computer "exploded"

A friend just phoned me telling me his computer "exploded". Smoke and stuff. I know anything can be damaged but what is the most common issue? The power supply? I told him to take it to the shop, but he insists on me taking a look at it even though I also told him that I have never seen dead hardware… he says, there's first time for everything What exactly should I be looking for? This also happened few hours before he installed a new game and so far he was only playing one old game… so I'm kinda hinting on the video card but we'll see. I have no plans for experimenting, like trying some of his parts on my machine.

Hi uchkur,
Sorry to hear of your friend's computer problems.

A friend just phoned me telling me his computer "exploded". Smoke and stuff.

If he is telling the truth and not exaggerating then its likely a lost cause….

There are lots of nasty chemicals in Printed Circuit Boards and toxic materials in the screens,(VDU's) especially laptops & some TFT's..so my advice would be to take it to either a competent technician in a local repair shop, send it back to the manufacturer, or most likely take it to the town re-cycling centre (approved and licenced electrical waste disposal contractor centre)

It is totally unreasonable for him to expect a friend to expose himself and his household to the hazards that would be involved in a detailed examination of his computer.
My best advice is to tell him this…
Sorry to be blunt…. but he needs to know…
Regards
paws

Thanks for your input Yeah, I'm just gonna take a look… everything is experience He'll probably see that the only 3 options left are the ones you mentioned.

If me, with the system unplugged from the wall, I would pop the side panel off and first, to a thorough visual inspection, looking for anything that looks burnt, discolored, or otherwise damaged. Does the interior still smell burnt? Now stuff your nose to the back grill of the power supply on the back of the computer and take a wiff. Is the burnt smell more pronounced? It most likely is the Power Supply and I would certainly pull that for testing first and I would NOT be tempted to try it out, to see if still messed up. Unfortunately, you do not know if something took out the PSU, or if the PSU just failed on its own. Either way, ANY THING that was plugged into that PSU could now be damaged too! So at the very least, I recommend either taking the whole thing to a shop for testing, or at least the PSU.