smokin' PC

I would like to put a wireless card in an old [1995 vintage] Packard Bell
computer I use to store pictures and other files. I bought one recently, and
the card promptly burned up and locked the computer to the point that it
would not even boot up. As soon as I removed the card, the old PC started
working fine again.
Could there be a voltage or some other compatibility issue here because of
the age of the computer, or did I simply get a defective card?
Thanks.

fhm wrote:
> I would like to put a wireless card in an old [1995 vintage] Packard Bell
> computer I use to store pictures and other files. I bought one recently, and
> the card promptly burned up and locked the computer to the point that it
> would not even boot up. As soon as I removed the card, the old PC started
> working fine again.
> Could there be a voltage or some other compatibility issue here because of
> the age of the computer, or did I simply get a defective card?
> Thanks.

You didn't say which operating system the PB is using. Which "card"? What do you
mean by "the card promptly burned up"?

It was a DLink wireless NIC card, I don't remember the model number. The PC
is running Win98SE.
The PC never completely started after I installed the card. I smelled the
smoke within 30 seconds of turning it on. I shut it down, removed the card;
which was toasted!

"DanR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dIhAe.156$(E-Mail Removed).. .
> fhm wrote:
>> I would like to put a wireless card in an old [1995 vintage] Packard Bell
>> computer I use to store pictures and other files. I bought one recently,
>> and
>> the card promptly burned up and locked the computer to the point that it
>> would not even boot up. As soon as I removed the card, the old PC started
>> working fine again.
>> Could there be a voltage or some other compatibility issue here because
>> of
>> the age of the computer, or did I simply get a defective card?
>> Thanks.
>
> You didn't say which operating system the PB is using. Which "card"? What
> do you
> mean by "the card promptly burned up"?
>
>

fhm wrote:
> It was a DLink wireless NIC card, I don't remember the model number. The PC
> is running Win98SE.
> The PC never completely started after I installed the card. I smelled the
> smoke within 30 seconds of turning it on. I shut it down, removed the card;
> which was toasted!
>
Sounds like card was bad. Probably something shorted causing the PC power supply
to (hopefully) clamp down. I think it's your gamble if you want to try another
card. If there is obvious visual damage to the card it's possible to determine
what circuit fried and then conclude if that would take down the computer power
supply. But I doubt it's worth the trouble. If you have any old PCI card laying
around (not a duplicate of what's already installed) you could install it and
see if it smokes. Hopefully the PCI bus is OK but you say you can boot so maybe
all is well.

"DanR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4znAe.333$(E-Mail Removed). ..
>
>
> fhm wrote:
>> It was a DLink wireless NIC card, I don't remember the model number. The
>> PC
>> is running Win98SE.
>> The PC never completely started after I installed the card. I smelled the
>> smoke within 30 seconds of turning it on. I shut it down, removed the
>> card;
>> which was toasted!
>>
> Sounds like card was bad. Probably something shorted causing the PC power
> supply
> to (hopefully) clamp down. I think it's your gamble if you want to try
> another
> card. If there is obvious visual damage to the card it's possible to
> determine
> what circuit fried and then conclude if that would take down the computer
> power
> supply. But I doubt it's worth the trouble. If you have any old PCI card
> laying
> around (not a duplicate of what's already installed) you could install it
> and
> see if it smokes. Hopefully the PCI bus is OK but you say you can boot so
> maybe
> all is well.
>

The bus must still be working because my Ethernet NIC is still OK. Thanks.