if your pc is on fire how do you put it out while doing the least damage to the components? if you put it out with water it will damage the componets right?

hmm wrong forum

I think if your PC is on fire the very least of your problems would be water damaging the components.

i worked hard to build my comp. all the components cost me months of hard work


just preparing for the worst thing that can happen

What are you doing with your PC that you feel you need to take precautions in case it catches fire ?

He likes to shoot flaming arrows at it perhaps? Or maybe he's a CIA agent after me and blood angel. We had a long discussion about destroying hardrives!! AGHHHHH CIA!!

Actually, there is a fire-suppressing agent specifically designed for electronic/computing environments. I think it's halogen(not sure) and I think you can get it in a portable fire-extinguisher type container though it is expensive.
If I remember correctly(again, not sure), what halogen does is displace the catalytic oxygen environment with the inert halogen gas, thus "choking" the fire to death. Halogen is safe for electronic components, but not sure about it's affect on magnetic media such as a hard drive, though I think it is also non-corrosive.

a friend of mine recently put in a new power supply but it was to strong and his pc started rebooting and after a while it caught fire. i think it was because of a weak cooling system and a too powerful power supply. he and i have the same system and i also bought the same power supply and my pc also started rebooting so i think it will catch fire pretty soon.

why just not wait till you have another cooling system?

well i still can trade in my other components for money and i have tons of projects that need to be made with a pc

any specific names?

i got this handled. you can close it mods

As a certified computer tech, I will offer this: Most instances of rebooting and overheating as you described are not due to an overly powerful power supply, but rather the opposite. That is, the components of the computer are drawing more power from the PS than it can provide.
What does this mean?
A power supply is initially rated at TOTAL combined power output. Say, 350, 400 or 500 watts, for example.
But, there are 3-6 individual power ratings for a PS.
This involves the 3.3 volt line, the 5 volt line and the 12 volt line from the PS. 3 are + and 3 are -
The 3.3 volt line is connected to the motherboard.
The 5 volt line is used for such things as the floppy drive.
The 12 volt line is used for the hard drive, CD-ROM, DVD
The TOTAL power draw from the 3.3, 5 and 12 volt lines combined to form the PS power rating.

What happens is this: oftentimes the 12-volt line is overloaded. 2 hard drives, a CD-RW drive and a DVD-ROM/RW drive all on the same 12 volt line(though different connectors of course). Though they surely do not add anywhere near to the 500 watts, they exceed the capacity of that 12 volt line coming from the PS.
On top of that, a high-end video card can easily overload it's power line as well, which is the shared 3.3 volt motherboard line.

Not every statement given above should be etched in stone: I may have some numbers or associations wrong, but, you get the point. A power supply is split into 6 different voltages(+/-) and 3 different lines, which have their OWN maximum power rating(listed on the PS label) which COMBINES to form the power rating of the PS.

Cooling is a big issue, and known to be the cause of many PS/computer problems. Mostly, these issues are the result of cheap fans on the PS and/or the CPU itself. "Pin bearings" are the cheapest and worst, and can seize within a year. "Ball bearings" are the more expensive but best.
If you are a smoker or are in an environment which produces smoke, it is not unusual for the CPU fan to be thoroughly caked with dust inhibiting fan movement.
Another type of cooling issue is the computer placement environment.
Computers get hot and need ventilation, lots of it.
Throw away the old computer desk that has a "slot" to put your computer in. These days, computers run much too hot to be confined.

Just some thoughts... would need to know more to give a better suggestion.

Sorry, didn't see the "close" before I posted again.

i gotcha on this.

now how did my friends pc caught on fire?

Yeah, not sure, Hotoke. I work on many computers, but I would have to visit and examine that particular situation to determine what happened.
Obviously there was overheating.
If it were not for a poorly manufactured PS(very likely), I would go for using compressed air to blow-out the debris in the CPU fan. An overheated CPU can cause power draw failure in a standard PS.

Oh, I do recall a situation that might be of interest to you.
After replacing a PS on a machine, I fired it up, and it started to smoke. I thought it was the PS, but it was not. It turned-out to be the 120 volt cable leading to the PS. The cable connection was poor, and caused an electrical arcing at that connection, which burnt the cable insulation, resulting in smoke.
No fire, though, so I was lucky.
Probably not what happened to your friend, but thought I would add it.

I'm going to close this as requested, Hotoke. Seems pallidin has some good ideas, go ahead and IM him if you would like to follow up on anything, I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

MM