Short circuit after plugging in

[BrandonBethel]

In plugging the computer into a surge protector (I'm currently in mainland China), there was a spark and smoke from the vent of the upper cooling fan. I haven't plugged the machine back into the socket and I don't know what went wrong. The other devices that I use both in North America and in Asia work fine and this is the first time I've ever had failure of this sort. 

[erico]

"As many different systems are used around the world, we need to understand the requirements before application. For instance, in mainland China and Hong Kong, the single-phase AC is 220V and the three-phase is 380V, while the frequency is 50Hz. Taiwan, Japan and North America use 110V and 220V. The frequency in Eastern Japan is 50Hz, and in Taiwan, Western Japan and North America it is 60Hz. In Europe, most countries use 220-240V for single-phase AC and 380-420V for three-phase AC. Their frequency is 50Hz. The frequency will affect the speed of motion, e.g. the rotation speed of a motor."

reference source for the above quote: http://www.leeport.com.hk/holdings/eng/products_technical_6.htm

Desktop PC are different than many other devices in that they generally require a manual switching of the input voltage and cycles. The other devices that you connected without issue did the voltage switch automatically.   Carefully read the labels on all of your household electrical devices before plugging them in. That is unless your income is unlimited.

What was the voltage and cycles at the power surge protector?

China is 50Hz and the US is 60 Hz.  China uses 220v single phase power and the US uses 110. If you did not switch to 220 at the rear of the PC  then you blew out the power supply.

That is why you saw a spark and smoke.

You may not have ruined your PC, but that cannot be guaranteed.

 Replace the PSU with a new one. You will need a standard ATX PSU @300-500 Watts.

Make sure that you switch it to 220v this time before connecting it.

See the following image