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.