Chosen Solution
This computer is making a burning smell, that seems to get more intense with how hard it is working. If it’s idle, there’s no smell, but when gaming, for example, it gets unbearable. I have checked temperatures using sudo powermetrics, both CPU and GPU temps are totally fine, around 60 to 70 when the smell is faint and only noticeable when you are near the exhaust vent. This has been going on for quite a while. I just went ahead and got a new PC since this Mac is a little old anyway. I have used it for a total of around 20 hours with the smell, and still works fine. I am typing this question up with it right now. However, I do remember it turning off by itself one time, a day or 2 after I first noticed the smell. Stopped after that. Might be related, it had a previous issue right before the smell, which is it would turn itself off very quickly after booting up if I attempt to do anything on it. Leaving it idle for a while, then doing what I wanted to do seems work. Fixed by buying a new power cord. The smell started a few days after the new powercord. I suspect it could be burning dust, since it is still working. If it’s a short circuit, I’d expect it to be dead by now.
Hi I believe you may be correct about the dust and it not being a short circuit but I would recommend opening it up and giving it a nice little clean out by redoing the thermal paste and cleaning out the fans Maby while you are in there give the board a inspection and make sure nothing has burned out Hopefully this answers you question If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to ask Thanks Have a great day :)
