
remove the heatsink, clean everything, apply new paste, put it back.
they usually still work if you unplugged it as soon as you smelled it.
it could also be just about anything else. i would def pull it apart and look for scorch marks, bulging components, etc.
yeah I was just panicking at first. just unplugged and checked everything and the heatsink and área sorrounding the cpu where full of gunk. Gonna get some thermal paste tomorrow cuz I don't have any