I have a hg 6000 homelite generator, runs great but does not give me any power. i used it a year or so ago an everything worked fine. got a lil smoke from where windings are. the generator was made in '06 i just took it out of the box a year ago. is this a common problem

Hi and welcime to FixYa. I am Kelly

This is going to sound odd but.... this is how it it is recommended to field flash and inverter type generator. (Brushless) The steps are to (not kidding...) use a male mail interconnecting wire from your house wiring and plug in your generator and turn ON the main CB for 1 minute.

If this does not work.... See steps below amnual links.

Owners manual link: (Click on get manual)
http://lawnandgarden.manualsonline.com/manuals/mfg/homelite/hg6000_1.html

Or try this direct link:
http://lawnandgarden.manualsonline.com/support/homelite/portable-generator/request-manual-299128

This is a brushless generator... Not sure what the smoke was but... the yellow wires are for the capacitor winding. If you probe the capacitor terminals with one of the wires disconnected with a meter on R x 10,000 you should see a brief jump in resistance and then the meter drifts to infinity.
reverse the test leads and test again looking for the same result.

Next read resistance Yellow wire to Yellow Wire (Stator capacitor loop check) It should read low resistance

Also read Brown wire to Brown wire. This is the DC stator loop check. Is should read resistance.

Main winding checks Red to Blue and White to Brown that goes to the main breaker. OR Turn the Main breaker on.. White to lower left pin of 30A 4 pin output recepticle. Bot red to blue and White to Brown MUST read low resistance

These are all the checks except the rectifier and the rotor. You will probably find something during the above tests. If not... respond here and I will pass on the rotor and diode tests.

Kelly