HDD burned

NeghVar

NeghVar

2[H]4U
Joined
May 1, 2003
Messages
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We received a system back from one of our client. The report said there was smoke coming out of the system along with a burning plastic-like smell. This is what we found.
 

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I've seen several hundreds of PC's over the years. Never ever saw anything like this. Dozens of PSU's dying but that's about it. Tons of grime and dust, but never this.

Fire's in PC's have to be extremely rare.

I'm guessing a manufactures defect caused this small electrical fire. Good thing there wasn't an accelerant / combustible fumes near this PC when this happened. I do have a handful of PC's being used near CNC machines and other types of machinery.

If the client wants the data saved it might be possible to source another exact drive and swap out that mainboard as long as there isn't any hardware encryption. maybe. I've never disassembled a hard drive before.
 
it holds surveillance video. The customer already informed us that no video was needed.
 
I take it was a bad PSU connector.
I heard/seen from other people that the pins on the SATA PSU con touch.
I kind of miss the good old 4 pin molex days, minus the floppy style.
 
Yeah, that was a SATA plug issue, not a HD issue IMO.
 
The Mad Atheist said:
I take it was a bad PSU connector.
I heard/seen from other people that the pins on the SATA PSU con touch.
I kind of miss the good old 4 pin molex days, minus the floppy style.
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I’ve seen it happen on Molex a few times. Generally it’s not that the pins touch, it’s that the crimp from the wire to the pin is poor, which creates a high resistance connection that leads to all the heat. Then it’s a race between the cheap PVC insulation on the wire and the cheap plastic on the connector as to which ignites first.
 
96 was the only time I touch AT PSUs.
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I still have one in my attic. I have used it from time to time in electronics projects that need a 12V or 5V supply (that is before I replaced it with a proper supply).
 
it be the sata connector , i seen this happen to a AIO PC sata connector (the drive itself was fine) main issue was the external PSU did not shut down when the SATA connector was shorting out
 
likeman said:
it be the sata connector , i seen this happen to a AIO PC sata connector (the drive itself was fine) main issue was the external PSU did not shut down when the SATA connector was shorting out
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It usually isnt a direct short that cause these things to light up, but rather a poor connection causing high resistance in the plug or a defect that allows some current to flow where it shouldn't within the plug. There would not enough current flowing to trip the PSU , but it's still more than than a made connector can handle safely.
 
Did he try a 7volt mod to reduce the noise ?

ive seen this with floppy connectors tons of time when ppl would connect it one pin out of sync. The entire psu wired would melt its plastic coating though.
 
ryan_975 said:
It usually isnt a direct short that cause these things to light up, but rather a poor connection causing high resistance in the plug or a defect that allows some current to flow where it shouldn't within the plug. There would not enough current flowing to trip the PSU , but it's still more than than a made connector can handle safely.
Click to expand...

It was a a laptop like power brick for the all in one system (they don't typically have a short circuit cut out they just handle the load that the power pack can provide)
 
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