24pin ATX melteted with after installing SLI

xivlia

xivlia

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 18, 2011
Messages
217
hi there, i have recently bought another GTX 480. and i added it to my rig yesterday, it was working perfectly fine untill today. my pc randomly shut off while playing Dragon Age: Origins. and it would not come on when i pressed the power button. so i left it there for about 15mins. and tried again and it powered on, but it wouldnt POST. all it would do is. power on for 3 seconds and power off for 3 second and then power on for 3 seconds and so on. and it would do this forever untill i turned off the PSU at the back. i have a be quiet dark power pro 1000W and thought the gtx 480 sli was darwing too much power. so i discconected everything and took the 20+4pin ATX cable out and on the 4pin part. one of the pins has litterally melted. so im guessing the motherboard is also screwed. however. when i take off one of the gtx 480 and connect the ATX cable it works even though one of the pins have melted. it still shutts off randomly from time to time though. and i have checked both of my 480's one by one and they are also working fine. but when it comes to SLI it just wont post... another thing is that everytime i take a component out and put back in, my BIOS settings get reset for some odd reason. so is my PSU not working or is my Motherboard not working?

oh and my CPU was NOT OC'ed at the time

here are some pictures. off the damage

20110601_003.jpg


20110601_001.jpg
 
Has the same thing happened to the 12V wire in the 20 pin part of the connector?

Does your board have an auxillary connector for SLI power, if so is it connected?
 
Personally, I would blame the power supply for such a failure. Your system is WELL within the rated wattage of that power supply, so the next logical conclusion is that your power supply is bad. Hopefully your motherboard suffered no permanent damage.

As for a replacement, my brand recommendation, in this order, would be: Seasonic, Corsair, XFX, or Antec. You can't go wrong with any of the higher-quality PSUs by those manufacturers, so pick your poison.
 
Afaict melted pins like that are generally caused by the combination of a less than ideal connection and the high currents that SLI. Whether the connector on the motherboard or the one on the PSU cable was originally at fault is largely irrelevent, when that kind of melting happens both connectors should be replaced for reliable operation.

Unfortunately replacing the connector on the motherboard is likely to be quite a difficult soldering job, best way is probablly to cut away the plastic and then desolder and remove the pins one at at time.
 
Naieve said:
Here's mine from December.

http://i.imgur.com/GVVKq.jpg

Your video cards were overdrawing the 12v pci-e lines. While you RMA your motherboard and PSU, buy an EVGA Powerboost to plug into a spare pci-e slot to distribute the load.

http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=100-MB-PB01-BR
Click to expand...

A melted plug is NOT what happens from overdrawing the current through the connector. That happens when and only when the connection is loose. It causes extra resistance which heats up the connection. It gets worse and worse over time.

It is true that adding more load can cause it to happen quicker, but it is not because there was too much power being drawn.

I have seen that happen multiple times on bone stock Dell machines with onboard video.

Stop spreading crap about it being because of the video cards overdrawing the 12v PCI-E lanes. If that was the case, traces on the motherboard should have fried WAY before a non-faulty plug melted.

Both the board and the power supply are probably fine. Clean the plug on the motherboard and get the power supply replaced under warranty unless you want to splice a new connector in yourself and void the warranty.
 
hmm well i dont have waranty left on the PSU so i dont really have much chioce. how do i change the melted wire on the atx cable?
 
cut the wires, strip them, crimp on new pins and insert into a new shell.

I would try to get genuine molex mini-fit HCS pins if you can to minimise the chance of a reccurance.
 
cyclone3d said:
Stop spreading crap about it being because of the video cards overdrawing the 12v PCI-E lanes. If that was the case, traces on the motherboard should have fried WAY before a non-faulty plug melted.

Both the board and the power supply are probably fine. Clean the plug on the motherboard and get the power supply replaced under warranty unless you want to splice a new connector in yourself and void the warranty.
Click to expand...

You know that for someone screaming about me spreading crap, you might want to rethink the part about cleaning out the plug on the motherboard and instead opt to get it replaced under warranty. You think the connection that lead to this was bad, how good of a connection do you think you will get from a burned out plug?

The connectors are the weak link in the pci-e line, and the cards were drawing more current than the connection could handle. They were the weakest link. If you think its a better idea to sit back and hope the connection on the next PSU/Mobo he gets back from RMA is good enough to handle the load, well....

Personally I bought a powerboost so I don't have to play russian roulette.
 
I'll just throw this out, because in your very clear pic I see the two tabs sticking out from the ATX separate 4 pin additional connector.
While using an older PSU in a rig of mine because my high priced unit failed, it had the 20 + 4 connector also. The 20 pin went in fine, but I noticed that the 4 pin wouldnt go all the way down - the top tabs on one side were in the way. So I tried it anyway, and sure enough it didnt boot
WTF??
So I took an exacto knife and cut them off and it went down correctly, then booted fine. Crazy stuff and i dont understand what all that was about, but I see you have those tabs on the 4 pin

Edit:
Might also mention 24 pin ATX 4 pin aux is yellow (!2V) red (5V) orange (3.3V) and black
4 pin CPU AUX is yelow(12) yellow(12) Blck blck
Since what I see (barely) appears to be red cable but also appears as 2 yellow - cant tell

2cr52dk.jpg
 
Last edited:
cyclone3d said:
A melted plug is NOT what happens from overdrawing the current through the connector. That happens when and only when the connection is loose. It causes extra resistance which heats up the connection. It gets worse and worse over time.

It is true that adding more load can cause it to happen quicker, but it is not because there was too much power being drawn.

I have seen that happen multiple times on bone stock Dell machines with onboard video.

Stop spreading crap about it being because of the video cards overdrawing the 12v PCI-E lanes. If that was the case, traces on the motherboard should have fried WAY before a non-faulty plug melted.

Both the board and the power supply are probably fine. Clean the plug on the motherboard and get the power supply replaced under warranty unless you want to splice a new connector in yourself and void the warranty.
Click to expand...

Actually, you're wrong.

I fried the 4 pin EPS12v connector on my PSU (and burnt the socket, obviously) on my P5WDH, by overclocking a QX9650 to 4.2 ghz and 1.45v. And the connector was NOT loose at all--it was as snug as an epoxied heatsink. It burned out because (and this was a KNOWN issue in those days), it was simply drawing too much current through two 12v lines, and the CPU was probably pulling close to 300w at full load. That 4 pin connector is rated for like 175W, if I recall, although I can't remember details of stuff that far back.

And it did NOT happen when it was just at 4 ghz and 1.3625v. So that should tell you something.

The P5WDH was designed for dual cores. Heck, yorkfield quads didn't even work properly in older versions of the board, and there I was pouring tons of juice throught that thing.

This is why newer overclocking boards like the p5q deluxe, EP45 UD3P and other similar higher end boards around X38 and X48 that were specificially designed for quads, came with 8 pin power connectors--you have twice as many wires, thus the heat is distributed out.

This was a pretty common problem in those days, when people pushed quads on boards that were originally designed for duals. You simply draw too much power through that socket, and it heats up the wires and connector, and it slowly burns.

That being said, What is that 4 pin connector for, anyway? The P6T Deluxe was a high end board, and should have an 8 pin CPU power connector....I think you simply used the wrong connector? I'll go look at the board somewhere and see if maybe it has both connectors....
 
Ok something's CLEARLY wrong here.

What board is this???
I just went to the Asus webpage, and the ATX 20 pin connector looks nothing like what you have shown. And there's a 20 pin, then the 8 pin (which can accept a 4 pin for older psu's) is far above the socket on the other side. This isn't your sig rig, is it? Because the P6T deluxe has a completely different layout....

And what CPU was being used in this board?
 
Falkentyne said:
Ok something's CLEARLY wrong here.

What board is this???
I just went to the Asus webpage, and the ATX 20 pin connector looks nothing like what you have shown. And there's a 20 pin, then the 8 pin (which can accept a 4 pin for older psu's) is far above the socket on the other side. This isn't your sig rig, is it? Because the P6T deluxe has a completely different layout....

And what CPU was being used in this board?
Click to expand...

Nah your completely wrong mate, or don't know the difference between the 24 pin atx (not 20 pin btw) and the dedicated cpu power connection (which is 8 pin, and above the cpu socket).

The board is an ASUS P6T Deluxe. The pin that was burnt is from the 4 pin add-on plug of 20+4 atx connection. Is this is clearer now ?
 
Could it be a loose connection ? I've cleaned the burnt out connection on the motherboard and stripped the melted plug (so the metal connector is exposed). Now it fits better and the pc has been on overnight with no problems, yet.

Also, there is a hissing sounds. I think its coming from the psu but can't tell exaclty. Could this a capacitor leak ? Is this a major problem ?

Thanks.
 
Just figured out something to do with my laser thermometer. That was just a loose connection & not an overload. FrozenCPU or PerformancePCs should have the pins & receptacle & tools to change the pins. That motherboard pin will be tuff to clean though. Good Luck with it.
xivlia said:
hi there, i have recently bought another GTX 480. and i added it to my rig yesterday, it was working perfectly fine untill today. my pc randomly shut off while playing Dragon Age: Origins. and it would not come on when i pressed the power button. so i left it there for about 15mins. and tried again and it powered on, but it wouldnt POST. all it would do is. power on for 3 seconds and power off for 3 second and then power on for 3 seconds and so on. and it would do this forever untill i turned off the PSU at the back. i have a be quiet dark power pro 1000W and thought the gtx 480 sli was darwing too much power. so i discconected everything and took the 20+4pin ATX cable out and on the 4pin part. one of the pins has litterally melted. so im guessing the motherboard is also screwed. however. when i take off one of the gtx 480 and connect the ATX cable it works even though one of the pins have melted. it still shutts off randomly from time to time though. and i have checked both of my 480's one by one and they are also working fine. but when it comes to SLI it just wont post... another thing is that everytime i take a component out and put back in, my BIOS settings get reset for some odd reason. so is my PSU not working or is my Motherboard not working?

oh and my CPU was NOT OC'ed at the time

here are some pictures. off the damage

20110601_003.jpg


20110601_001.jpg
Click to expand...
 
xivlia said:
Could it be a loose connection ? I've cleaned the burnt out connection on the motherboard and stripped the melted plug (so the metal connector is exposed). Now it fits better and the pc has been on overnight with no problems, yet.

Also, there is a hissing sounds. I think its coming from the psu but can't tell exaclty. Could this a capacitor leak ? Is this a major problem ?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Do you have a infra-red thermometer? to point at the wire connectors to look for hot spots. Try to turn off or disconnect as many items in your pc as possible, to try to isolate the hissing sound. You can also use the old paper towel cardboard tube trick, it helps.
 
there is definatley a hissing noise from the PSU and it sometimes stutteres or pulsates. the PSU is outside the case and when i put my ear on the PSU i can hear it.
 
My old PSU had the same problem, OCZ Stealthxstream 700w (ironic), it made this loud hissing pulsing sound that got louder the more load I put on it. I just figured it was another shitty capacitor issue like the 8800GT's. Sure enough, the PSU began to fail after 6 months, it can barely power a GTS250 now even though it handled my GTX 275 before with ease.
 
xivlia said:
Could it be a loose connection ? I've cleaned the burnt out connection on the motherboard and stripped the melted plug (so the metal connector is exposed). Now it fits better and the pc has been on overnight with no problems, yet.

Also, there is a hissing sounds. I think its coming from the psu but can't tell exaclty. Could this a capacitor leak ? Is this a major problem ?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

There you have it... loose connection just like I said. I've seen this problem way too many times to even think otherwise.

The power supply side plugs are made of pretty soft metal and have a tendency to bend/open up a little bit which causes the looseness.

xivlia - yeah, sounds like your power supply has at least one bad capacitor. If you are o.k. with soldering, it is a pretty easy thing to open up a power supply and replace capacitors. To discharge everything before oyu open it up, unplug the power from the wall and then hold the power button on your computer for a few seconds.

When replacing capacitors i always make sure that I either use a better brand with the same or higher rating or if you have to use the same brand (if you are pulling used ones from parts you have laying around) make sure it is rated higher. I've had one or two power supplies where I had to run wires and zip tie a capcitor in a different place because the replacement was too big to physically fit in the original place on the circuit board.
 
xivlia said:
Nah your completely wrong mate, or don't know the difference between the 24 pin atx (not 20 pin btw) and the dedicated cpu power connection (which is 8 pin, and above the cpu socket).

The board is an ASUS P6T Deluxe. The pin that was burnt is from the 4 pin add-on plug of 20+4 atx connection. Is this is clearer now ?
Click to expand...

It's clear but it's also clear that the P6T deluxe shown on the Asus website is nothing like the board shown here. I did take the time to look because I was confused....Why is Asus showing a different ATX layout than what is shown here? Even the color of the socket is different....

So how was I supposed to know? I did TRY To look up the board (give me credit for trying), but the pictures on the Asus website did NOT match what this person showed.
And I've never used a board where the main ATX plug was split into a 20 and a 4. it was always one connector (which I thought was a 20 pin with an 4 pin auxiliary CPU 12v connector or an 8 pin (both EPS12v). Guess I should take some time to learn about this ....

I stand corrected then.

Anyway, I still stand firm on that a 4 pin CPU Aux connector CAN burn by putting too much current through it (e.g. overclocking a quad core at high vcore on a board designed for duals), as that did happen to me and others as well, but that is clearly not the case here. Since that's not an EPS12v connector (right?)
 
Falkentyne said:
Anyway, I still stand firm on that a 4 pin CPU Aux connector CAN burn by putting too much current through it (e.g. overclocking a quad core at high vcore on a board designed for duals), as that did happen to me and others as well, but that is clearly not the case here. Since that's not an EPS12v connector (right?)
Click to expand...

That actually is the case here, this is a known problem with the 400/500 series, which actually began to crop up with dual gtx 295's, and the reason motherboard manufacturers began putting auxiliary pci-e connectors onto their motherboards.

Running dual/triple 480's without an auxiliary pci-e connection is Russian Roulette.

@OP

I'd make sure not to leave your computer running on any graphics intensive game while you are not in the room. Also you might want to run your computer full out and smell the exhaust very carefully.
 
Falkentyne said:
It's clear but it's also clear that the P6T deluxe shown on the Asus website is nothing like the board shown here. I did take the time to look because I was confused....Why is Asus showing a different ATX layout than what is shown here? Even the color of the socket is different....

So how was I supposed to know? I did TRY To look up the board (give me credit for trying), but the pictures on the Asus website did NOT match what this person showed.
And I've never used a board where the main ATX plug was split into a 20 and a 4. it was always one connector (which I thought was a 20 pin with an 4 pin auxiliary CPU 12v connector or an 8 pin (both EPS12v). Guess I should take some time to learn about this ....

I stand corrected then.

Anyway, I still stand firm on that a 4 pin CPU Aux connector CAN burn by putting too much current through it (e.g. overclocking a quad core at high vcore on a board designed for duals), as that did happen to me and others as well, but that is clearly not the case here. Since that's not an EPS12v connector (right?)
Click to expand...

i dont know what ur talking about..the +4 pins isnt the cpu power...the cpu has a deticated 8pin power cable which is right above the cpu. the 20+4pin atx cable is a part of the psu and the 24pin socket is a part of the motherbaord.. maybe the baord in asus website is the p6t deluxe v2 or p6td deluxe. i have the p6t deluxe v1.
 
another thing i just noticed. is that my whole 20+4pin ATX cable is extremely hot to touch, and when i play a game it gets even hotter. i know its taking up soo much current...but i dont know WHY its taking up soo much current..any ideas?
 
xivlia said:
another thing i just noticed. is that my whole 20+4pin ATX cable is extremely hot to touch, and when i play a game it gets even hotter. i know its taking up soo much current...but i dont know WHY its taking up soo much current..any ideas?
Click to expand...

Were you in a car accident and hit your head on the windshield?
You just said your PSU is making a hissing sound
You blew the freaking PSU
Got it?
Who cares why?
Are the wires in the cable fried also?
Nowhere did you mention the most important thing - THE EXACT PSU YOU HAVE NOW trying to do SLI in gaming mode
(PSU's for a while had the ATX 20 + 4 pin config so as TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH OLD 20 PIN MOBO's).

Do not clean the connectors, do not splice in new ATX connector - THROW THE FRIGGIN POS FRIED PSU IN THE TRASH AND THEN RMA YOUR FRIGGIN MOBO!!!
You have money for 2 Vid cards, but no money left for another PSU?

You wanna burn your house down?
Go right ahead, Homer Simpson
 
cisco guy said:
Were you in a car accident and hit your head on the windshield?
You just said your PSU is making a hissing sound
You blew the freaking PSU
Got it?
Who cares why?
Are the wires in the cable fried also?
Nowhere did you mention the most important thing - THE EXACT PSU YOU HAVE NOW trying to do SLI in gaming mode
(PSU's for a while had the ATX 20 + 4 pin config so as TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH OLD 20 PIN MOBO's).

Do not clean the connectors, do not splice in new ATX connector - THROW THE FRIGGIN POS FRIED PSU IN THE TRASH AND THEN RMA YOUR FRIGGIN MOBO!!!
You have money for 2 Vid cards, but no money left for another PSU?

You wanna burn your house down?
Go right ahead, Homer Simpson
Click to expand...

ok first of all. the psu isnt blown it clearly works as i am typing this. yes there is a hissing noise. but thats from a leaking capacitor. or could be somewhat damaged/blown capacitor. its not threatening my rig at this time. i have now taken out my second gpu and im now using one gpu. the ATX cables are no longer HOT. and the wires in the cables are fine. only the plastic has melted. at this time. my pc is totally stable.
 
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