HELP something exploded

[raptors]

I just got a new case today from newegg > http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=11-156-148&DEPA=1

I took everything out of my old case, except the floppy and 2nd HDD, and installed it in this new case.

I press the powerbutton on case, nothing turned on except an LED light on the window fan which quickly shut off. Thinking maybe I had to hold this new power button in, I held it in and BOOM a loud explosion, bright flash in the window I could see, and I smelled this terrible smelling smoke.

I didn't want to get zapped or anything, so I quickly unplugged everything from the surge protector and wall and turned off the switch on the back of my PSU.

WTF could have happened? I don't have any money left to buy new stuff for this. I don't have a source of income (unemployed)

I waited a few minutes, opened case up, see if I could see any damage, after a quick check I see no damage to anything except a smell of smoke.

So I tried to power it back on after plugging everything back in, and the light on my motherboard no longer comes on showing it's getting power . So I'm thinking it's either my PSU or Mobo that fried.

The PSU That fried (if the PSU fried) is an Antec Truepower 430w. Motherboard is Abit NF7-S V2.0

80 gig maxtor drive. lite-on DVD-RW drive. All this stuff worked perfectly in my other case it was installed. Only thing new is this case and the 6 fans that came with it.

I have 1 PSU left to use the 420w raidmax that comes with the case. I DONT WANT IT TO FRY THOUGH or I'm out of using a good computer for a few MONTHS.

Did I hook something in wrong? The only thing I can think of is the fan/led connectors. Each fan had 2 connectors comeing out of it's wire and maybe I hooked the wrong one in.

Would it do anything if I hooked the fans into powerplugs that aren't labeled "FAN ONLY" from my PSU, is the voltage higher or sometihng on the ones not marked "FAN ONLY"?

Or was it my HDD. Before with my other case the screws that held my HDD in place where on the side of it. This time I screwed it into the bottom screw holes on my HDD.

HELP

 

[oldpablo]

Most likely PSU. Smell it up close near the back. Only thing that I know of that really goes boom.

 

[raptors]

Most likely PSU. Smell it up close near the back. Only thing that I know of that really goes boom.

Ok. Now what would have made it go boom?

I really had alot to do tonight on my computer and the current one I'm on I can't do it.

Um should I go ahead and put the other less quality PSU in and see if it works? What should I do do make sure that one doesn't explode either?

 

[threephi]

Terrible story, dude! I'm assuming that everything you put into the new case worked perfectly together in your old case, including the power supply?

My guess is that you suffered a horrible ground short. Try inspecting every component very carefully to see if you can find exactly which part went kaboom. The fact that it was a loud bang with a bright flash leads me to think that it was a dead short involving some of the cabling as opposed to a component on the mobo or inside the PS (the size of the bang and the fact that the flash was bright enough that you saw it means there was a big metal-to-metal contact). A fireworks display of that magnitude (happy Fourth of July!) means there should be some very obvious wreckage left over where the short occured--melted metal and/or plastic, and some scorching around the blast zone.

Remove your mobo and inspect the back of it to see if the short occured there. As you probably know, that can occur if the mobo is not mounted into the case properly. Check out every centimeter of the interior and exterior of your case to see if the fault occured between your case and some other appliance it might have been resting on or against. Next take a careful look at all of the PS cables to see if something is damaged there. Take pix of the damage, this might help you with a warranty claim.

Since it seems the case is the sole new element of your setup, there is a chance that some horrible manufacturing problem led to the disaster. If so, you can try whaling on the people who made it and hope they take pity on you. You can also try innocently RMA'ing any other parts that got borked in the process and cross your fingers.

However, one other thing you said makes me very concerned:

Did I hook something in wrong? The only thing I can think of is the fan/led connectors. Each fan had 2 connectors comeing out of it's wire and maybe I hooked the wrong one in.

Dude, you should KNOW that you did it right, before you reach for the power switch . Are you asking because you're a little rattled (as I would be)? The other option is that you don't know what you're doing, in which case I can only say... RTFM. Forgive the harsh words, and I hope this is not the case, but it needed to be said.

Regardless however of what particular component is to blame, there's a high probability that much of your rig is toast. I feel your pain.

 

[threephi]

Um should I go ahead and put the other less quality PSU in and see if it works? What should I do do make sure that one doesn't explode either?

I would proceed very carefully if you are set on testing everything out right away. Firstly, do the inspection I recommended in my previous post to find the location of the short. Second, there is extensive info on the web on how to test an ATX power supply without plugging in a motherboard. It involves using a small wire jumper to connect two of the pins on the mobo power header, but read up VERY CAREFULLY how to do this procedure and make sure you fully understand how it is done before proceeding.

If you find that your PS is still operational, then I would try connecting PS and mobo outside of any case. I will be very surprised, but happy for you, if anything still works.

 

[raptors]

Dude, you should KNOW that you did it right, before you reach for the power switch . Are you asking because you're a little rattled (as I would be)? The other option is that you don't know what you're doing, in which case I can only say... RTFM. Forgive the harsh words, and I hope this is not the case, but it needed to be said.

.

The case didn't come with a manual. I am just asking because I don't know what the one extra connector coming off each fan is for. It doesn't look like they hook to my PSU anywhere. It's like teh same kind of molex connector that comes out of your PSU just it's on the fan???


But anyway OK I'll try to take everything apart again *sigh* and see if I can see any damage. If I don't should I try hooking the other PSU up?

 

[raptors]

IIf you find that your PS is still operational, then I would try connecting PS and mobo outside of any case.

I'm scared to do that lol, if it explodes again I don't want to get electrocuted.

 

[raptors]

BTW, the sound of the "explosion" (if I remember correctly, it's been almost 4 hours now) sounded like something literally frying on a frying pan just a lot louder, or like static or when your TV turns to a channel that's not there and you get the loud noise, ETC.

But yes a flash did light up somewhere inside my case, hard to remember where because it lasted only lik 500 milliseconds. I think it was a blue-ish color illumination.

 

[CrimandEvil]

Dollars to donuts I'd bet that it was the PSU, RMA the thing to Newegg and tell them what happened and test it. Test it by either hooking up the PSU to another motherboard and the old motherboard to a known working PSU. You have to check EVERY single part to make sure that the PSU didn't take anything else with it.

On a side note I have never bought a case/PSU combo for this reason, most of those PSUs have low quality parts used.

My Aunt's PC died when I was working on it, it had a generic PSU that blew. When ut happened I had just plugged it in and powered it up to see if everything was in working order, BAM! blue flash from inside the case and some smoke from the back. What happened was that a cap had failed killing the POS power supply and takening an 80GB HD with it.

 

[threephi]

The case didn't come with a manual. I am just asking because I don't know what the one extra connector coming off each fan is for. It doesn't look like they hook to my PSU anywhere. It's like teh same kind of molex connector that comes out of your PSU just it's on the fan???

Waitaminit... are you saying the case fans each have two power headers on them? What kind of connectors are they? The only reason I can think of a case manufacturer putting two power leads on one fan is so you have the choice to use either a mobo-controlled power output or regular molex power straight from the PS. If you connected BOTH at the same time, there's your short.

BTW 500 milliseconds, or half a second, is pretty long for an electric short (bluish color = electric discharge--same as lightning). I'm surprised you haven't found the site of the flash yet.

 

[raptors]

Dollars to donuts I'd bet that it was the PSU, RMA the thing to Newegg and tell them what happened and test it. Test it by either hooking up the PSU to another motherboard and the old motherboard to a known working PSU. You have to check EVERY single part to make sure that the PSU didn't take anything else with it.

On a side note I have never bought a case/PSU combo for this reason, most of those PSUs have low quality parts used.

My Aunt's PC died when I was working on it, it had a generic PSU that blew. When ut happened I had just plugged it in and powered it up to see if everything was in working order, BAM! blue flash from inside the case and some smoke from the back. What happened was that a cap had failed killing the POS power supply and takening an 80GB HD with it.

ok in my original post I said it was the Antec 430w PSU (that has been working for a good 6 months now) that was in it when it blew, not the 420w raidmax that came with the case I still ahve teh 420w raidmax.


Ok now I took the motherboard and just about everything out except he DVD-RW drive and I see no damage, no scorch marks, or anything.

on the bottom of my MOBO it all looks perfect, on the metal under the MOBO it looks perfect except for a few fingerprints and scratches

and this is what I mean from the (wrong or right connector) on the fans:

There is a female and male molex connector on each fan, only one plugs anywhere to my PSU(s), and was wondering what the other one is for.

 

[raptors]

Waitaminit... are you saying the case fans each have two power headers on them? What kind of connectors are they? The only reason I can think of a case manufacturer putting two power leads on one fan is so you have the choice to use either a mobo-controlled power output or regular molex power straight from the PS. If you connected BOTH at the same time, there's your short.

BTW 500 milliseconds, or half a second, is pretty long for an electric short (bluish color = electric discharge--same as lightning). I'm surprised you haven't found the site of the flash yet.

I am 99% sure I didn't hook 2 from the same wire in at once. Because the other one doesn't hook anywhere, no fit.

Maybe it wasn't half a second, but that's what it seemed like when I saw the flash.

 

[raptors]

anyway, browsing the net I think I found the female molex is for hooking to my MOtherboard on a connector and male is to go to the PSU.

but I never hooked any molexes to my motherboard, just the PSU.

 

[raptors]

the only "damage" I can find is I took my copper heatsink off my CPU, and on the cpu (not the di) there is a liquid/gel that has the texture of liquid glue when it's almost dry. No I'm not talking about the thermal paste you put to make heat go through, there is a clear "glue" or something on my CPU which wasn't there when I put the CPU in.

Also glad I took the heatsink off CPU because I found a lot of the thermal paste I put on it has dissapeared. So now befoer Ieven think of starting this back up I have to find my arctic silver which is hidden somewhere in my messy room

 

[threephi]

and this is what I mean from the (wrong or right connector) on the fans:

The male molex connects to your PS. The extra female molex is for a pass-through so you can plug something else in (like another fan or whathaveyou) and not lose any power outputs from your PS. The tiny one with two wires is a mobo connector since many motherboards can control fan speeds through BIOS. You must NOT connect the male molex and the little mobo connector at the same time.

 

[raptors]

The male molex connects to your PS. The extra female molex is for a pass-through so you can plug something else in (like another fan or whathaveyou) and not lose any power outputs from your PS. The tiny one with two wires is a mobo connector since many motherboards can control fan speeds through BIOS. You must NOT connect the male molex and the little mobo connector at the same time.

I got that pic off of google, my fans have no MOBO connector only molex, just using it for an example.

So I can hook another fan up to the female for I don't have to reach another PSU wire far?

Also someone else on another forum mentioned to me about using spacers with the motherboard. I don't think I used any spacers LOL didn't even know they existed. Would they be these little gold colored metal things in the bag of screws that came with the case?

 

[raptors]

CRAP I see now yes the brass things are SPACERS, and I didn't use them. And now I think I see some damage near one of the screw holes on the bottom of my motherboard, it's really small but there's a red colored mark. (my motherboard is a dark red color).


crap I had an extra PSU and PSUs are cheap. Motherboards are not cheap and I only have a really old one with SDRAM not DDR.

and I'm guessing since it was my error that blew up the motherboard (if that's what happened) then that voids the warranty?

oh and probably my luck everything that was plugged into the motherboard is damaged too.

 

[DocSavage]

Also someone else on another forum mentioned to me about using spacers with the motherboard. I don't think I used any spacers LOL didn't even know they existed. Would they be these little gold colored metal things in the bag of screws that came with the case?

Are you telling me your motherboard is screwed directly onto the case without any kind of spacers?? There are hundreds of solder joints on the motherboard that will short out if thats the case! You will be very lucky if your cpu and motherboard survived. I guess you learn by making mistakes

 

[threephi]

So I can hook another fan up to the female for I don't have to reach another PSU wire far?

Also someone else on another forum mentioned to me about using spacers with the motherboard. I don't think I used any spacers LOL didn't even know they existed. Would they be these little gold colored metal things in the bag of screws that came with the case?

Without seeing exactly the part you are referring to, it sounds like those are the spacers. Spacers are very important. Whenever you install a motherboard into a case there needs to be a little distance between the underside of the mobo and the case itself, otherwise all the little metal pins on the backside of the mobo will directly contact the metal of the case and cause a massive short.

 

[raptors]

Are you telling me your motherboard is screwed directly onto the case without any kind of spacers?? There are hundreds of solder joints on the motherboard that will short out if thats the case! You will be very lucky if your cpu and motherboard survived. I guess you learn by making mistakes

Yep, looks like I used no spacers. shit.


I was so excited to get this case, get it working, I forgot the spacers. I didn't even think about installing them because my old case already had spacers in it and I didn't have to install them, so I forgot to install it with this new case.


*crys* why did it have to be the motherboard. the second most expensive thing in the case.

Is there a good chance the motherboard took everything plugged into the motherboard with it when this happened?


I most defienetly have no money for a new video card, ram, DVD-RW drive, HDD, CPU, and whatever else is plugged into it .

 

[raptors]

I do have an old motherboard I used before this one, with regular non DDR sdram and a duron 1.2 ghz CPU.

Most definetly not enough to run any of my high demanding games or anything before I can get a new motherboard.

 

[DocSavage]

I agree that it sucks to loose equipment from stupidity, but I doubt there are many of us at the [H] who haven't done other expensively stupid things. Think of it this way. Whatever money in equipment you lost is made up in education on building a computer. Heck of a lot cheaper than college computer hardware classes that barely teach you anything.

 

[threephi]

Yeah, you have my sympathies, raptors. Chalk it up to a learning experience. We've all been there one way or another so don't feel too bad. Just be more careful in the future

BTW it's unfortunate, but you are partially a victim of poor case design. In a well-designed case, it should be physically impossible to install the mobo directly onto the case tray without the provided standoffs.

All might not be lost however. Abit has a pretty nice RMA service that I have used in the past. Check it out on their website: http://www.abit-usa.com/services/rma/

Chances are it will cost you less to get the RMA and a replacement refurb board than to buy a new one. However there's also a good chance your memory and CPU are fried too. But I would say it's less likely that parts not directly on the mobo such as hard drives were damaged.

Anyway good luck...

 

[threephi]

BTW, the sound of the "explosion" (if I remember correctly, it's been almost 4 hours now) sounded like something literally frying on a frying pan just a lot louder, or like static or when your TV turns to a channel that's not there and you get the loud noise, ETC.

One final note: If you think about it, it makes sense that the sound was as you described, since it was caused by hundreds of little contacts shorting out at the same time. Something to remember for future troubleshooting here on the [H].

 

[scottatwittenberg]

wow... that's crazy... too bad you missed out on that $30 for a refurb nf7-s deal last week... i am mad i missed out on it...

i remember once i took apart a vcr to fix it,, and i dropped a screwdriver on to a circuit board... a few blue spakrs and the vcr was done for...

try to rma everything... test your cpu in your old socket a board.. you can't test the ram i guess.. but everything else can be tested.. your hard drives and cdrom drives and everything are probably fine... your memory and cpu are probably fine too.. but chances are, if you rma everything that died you will get something back fixed..

also.. my mom uses a 1.2 ghz duron, and i can do anything on her computer that i can on this one... (i don't play games, so that might make a difference) but it runs surprisingly good i think.. you should be able to run anything on it except heavy games...

 

[raptors]

welp.

Hooked MOBO back up with spacers this time. Unplugged everything from motherboard except the 2 power connectors from PSU, CPU, and power switch wire.

Plug it in, and the red light turns on on my mobo to show it's receiving power. Press power button, and nothing happens.

looks like the motherboard is fried somewhere? is there anything else I need to hook in for it to start?

 

[DocSavage]

Well, you should hook up a speaker to the motherboard and see if it beeps.

You may even want to risk your video card to see if anything is happening, but that may destroy it.

Is the cpu heatsink's fan plugged into the motherboard? Does it turn when you press the power button?

 

[compslckr]

sorry to hear about your hardware, i guess you will know better next time you put a PC in a case

 

[Paragon]

No standoffs? Heh. Check out page 3-2 of the motherboard manual. After a long day, I can't help but laugh. There is more to building a computer than knowing the specifications.
Also, take you time. If you don't, well.. you know what can happen [fried motherboard here.. cut finger there... The list goes on.]

Hook up the PC case speaker to the motherboard [page 3-15 of the manual] and see if there are any beep codes. Chaces are you fried the board and possibly other things as well [what can you expect from 12 to 17 volts going through places that they aren't supposed to.. like the ground path]

Hopefully you can figure out what is still good and what is part of tomorrow's breakfast [lets hope for a small breakfast]

<> BTW.. the power light may still go on even on a fried board.

 

[BlindedByScience]

....my most sincere sympathy on the recent loss of your hardware. R.I.P., poor MoBo.....

I'd like to say that I've never made an expensive hardware mistake before, but that would be a lie. I've said ".....oh, shit..." a couple of times, usually right after the power button gets pushed and the smoke leaked out. I'll be most folks on here could make the same claim...

I will say, however, that doing the same thing again would win you some type of special place in hardware hell.....

Regards - B.B.S.

 

[133]

PICS !!! lets see some pics

 

[raptors]

well I hooked in a new mobo.

Seems my CPU and HDD are dead.


MAYBE NOT but when I hook the Athlon XP 2800+ CPU in the older motherboard which, it incorrectly reports the meghertz and says unknown CPU. This means I think either the CPU is dead or the CPU MAY BE if I'm lucky too new for the older bios of the motherboard?

So I hooked in the 1.2ghz duron for the time being which reports correctly.


And I say the HDD is dead because it wont boot windows. But the first screen you get when power computer on says the correct name of the HDD, maxtor 6xxxxxx, but after that screen it makes a HDD loading sound then just a black screen

 

[threephi]

MAYBE NOT but when I hook the Athlon XP 2800+ CPU in the older motherboard which, it incorrectly reports the meghertz and says unknown CPU. This means I think either the CPU is dead or the CPU MAY BE if I'm lucky too new for the older bios of the motherboard?

So I hooked in the 1.2ghz duron for the time being which reports correctly.

And I say the HDD is dead because it wont boot windows. But the first screen you get when power computer on says the correct name of the HDD, maxtor 6xxxxxx, but after that screen it makes a HDD loading sound then just a black screen

Yes in all likelihood your older mobo cannot handle the 2800+. But it is a very good sign that you got to the BIOS stage and it recognized that the chip existed at all. Sounds like you might've dodged a bullet there! It's a simple task to go to the current motherboard's support page and read the release notes for the latest BIOS updates; it will list the range of processors it will recognize and support.

Regarding your hard drive... this is a basic HD troubleshooting step: Boot from another drive or a floppy or a CD and see if you can access any of the test drive's partitions. You might just need to repair the MBR.

 

[raptors]

Yes in all likelihood your older mobo cannot handle the 2800+. But it is a very good sign that you got to the BIOS stage and it recognized that the chip existed at all. Sounds like you might've dodged a bullet there! It's a simple task to go to the current motherboard's support page and read the release notes for the latest BIOS updates; it will list the range of processors it will recognize and support.

Regarding your hard drive... this is a basic HD troubleshooting step: Boot from another drive or a floppy or a CD and see if you can access any of the test drive's partitions. You might just need to repair the MBR.

MBR?

Also I do not have a floppy drive, one in my old case failed was hoping this new case came with one but it didn't (lol).

Pressing F8 I can access the safe mode selection screen.

I press safe mode then windows XP, it then processes all the drivers, when it gets to MUP.sys it freezes there.

WHen I do directory restore then windows XP, it again gets to MUP.sys and freezes.

When I choose last known settings that worked, there's a little loading bar at the bottom and when that gets to the end it freezes.

Should I maybe try re-installing XP, or should I *gasp* pay for a new drive while I'm out today?



i'm trying to fill out an RMA with abit on it, got an email back saying im out of warranty and I need to pay $25 but first I have to confirm that I will do that. Problem is the damn e-mail doesn't say how to confirm it!

this is what I got in the email from abit about the RMA:


quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear customer,

Based on the information you submitted:

SN: (In Wnty:N Missing SN:Y)

Original Invoice Avaiable & within Wnty:N

No Physical Damage:Y

Your defective product is out of warranty. We will go ahead to invalidate your request. You can still apply for service for USD 25 per board by confirming this email within five (5) working days that you agree to pay for the service and the warranty extension on your new replacement will only be good for ninety (90) days. Upon receiving your confirmation and acceptance, we will reactivate your request and confirm the validation result.

RMA Dept

ABIT Computer USA

Item: NF7-S SN: Email: xxxxxxx@twcny.rr.com From: newegg.com Date: 3/01/2004 Note: it fails to start/power on MSN: Y OI: N NPD: Y Wnty: / / Ver: 2.0
cNo:10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COULD someone tellme how I "confirm it"?

 

[JucyTEC]

Both your CPU and Your HD still could be alive, if yer old Mobo does not support 2800 + thats an obvious. My frien also had a NF7 that blew up, only his ram fried, and he lost the bank that the ram was sitting on.

You HD, if it reported the name correctly, just repair the WinXP installation. MUP.SYS is Multiple UNC Provider, it just lets you locate servers and find which protocol to use If they are running on different platforms. All you have to do is pop in a WINXP bootable CD, and get to recovery console. When you are there "disable mup.sys" when done restart. then later on replace that file. hope it helps

JucyTEC out

 

[raptors]

I set the DVD-RW/CD-RW to boot up first and I selected the XP partition and set it to repair. It's apparantly repairing now in windows setup with 37 minutes left which sucks because I really have to go to the dentist soon.

I also replied to the e-mail with "yes I accept and confirm" and still haven't gotten anything back yet from abit.

I also really hope my ram didn't fry because it was a new stick I had just ordered and I ALREADY am RMAing a stick of it that failed last week, sending it in today!! Argh all this RMAing is annoying I really am unlucky this month

 

[raptors]

also I looked up this older motheboard, it appears it doesn't support my processor because it's a "barton" and not a "throughbred"

SO HOPEFULLY when I get a new motherboard back from ABIT if I DO, my old CPU and hopefully RAM and everything else works.

If it's just the mobo that friend no problem I have enough money to replace it, if rest of stuff is fried forget it

 

[threephi]

MBR?

Master Boot Record. Critical boot information on your hard disk; if this data is compromised the disk can appear useless when it can actually be easily and quickly fixed. However based on what you've subsequently posted this does not seem to be the problem.

SN: (In Wnty:N Missing SN:Y)

Are you sure you're out of warranty? Last I checked Abit had a very long warranty period. There's a way to find the serial number, it should be printed on a sticker somewhere on the front or back of the board, or possibly on the box.

I had a very good experience with Abit when I had to RMA a KG7-RAID board a while ago. If you have any questions about the process you can call them on the phone and ask. Long distance to California as I recall, the number should be somewhere on the abit eRMA web page.

xxxxxxx@twcny.rr.com

NYC in the house!

 

[raptors]

Master Boot Record. Critical boot information on your hard disk; if this data is compromised the disk can appear useless when it can actually be easily and quickly fixed. However based on what you've subsequently posted this does not seem to be the problem.

Are you sure you're out of warranty? Last I checked Abit had a very long warranty period. There's a way to find the serial number, it should be printed on a sticker somewhere on the front or back of the board, or possibly on the box.

I had a very good experience with Abit when I had to RMA a KG7-RAID board a while ago. If you have any questions about the process you can call them on the phone and ask. Long distance to California as I recall, the number should be somewhere on the abit eRMA web page.

NYC in the house!

Well the serial number I found said it was an invalid serial number, so I had to check off "missing serial number".

I can't fill out the RMA again I don't think?

Also not from NYC, from central new york state here

 

[primea]

From what you posted, your HD is live ... you just have a corrupted installation of Windows ... maybe you can run that CPU by underclocking it ... jut run it with 100FSB ...