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I killed my machine?
- Thread starter tyguy
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Oldie
Mean Old Administrator
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Don't even consider keeping that PSU. You may only be smoking it now when you load it up, but it's only going to get worse.
Tamlin_WSGF
2[H]4U
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Then the harddrive is dead. Casualty of war. Was it connected to the same molex you used with the PCI-E adapter?
I really appreciate all your advice, you helped me out a ton. Any thoughts on my current predicament?Nice!
Now, about the Fermi. Two things can have happened.
1. The molex connector you used are sometimes tricky and its crucial that you make sure all the pins are properly connected.
2. The Fermi was dead on arrive, which can happen with all cards.
The power surge might have given the card structural damage inside, so its crucial that you test it properly if you choose to try again.
Personally, I would buy a new PSU which have the connectors needed [H] has a good list for this in the Nvidia section and plug it in there (or RMA the card, get a new card and PSU).
Its up to you.
You need a new PSU and a new hard drive now. *shrugs* There are some people who are able to recover data if the stuff on that drive was important but it will cost.
All three hard drives were connected using the sata power cables that were not on the same power as the connection i used to hook up the 6 pin adapter.
I mean i had some really cool stuff but nothing was absolutely vital. Im just really confused how out of everything possible this happened. It could be much worse, so glad my cpu and mobo didnt die on me.
I really want to know if the fermi card is still alive though. However im deathly afraid of plugging that thing back in and having something else more vital die on me
It should be noted that all three hard drives were on the same molex but only 1 hard drive died, the top one.
Tamlin_WSGF
2[H]4U
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No problem.
A PSU have somewhat protection and can survive this, while harddrives are more vulnerable. However, there is still an if, though chances are good if nothing smells from the PSU. I would have changed the PSU just in case and RMA'd the card for a new one. It will cost, but you will sleep better at night.
[H] has a good buying guide here:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/04/27/gtx_480_470_power_supply_unit_buying_guide
A good PSU is a key for a stable system, so its a worthy investment!
I bought this psu a few years ago when I got the core 2 duo and 8800 gtx. At the time this was considered an excellent psu. Yeah the psu works and smells fine. Its that one hard drive that smells and keeps the system from booting. Im not sure what happened. I plugged the 6 pin adapter into the most logical cord available. I could have plugged it into a slot that was shared with a fan. I felt it was safer to try the 4 pin cable directly from the psu. The 6 pin adapter that came with the card uses two 3 pin cables. Im not sure if both need to be plugged in, but I did both of them anyway.No problem.
I would have changed the PSU just in case and RMA'd the card for a new one. It will cost, but you will sleep better at night.
[H] has a good buying guide here:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/04/27/gtx_480_470_power_supply_unit_buying_guide
A good PSU is a key for a stable system, so its a worthy investment!
carlonchox911
n00b
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I'd try to connect the dead HDD with an external enclosure to try and get some info backed up
Tamlin_WSGF
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Both needed to be plugged in, so you did correctly.
I suspect three things that might have happened:
1. The molex was not connected well enough. They are sometimes tricky and if the connection is half way, shit happens.
2. The card was faulty or not seated properly.
3. A wire got loose on the sata cable to the harddrive under install.
Since you don't know, go for the second one and RMA the card, since the overload might have damaged the card and could give you issues later.
Its my old seagate 300gb. The 2 others are twin 500gb maxtors. The one that died was my os install drive that had no important data. All it had was games and programs. All the cool stuff are on my other 2 drives and my external. It can go f#%$ itself for dieing on me.
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I think all things are possible except for the card not being seated properly. I had that thing good and slotted nicely ready to rock. Im at a cross road though. I can take this card back and ge ta full refund, but I really want a new card. I prefered to get the 5870 due to needing less power but apparently its easier to diamonds. Rmaing is a pain in the ass. I did it before with evga. I like how they send me a card first then I go ship them the bunk card. But thats extra money and takes time. In fact when i rmad my 8800 gtx that died on me, they sent me an 8800 gtx that I have to downclock to keep stable.Both needed to be plugged in, so you did correctly.
I suspect three things that might have happened:
1. The molex was not connected well enough. They are sometimes tricky and if the connection is half way, shit happens.
2. The card was faulty or not seated properly.
3. A wire got loose on the sata cable to the harddrive under install.
Since you don't know, go for the second one and RMA the card, since the overload might have damaged the card and could give you issues later.
By the way my psu actually only has 1 6pin pci-e. To get two apparently I had a previous adapter that came with my 8800 gtx. So I had an adapter plugged into an adapter when hooking up the fermi with the 8 pin. Seeing as how the 8 pin adapter requires 2 6 pin adapters. ButI noticed with this adapter I used the same 4 pin connection even though the adapter requires only a 3 pin. So it appears I hooked my fermi up correctly. So im not sure if it was the card or the psu that killed that murdered my hard drive. Could having to hook up the 8 pin going through 2 adapters have messed it up?
Take back what i said abouit my psu only having 1 6 pin. Well i put the machoine back together sans the broken hd. When to fire it up and nothing. No fans spun up or anything. So i take the psu back out stick the paper clip in for the test and it turns on as well as powers a fan. So I plug it back into the motherboard with absolutely nothing plugged in. Same thing, nothing happens. When I put my system back together one of the pci-e 6 pins I used was that adapter that came wit hthe fermi. Could it be possible that a f'n adapter just screwed over my whole system. Im so frustrated right now.
MurderCityDevil
Gawd
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I feel I have to echo what all the others have said - even if your current CPU appears to "work", for god's sake don't keep using it. Please invest in a quality unit from a reputable manufacturer (I recommend something from PC Power & Cooling or Corsair). The PSU is one of the most crucial components in that if it fails, it has the ability to destroy every other component in your system. Good luck!
Spare-Flair
Supreme [H]ardness
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I don't know if I would risk another motherboard if you have an old junk system lying around, plug the screwed up Toughpower into another motherboard and system to see if your current mobo has been fried by the PSU/Fermi/Fermi adapter.
Dumb question but are you sure your 12 volt power connector(s) is properly connected to the motherboard? People often only plug in the large 24 pin ATX main power cable connector and forget this one.
Godmachine
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I don't know if I would risk another motherboard if you have an old junk system lying around, plug the screwed up Toughpower into another motherboard and system to see if your current mobo has been fried by the PSU/Fermi/Fermi adapter.
Dumb question but are you sure your 12 volt power connector(s) is properly connected to the motherboard? People often only plug in the large 24 pin ATX main power cable connector and forget this one.
Good suggestion but also
Tyguy STOP powering on you're system and buy a new PSU STAT. You are doing continual harm to it by doing what you are doing. Even if this means you have to put aside you're curiosity on the total issue you are just making things worse.
Lesson here is you bought the most powerful single card solution on the market and tried to basically " Feed a lion with kitten food".
Get a top brand PSU and move on from the hardware failure.
Yes both power connections are in and yes I have made that mistake before lol. Ok so i took my power supply and plugged it into my old core 2 duo system. The weirdest thing happens. I go to fire it up and the psu turns on, but nothing else. The core 2 cpu fan is plugged into the motherboard but the only thing powering on is the psu.
Spare-Flair
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I sincerely hope that the next post isn't you putting your C2D system back together to find that it too has been fried by the Toughpower of death. I only wanted you to use a really junky board and computer that would never be useful again. Like a P4 or AMD XP or something. Are the PSU pins still bridged somehow?
Well I was able to get the core 2 duo fan spinning, but I had to give it a flick. Its like it isnt getting enough power because the fan speed fluctuates after it gets going from a flick. Well crap I have no way of testing if this psu dicked over 2 of my systems because I dont have a psu strong enough laing around to power that core 2. Also, who changed the name of this thread? The root of the problem is the fermi. Everything was great till I tossed the fermi in. Maybe my fermi killed my psu which in turn killed my system? Maybe my fermi just killed my psu and it only has enough juice left to power case fans? Either way it sucks that I spend 450 dollars to destroy my computer.
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Spare-Flair
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Well I was able to get the core 2 duo fan spinning but I had to give it a flick. Itslike it isnt getting eniugh power because the fan speed fluctuates after it gets going from a flick. Well crap I have no way of testing if this psu dicked over 2 of my systems. Also who changed the name of this thread. The root of the problem is the fermi. Everything was great till I tossed the fermi in. Maybe my fermi killed my psu which in turn killed my system. Maybe my fermi just killed my psu and it only has enough juice left to power case fans. Either way it sucks that I spend 450 dollars to destroy my computer.
Can you still change it back to "Fermi killed my machine?"
I don't want to spark another Fermi debate but a title like that would be good warning against those who would try it out with less than optimal powersupplies.
I've seen the reverse happen where a friend put an 8800GTX on a 400watt Sparkle and killed the 8800GTX.
I have no agenda where I think a lot of people do. I've owned both nvidia and ati and been happy with both. I simply buy what I feel best suits my needs. I was reluctant to buy this card cause I wasnt sure my psu was up to snuff. The fact that they had this card and could never get 5870's prompted me to just pick this up because people have a hard time finding this card as well.
I think im just going to take this card back tomorrow and buy a psu as well. Really sucks I have to use my gift card to replace something that worked just fine previously.
Spare-Flair
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Does the Toughpower have a warranty? I thought they were 5 years parts and labor.
Normally I wouldn't advise someone to RMA something they broke but the Toughpower does have a rating of four 18A 12+v rails doesn't it? I would think 650watts and 72amps would cover fermi and give you a case for RMA.
I have no idea but i'll look into it. I certainly didnt do anything absurd to void the warranty.
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Spare-Flair
Supreme [H]ardness
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So guys, any theories on what really happened?
Is a 650watt Thermaltake with four 18amp rails not good enough for Fermi?
Is a 650watt Thermaltake with four 18amp rails not good enough for Fermi?
Godmachine
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Its fair to say he may have over strained his PSU or perhaps his PSU just died .. I've had 2 Antec's die in the way his PSU is acting and he might have even fried a few things in his system along with it. Even if he didn't get it all in one go its safe to bet he should just flat out replace the PSU or look into the warranty.
I personally wouldn't recommend running GTX 480 without a over spec beefy PSU just to be on the safe side.
Dangman
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Fantasysage
Limp Gawd
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I had issues like this with a semi-DOA corsair 750. Sucker was giving me headaches left and right. RMA'd it and bought an 850 (because it went on sale) and all is well. I was getting weird ass issues though, like ram not working, HDD's not spinning up, not posting, SLI not working, etc etc. Plugged my old POS hec500 back in and she posted right up. I really think this is your MOBO's fault detection kicking in and telling that PSU to go fuck itself.
Find another PSU somewhere and boot the system up after clearing the cmos. Hopefully all will be well. Stop having such a negative 'holy shit my life sucks and my computer is on fire' attitude as well. Shit happens, getting melodramatic doesn't help anyone and makes people do stupid shit like return an entire PC.
Find another PSU somewhere and boot the system up after clearing the cmos. Hopefully all will be well. Stop having such a negative 'holy shit my life sucks and my computer is on fire' attitude as well. Shit happens, getting melodramatic doesn't help anyone and makes people do stupid shit like return an entire PC.
Your piece of junk PSU killed you system if anything, just buy a new PSU.
wicked_chicken
Limp Gawd
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Yeah. I'd highly suggest yielding to the advice of "Stop fudging with fire."
-New PSU
-RMA'd card.
Then you may proceed.
-New PSU
-RMA'd card.
Then you may proceed.
I'm thinking in combination with what else was running in his system, probably not. I think he said 3 hard drives. The 480 is a power greedy card.
Hey thanks for the advice, during my break here im gonna stop by frys and get a new psu. I thought i was pretty cool about the whole situation, minor venting if anything. I'm really not sure if I should keep this card though. Say I get a new power supply hook it all up with my old card and everything is dandy there is no way in hell im going to plug that fermi in. I'm just curious if I should A. Take the card back and buy a new psu wit hte refund+gift card and look online for a 5870. Or b just pick up a new power supply and rma this fermi. Its ridiculously hard to even get a hand on fermis which is why im hesitant to take it back.
Yep, I had 3 hard drives a dvd-r drive a biostar mobo, rpi jaw 4 gb kit with i7 860.
From what I understand my psu was not a piece of junk. Now that its broken it obviously is but ive made sure to not get garbage psu's. It is three years old. I expected maybe during gameplay I would get freezes due to power supply not being up to snuff. I didn't expect my psu to get killed on initial boot up.
Looking online I dont see any great deals on 5870's... Sorta leaning on keeping and rmaing the card. Also looking at frys website, I dont see any quality psus that they actually keep in store. Really would like to ge ta psu asap so I know what is exactly up. My gut feeling tells me the only thing tha twas actually damaged was that hard drive. It was the only device that had a burning smell and I was able to get my computer to post momentarily without it plugged in. Just strange how its capable of still powering a case fan and semi powering up my other comp. Apparently its only half dead heh.
Is this psu capable? Having a hard time find a decent psu that frys has in stock that isnt overkill.
http://www.frys.com/product/6159219?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
http://www.frys.com/product/6159219?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG