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I reversed my PCI-e cable

J

jebo_4jc

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - April 2011
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So I upgraded to a Conroe/pci-e system for the first time. When I was setting it up though, I had my modular PCI-e power cable reversed. That is, I plugged the end for the video card into the PSU, and plugged the end for the PSU into the video card. When I tried to power up, I heard a faint buzzing from the PSU, but the PC wouldn't boot. Obviously concerned, I immediately shut it off. The problem is, I assumed it was a loose connection or a problem with the motherboard or something, so I proceeded to try it a few more times after checking connections, reseating CPUs, even RMA-ing my (I thought) defective motherboard.

After a lot of troubleshooting, I got everything back in order, but now I have a big problem, my CPU/motherboard fails Prime95 tests at stock speeds.
Any idea if I may have fried something when I had the PCI-e cable reversed?

Sidenote: I'm mad about the fact that it's even possible to reverse the cable at all. The connections on the ends should be slightly different to make this kind of thing impossible.
 
jebo_4jc said:
Sidenote: I'm mad about the fact that it's even possible to reverse the cable at all. The connections on the ends should be slightly different to make this kind of thing impossible.
Click to expand...

The connector is different on the end. You had to have forced it to get it to go in. You might not think you forced it, but you forced it.

I best you just shorted the PSU. I think you might be fine.
 
jonnyGURU said:
The connector is different on the end. You had to have forced it to get it to go in. You might not think you forced it, but you forced it.

I best you just shorted the PSU. I think you might be fine.
Click to expand...
Interesting.
Thing is, like I mentioned, the system fails prime95

The instability is just a cooincidence, I guess.
 
I have only one modular PSU, an Antec SmartPower, and the two ends of its SLi cable are identical in mechanical fit, but the upper center wire at the PCI-e socket is +12V (yellow), while it's a ground wire (black) at the PSU end. If your cable is like this, I think the only possible damage to the graphics card would be at its connector (contacts could char, plastic melt).

I would measure the voltages with a digital multimeter, taking care to measure both +12V rails. Maybe a capacitor went bad in the PSU, making the +12V marginal.
 
larrymoencurly said:
and the two ends of its SLi cable are identical in mechanical fit
Click to expand...
Thank you....I knew I wasn't crazy

BTW It turns out my instability problems were just a strange cooincidence. One of my RAM sticks was bad it appears (currently prime stable at 2.7ghz for 2 hours).
 
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