My computer just blew up...

D

deadman_uk

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 30, 2003
Messages
2,036
I posted a few weeks ago asking advice about fitting new hardware to my PC. I never done it before and after spending a few days reading guides and asking for advice, I finally built up the courage to try and fit the new parts myself.

Here is what I bought...

ASUS A8N-E Ultra
eVGA 7900GT CO
Antec NeoHE 550w
Western Digital 320gb SATA-II

I switched motherboards over and put the CPU in the new motherboard. I removed the old thermal paste and put the a small dab of new paste on. I then fitted the stock heatsink and all other components like hard drive, sound card etc. After spending several hours making sure all the cables were in etc I turned on the PC.

I heard a short popping sound and then the electricity in my house turned off. I am really worried and pissed right now. What did I do wrong? I spent so much time carefully fitting the new hardware. I think something is damaged and I don't dare turn on the power again.

I should of played safe and asked the shop to do it but I wanted to learn to do it myself.
 
I'm sad to hear that... I recently built my first computer too from the ground up and I didn't have any problems at all, although I was bracing myself for something bad.

Do you have any local friends that can actually come and physically look? There are so many things that could have gone wrong that it's hard to diagnose from your limited description. Maybe the PSU is bad?
 
You're in UK which is 230V. My guess is you have the 115/230V switch on the PSU set to 115V? :(

Nevermind... NeoHE doesn't have a 115/230V switch so that can't be it. You mentioned a popping sound. Do you see anything inside your PC that looks damaged?
 
you make it sound like a computer requires an engineer to build or something. seriously, all your doing is sticking part A where it fits, then part B where it fits, then reading where cords go and sticking them in the "best" places.

maybe your power supply was bad, or maybe not grounded . if it popped as soon as it turned on, i doubt it damaged anything but the PSU, and even thats a maybe.

of course this is all speculation.

take out the important stuff, plug the PSU right into the wall and turn it on in a different outlet
 
Sorry to hear this...i have no clue what would make your computer go POP...

but i live in the UK too if we live close i could come and look at if for you :)
 
General Crespin said:
I'm sad to hear that... I recently built my first computer too from the ground up and I didn't have any problems at all, although I was bracing myself for something bad.

Do you have any local friends that can actually come and physically look? There are so many things that could have gone wrong that it's hard to diagnose from your limited description. Maybe the PSU is bad?
Click to expand...
No, I don't know anyone who could look. Maybe the PSU is bad, I might take it to my local computer shop and ask them to tell me whats wrong but thats more money I have to spend...

Frank4d said:
You're in UK which is 230V. My guess is you have the 115/230V switch on the PSU set to 115V? :(

Nevermind... NeoHE doesn't have a 115/230V switch so that can't be it. You mentioned a popping sound. Do you see anything inside your PC that looks damaged?
Click to expand...
Yeah the NeoHE doesnt have a voltage switch, its all automatic. I had a look inside the PC and nothing seems damaged, however I did find a screw floating around the case. I must of missed it when fitting the PC... could this of caused this?

itsmikey said:
you make it sound like a computer requires an engineer to build or something. seriously, all your doing is sticking part A where it fits, then part B where it fits, then reading where cords go and sticking them in the "best" places.

maybe your power supply was bad, or maybe not grounded . if it popped as soon as it turned on, i doubt it damaged anything but the PSU, and even thats a maybe.
of course this is all speculation.

take out the important stuff, plug the PSU right into the wall and turn it on in a different outlet
Click to expand...
It's easy when you know how, but I have 0 hands on experience. I don't feel like messing around with the PSU anymore but what do you mean by grounding the PSU? The motherboard is not touching the case, its screwed into these gold things so its about a cm above the bottom of the case.
 
Mayhs said:
Sorry to hear this...i have no clue what would make your computer go POP...

but i live in the UK too if we live close i could come and look at if for you :)
Click to expand...
Thanks but I really doubt we live close. I live in Norwich
 
deadman_uk said:
No, I don't know anyone who could look. Maybe the PSU is bad, I might take it to my local computer shop and ask them to tell me whats wrong but thats more money I have to spend...

Yeah the NeoHE doesnt have a voltage switch, its all automatic. I had a look inside the PC and nothing seems damaged, however I did find a screw floating around the case. I must of missed it when fitting the PC... could this of caused this?

It's easy when you know how, but I have 0 hands on experience. I don't feel like messing around with the PSU anymore but what do you mean by grounding the PSU? The motherboard is not touching the case, its screwed into these gold things so its about a cm above the bottom of the case.
Click to expand...


if the screw was resting on metal on a piece of hardware it could have. I remember when a 3 pin connector for one of my fans was hanging unplugged and touched a metal piece on my video card....it sparked and my comp turned off just because of that. No damager though.
 
Could it be the motherboard being incompatible with the PSU? I heard PSU's lower than A3 (mine is A3) will have problems with ASUS SLI boards. My board isn't SLI but could it still be a problem?

I turned the computer on and heard a small pop. Nothing powered up, no fans were spinning and no lights came on. All the power in the house turned off.
 
I'd say PSU, probablly, then my guess would be: The PSU fried, which fried the mobo, which fried the CPU. There's nothing you can do but toss it--Or return the parts as defective. Hopefully you bought from newegg, I hear they're good with returns--Best of luck though
 
If you want to try to figure out what is bad...

I would remove the power supply and with nothing connected to it except the power cord and the power switch turned on, jumper the green wire and any black wire on the 24 pin connector together (a paperclip works well for this). Does the PSU turn on... as indicated by the fan turning? Fan turning at a reasonable speed?

If you have a voltmeter or DMM available, check the voltages (which may not be accurate since there is no load on the PSU):
orange to black = about 3.3V
yellow to black = about 12V
red to black - about 5V

If that is good, make sure you only have the gold standoffs under the MOBO every place there is a screw hole... but no extras.

Reconnect the power supply, MOBO, video card, and RAM with no drives. The PC should run POST (won't boot Windows, but the display should work). The speaker may beep one short beep.

If that is ok, maybe you got lucky and can try connecting the drives.
 
I don't know about the popping, but I do know that the NeoHE's and A8N's don't play nice at all. I would get a different power supply (psst, Enermax Liberty 500W).
 
my $0.02 worth.

Firstly, dismantle the computer parts from the metal case, get a rubber matte of some time, and put it on a desk.

Ground yourself now properly *don't lick a outlet, touch metal*, now, you will have all the parts on the desk, take a look at the capacitors on the motherboard, they usually are flat, if one as popped and believe me when the pop its like a fire cracker going off.

This means that there was a short or too much voltage going through, depending on the circuit the capacitor runs with you can disable it ( like a capacitor blowning for onboard sound).

I would suggest you get the manual out and look at all the jumpers making sure its setup appropriatly to your computers hardware (or use default values).
Check the voltage jumpers if you have any.

Make sure your powersupply is switched to the appropriate voltages and try it.

I find many people short out their motherbaord by it touching the metal on the case. Get mounting screws or plastic stand offs and use them all over where the board has mounting holes.

Remember, I said rubber matte.
 
Frank4d said:
If you want to try to figure out what is bad...

I would remove the power supply and with nothing connected to it except the power cord and the power switch turned on, jumper the green wire and any black wire on the 24 pin connector together (a paperclip works well for this). Does the PSU turn on... as indicated by the fan turning? Fan turning at a reasonable speed?

If you have a voltmeter or DMM available, check the voltages (which may not be accurate since there is no load on the PSU):
orange to black = about 3.3V
yellow to black = about 12V
red to black - about 5V

If that is good, make sure you only have the gold standoffs under the MOBO every place there is a screw hole... but no extras.

Reconnect the power supply, MOBO, video card, and RAM with no drives. The PC should run POST (won't boot Windows, but the display should work). The speaker may beep one short beep.

If that is ok, maybe you got lucky and can try connecting the drives.
Click to expand...
A friend of a friend is going to look at my computer tomorrow night, he will be testing the PSU first and he knows a bit about computers. I will let you know what happens tomorrow night.

J_I_M_B_O said:
I'd say PSU, probablly, then my guess would be: The PSU fried, which fried the mobo, which fried the CPU. There's nothing you can do but toss it--Or return the parts as defective. Hopefully you bought from newegg, I hear they're good with returns--Best of luck though
Click to expand...
You think the PSU, motherboard and CPU are all fried? I really hope not, that would be a disaster. My motherboard and PSU can be returned but cpu is 2 years old and I have no money left!

I bought it from overclockers.co.uk, i cant order from newegg, im from UK
 
I hope only the PSU fried and everything else is ok. But let's see what your friend has to say....
 
deadman_uk said:
A friend of a friend is going to look at my computer tomorrow night, he will be testing the PSU first and he knows a bit about computers. I will let you know what happens tomorrow night.

You think the PSU, motherboard and CPU are all fried? I really hope not, that would be a disaster. My motherboard and PSU can be returned but cpu is 2 years old and I have no money left!

I bought it from overclockers.co.uk, i cant order from newegg, im from UK
Click to expand...

was your service with overclockers good?
 
I know about Intel's warranty but I think AMD has a 3 year warranty as well. now this doesn't mean you can send back a blown up or damaged CPU, however it does mean you could possibly still have warranty with it.

Intel however, makes you cough over a credit card, and if you decide to Toy with them, they totally charge you for service rendered and they ban you from servicing with them. Usually Intel only talks to companies specifically (I have delt with Intel before.. can you tell?), So I'm glad you have an AMD Processor.

deadman_uk said:
A friend of a friend is going to look at my computer tomorrow night, he will be testing the PSU first and he knows a bit about computers. I will let you know what happens tomorrow night.

You think the PSU, motherboard and CPU are all fried? I really hope not, that would be a disaster. My motherboard and PSU can be returned but cpu is 2 years old and I have no money left!

I bought it from overclockers.co.uk, i cant order from newegg, im from UK
Click to expand...
 
Mayhs said:
was your service with overclockers good?
Click to expand...
Yes, never had a problem with them (I've read their horror stories)

My friend checked my PC and said the PSU is faulty. He put his PSU in and power came on. I sent the PSU today and it cost a fortune to post. £18.50 ($32.70). I should get a replacement in a few days then I am sending it back to my friend.

I have no idea if the motherboard is damaged but I will find out when the new PSU comes. 2 or 3 pins on my athlon 3500+ are slightly bent too!! It doesnt fit in the socket 100% correctly. It is slightly tilted at one side. Whats the best way to straighten the pins?
 
Please read the reply I just wrote before reading this...

I said my friend tried his PSU in my PC. Well he just rang me and said his PSU doesnt work any longer. He said one of the rails is dead and he has tried another PSU in his pc and it works.

He seems to think my motherboard is causing PSU's to short out. Is this possible? Are ASUS responsible for any damaged hardware I may have?
 
I wanted to keep you all updated...

I said in my post above that I tried my friends PSU and it powered up my motherboard. Well the next day he rang up saying his PSU is damaged (one of the rails is dead). This leads me to believe the ASUS A8N-E motherboard is faulty, what do you think?

I got a replacement PSU a few days ago and I am sending the A8N-E motherboard off today for a replacement. Could it be possible that the motherboard was faulty? It had 2 PSU in it (my NeoHE and my friends one) and both are as good as dead.
 
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