My psu is a Corsair AX1200i. It is less than 18 months old.
I finished gaming last night and shut down my pc. When I woke up this morning the room the pc is in smelt of burning. Had a look around and couldn't find the source and then realized the pc had no power going to it. Moved the case to have a look and noticed one of capacitors had popped. There was a horrid smell and a brown liquid where it had blown.
Does anyone know why it did this or what may have caused it ?
Also what are the chances that other components like my motherboard, cpu and 2 graphics cards are damaged ? I don't have another psu to test these things and so I am worrying a little
Thats horrible dude, hopefully nothing else is damaged. I have no idea how long Corsair's PSU warranties last but I would still try to contact them. Be sure to include pictures too.
Seven years warranty on it so I am good on that front. Can't contact anyone though until Tuesday. Shitty Bank holiday weekend.
Capacitors usually blow up when you exceed the maximum voltage that they're rated for (they could be dimensioned to operate close to their limit, making it more likely that a normal voltage spike kills them. But that's fairly unlikely with a decent corsair PSU, maybe it was a power surge/lightning strike near you?) or if you solder them in the wrong way (for electrolyte capacitors, but no, you'd have noticed that WAY sooner).
The chances of some other components being damaged is fairly low, if it really was a power surge then your PSU is built to take the hit and protect your other components in the vast majority of cases. The PSU itself may be dead because the liquid in the capacitor has probably hit several other components, and you don't really get that stuff off, trust me. But that's none of your concern since you have the warranty.
Get it RMA'd as quickly as possible, the rest of your PC should be fine.
Cheers for the reassurance.
The fluid is all down the wall. It shot straight out the psu and covered the wall. Since the pc was shutdown the fan was not spinning so it had a clear shot. Stinks as well.
A power surge is concerning since I spent a lot of money on the surge protector it is plugged in to. Nothing else in the house was affected. My laptop was switched on all night and plugged into the wall with no surge protection.
I will get RMA'd Tuesday. The place I got it from closes early on a Friday and since it is a bank holiday on Monday, I have until to Tuesday to get the ball rolling. Not having much luck.
Sounds like bad electrolyte aka capacitor plague. What happened is during routine usage the electrolyte heated up and turned into hydrogen gas. Now you have a mess on your wall. Nothing you can do or to concern yourself about your power in your home. Just RMA and hope you don't get another from that batch. Good luck.
It took some time but Corsair just sent me a new unit and all was fine.