Hello,
I recently built my first ever computer and I was very excited to turn it on. I flick the switch the first time and everything turned on and worked like a charm. So I turned everything off and cable routed to make my computer a little bit nicer. Second time I turned it on nothing worked but there was a motherboard light so I was confident it was just something not plugged in. So I repeat the old process ruining my cable management and I flick the switch and BOOM smoke and fire. No idea what happened and I don't have a clue if any of my parts are still working apart from my graphics card as I am using it as we speak.
So can anyone explain why this happened and if my parts are going to be okay?
Here are my specs
CPU- Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard- MSI Z77 MPOWER ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Ram- Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
SSD- Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Case - Cooler Master Storm Stryker (White) ATX Full Tower Case
PSU- NZXT HALE90 650W
GPU - Geforce 550TI
Shit dude that is no good. First thing to check, there may be a switch on the back of the PSU that switches it between 110 and 240 volt... if that is in the wrong position for your country that could be the problem.
EDIT: "many power supplies with active PFC can automatically adjust to operate on AC power from about 100 V (Japan) to 230 V (Europe)" since you got active PFC you won't find that switch. If the active PFC failed though that could be the cause....
How did you put the fire out?
Next thing to check I guess would be capacitors on the motherboard, I am guessing they would have blown the tops off it they got a good whack. There could definitely be damage even if you don't see that though.
"Keeping it safe: The HALE series offers over voltage, current, power, under voltage, and short circuit protection. The power supply will automatically shutdown to prevent any damage to your system or misuse." - http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/power_supplies/hale90_650w
That is encouraging.. hopefully that stuff protected your components, that is what usually you spend good money on PSU's for.
Need to try to find out why it blew as well, so you don't make the same mistake again.
Thanks for the information as it helps out me a lot. The fire was actually just one spit of fire from the angry PSU. The capacitors look to be all in check on my motherboard. I don't want to say it was my 6 bar extension but I believe it was as the fuse blew up on that as well but on the plus side luckily everything on that 6 bar extension is okay. Thank goodness for 80 PLUS Gold quality PSU.
Just to let you know I had the EPS +12V Power Connector (4+4 Pin) connected and the ATX / BTX motherboard power connector (20+4Pin connected to my motherboard to power it up.
Bad luck man, as he said, check for blown capacitors, recheck all your cables.
Is it a multi rail psu?
if so, just know next time that those psus are more likely to explode as if one rail gets over loaded. BANG!
1 12 volt rail as I know of. Going to take my computer to my trusted technical friend to give me a free diagnostic to see if anything has been killed.
wenn you bring the computer to youre friend just let him test the build with a diffrent psu, then you know for sure the psu i dead, and you can RMA it
Talk to the NZXT rep, another guy had this happen and it friend 1/2 of his components, they replaced everything for him and payed for shipping ect...
I know there is one on the Hardware Canucks forums whos is constantly lurking.
Oh and what ever you do, do not open or try anything with the PSU, it could void your warranty.