• My new PC caught fire.
    8 replies, posted
Last month I built a new Gaming Rig, cost about $1500. It ran like a dream, one BSOD about a week after getting it but I dismissed it as it was a Windows Driver error. [t]http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/8643/alternativez.png[/t] This morning at around 1:00AM, I was getting tired and was about 15 seconds away from shutting my rig down. Suddenly the Display + Tower shut off instantly, as if the power in the house went off. I instinctively looked to my left and saw my alarm clock was still running, it was. The PC then rebooted and I smelt burning plastic. I had enough time to say "oh shit" before I hear a grinding/popping noise and I instinctively reached for the PSU cable and yanked it out. I waited about 30 seconds and opened the case door, where I was greeted by a billow of whitish smoke. Most of it was situated around the PSU and the smell was horrible to say the least. I sat it outside the room and the smell was still permeating for the rest of the night. I dropped it off with my friend who works at a local PC repair shop to run a diagnostic, but I'm fairly certain the PSU blew a capacitor. I'm worried it might also have taken another component with it. I searched around and found that, while uncommon, it does happen, usually on older PSUs, but hardly ever with a reputable brand like Corsair. Anyone else have experience/knowledge with this phenomenon?
The only PSUs I've had explode were because of the following: 1) Shit PSU (IED) 2) PSU overloaded for long period of time and OCP doesn't shut it down (falls in with #1) 3) PSU suffered from extreme overheating due to inadequate airflow (fan failure/blockage) 4) PSU had some sort of short resulting from detritus buildup, or a bug crawling where it shouldn't. The only way to find out if it took something with it is to stick another PSU on and see if the machine powers up. If the PSU blows again, it means there's a short somewhere on the motherboard or other peripherals.
If it does turn out to be the PSU, I'd contact Corsair, that really shouldn't be happening.
Did you use motherboard standoffs. (shouldnt have worked for a week without but you never know)
[QUOTE=Craig Willmore;33926874]Last month I built a new Gaming Rig, cost about $1500. It ran like a dream, one BSOD about a week after getting it but I dismissed it as it was a Windows Driver error. [t]http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/8643/alternativez.png[/t] This morning at around 1:00AM, I was getting tired and was about 15 seconds away from shutting my rig down. Suddenly the Display + Tower shut off instantly, as if the power in the house went off. I instinctively looked to my left and saw my alarm clock was still running, it was. The PC then rebooted and I smelt burning plastic. I had enough time to say "oh shit" before I hear a grinding/popping noise and I instinctively reached for the PSU cable and yanked it out. I waited about 30 seconds and opened the case door, where I was greeted by a billow of whitish smoke. Most of it was situated around the PSU and the smell was horrible to say the least. I sat it outside the room and the smell was still permeating for the rest of the night. I dropped it off with my friend who works at a local PC repair shop to run a diagnostic, but I'm fairly certain the PSU blew a capacitor. I'm worried it might also have taken another component with it. I searched around and found that, while uncommon, it does happen, usually on older PSUs, but hardly ever with a reputable brand like Corsair. Anyone else have experience/knowledge with this phenomenon?[/QUOTE] My PSU blew out once because the fan stopped working. Obviously it overheated. If you had a proper PSU, it would have sacrified itself and prevented your system from being damaged. A proper PSU shouldnt break when you have a shortcircuit somewhere in your system. Due to fail-saves, it will simply shut off.
Hope you're new build is not destroyed.
I doubt that it was a short or something in your system as Corsair PSU's use Seasonic internals which are good.
Turns out it was 2 blown capacitors. Newegg warranty has expired so I'll have to talk to Corsair.
[QUOTE=Craig Willmore;33987904]Turns out it was 2 blown capacitors. Newegg warranty has expired so I'll have to talk to Corsair.[/QUOTE] Normally Corsair is really cool about this stuff. They'll probably replace it if you aren't a dick.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.