"I've had a catastrophe!"

BIGBC

BIGBC

BIGBC

Associate
Joined
21 Jun 2009
Posts
1,668
Location
Chester/Loughborough
Not a nice thing to wake up to.

Walk out my room and bump into my housemate who says "erm, my computer; it went *pffft* and there was a big plume of smoke. I tried turning it back on again and the speakers cracked and something near the northbridge frazzled."

No points for guessing the cause, but what else do you think its taken with it?
The motherboard seems a tad more than likely atm.

Ill take a look at it when Ive handed this coursework in.

PS, his room has a chemically detol like stench - my new least favorite smell.
 
Well, there is some pretty horrific damage to the motherboard MOSFETs - a hole burnt almost all the way through and one of the components is fused to the heatsink.
I will get some pictures up later.

Hope it hasnt taken the CPU or RAM.
 
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My mate had a Dell XPS which had a big vent on top like an Antec 900 case. He managed to get the best part of a pint of water in there. Amazingly the CPU and RAM survived and it was just the mobo which had died. Of course being a Dell it was a PITA to get a replacement motherbord at a reasonable price.

You might get lucky with your housemates rig but dont be surprised if it's fried the CPU and RAM, PSUs are big babies and dont like getting wet ethier.
 
Well Ive contacted the PSU manufacturer about it to see where they stand on the damage.
Gonna file an RMA for the PSU now.

Uploading pics too :D
 
You shouldnt bash people for trying new stuff. Takes guts to do what hes been trying.
 
First signs of serious damage:
1.jpg


Checked the back of the board for the source:
2.jpg


There wasnt really too much obvious damage on the front:
3.jpg


Removed the heatsink:
4.jpg

5.jpg

6.jpg

Not looking good.
 
paradigm said:
Well, that's dead.

PSU die, taking it with it, or did the mobo die, killing the PSU?
Click to expand...

Im not sure, but dont want to risk my own hardware testing it, so we're just gonna send it on RMA and see what OcUK has to say.

Pretty savage damage really.

Cookeh said:
Ouch
gl with the RMA, and tell the guy to be a heck of a lot more careful :P
Click to expand...

He didnt do anything wrong? :confused:
 
Wow. Thats a MOSFET.
Either the PSU blew the MOSFET, or the MOSFET failed.
They are the voltage regulators for the motherboard. Ive never seen damage like that!
 
Ah thats what theyre called, Im hoping the MOSFET just went without taking anything else with it. I may be being optimistic though.
 
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