So this happened... Small PC fire

Roverno · 25 Jan 2015 at 16:59

Saturday morning i got up as normal, went to turn my pc on, saw a small flash and nothing much happened. Figured i would leave a few minutes and try again, the next time i tried it would appear that one of the power delivery components on the motherboard caught fire and exploded a little. I saw the flame almost immediately as i turned it on but it burnt for at least a couple of seconds as i rushed to turn off all the power plugs near my desk (they all sit above the line of the desk so easy to reach). Spent yesterday and this morning draining my WC loop and getting my friends spare hardware up and running as i have loads of work to do for uni.

Took the heat sink off just now to have a closer look at what happened and figured others here might be interested to see.

Motherboard is MSI Z77 Mpower. Nothing else seems to be damaged.

What isnt that clear from these images is quite how much everything is charred around the local area; capacitors etc.

Currently have not contacted MSI. Bought it second hand about 10 months ago so its probably not worth it. would they want to know about it anyway?

wazza300 · 25 Jan 2015 at 17:02

it has a 3 year warranty so should still be covered

I think those chips are the vrm regulators not sure,lookslike one has burnt out

Roverno · 25 Jan 2015 at 17:06

wazza300 said:
it has a 3 year warranty so should still be covered

I think those chips are the vrm regulators not sure,lookslike one has burnt out

Wont be covered if i bought it from an auction site though will it?

burnt out is a bit of an understatement, it didnt go peacefully

wazza300 · 25 Jan 2015 at 17:10

it doesn't matter,they go of the boards serial number,aslong as its in warranty they should replace it

personally I would sell the replacement and go asus/gigabyte

Roverno · 25 Jan 2015 at 17:13

Since it happened i am already heavily considering the gigabyte black edition with the extedned warranty terms. And replace my 2 7970s with the OCUK custom 970. I never seem to get any benefit from crossfire anyway

Roverno · 25 Jan 2015 at 17:16

Am i being thick?? cant see any MSI RMA request for the uk...

wazza300 · 25 Jan 2015 at 17:17

those are z97 boards though,so you would also need to change your cpu

msi rma should be on their website I think? you have to send the board to the Netherlands I think

stulid · 25 Jan 2015 at 17:23

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=19386716&postcount=11

Wazza is correct.

Roverno · 25 Jan 2015 at 17:53

Sending to the netherlands is not so bad, although given the condition of the board, it seems like a redundant task. I have left a message in the CS section to see if they can provide me some contact details or allow me to do the RMA though them.

Ye, will end up using my 3770k in my server or sell it. Going to have to leave watercooling gear on the back seat for now too as i dont have the time to get it sorted with work to do.

Thanks for the assistance.

mushtafa · 25 Jan 2015 at 19:37

Certainly done some damage!

Could a dead VRM damage the CPU at all? Have you managed to test yet?

smokingtommy · 25 Jan 2015 at 20:06

oo not good

Roverno · 25 Jan 2015 at 21:07

mushtafa said:
Certainly done some damage!

Could a dead VRM damage the CPU at all? Have you managed to test yet?

Yep, cpu is fine, which is not at all what i expected. Not tested the RAM yet but im assuming its fine at the moment, nothing to suggest otherwise

AthlonXP1800 · 25 Jan 2015 at 21:34

stulid said:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=19386716&postcount=11

Wazza is correct.

Nope Wazza is wrong. People bought MSI hardware in UK now no longer need send RMA to MSI Europe in Netherlands as they gave UK RMA contract to D&J HENRY LTD based in Coventry, UK.

http://uk.msi.com/page/service-location/#n-tab4
http://www.djhenry.co.uk/

It a lot easier and cheaper sent to Coventry now than it did to Netherlands.

Telecaster · 25 Jan 2015 at 21:42

Lucky you were there to catch it and knock off the power. Shudder to think what would happen if this occurred when you were out or left the room or something.

Roverno · 26 Jan 2015 at 00:17

AthlonXP1800 said:
Nope Wazza is wrong. People bought MSI hardware in UK now no longer need send RMA to MSI Europe in Netherlands as they gave UK RMA contract to D&J HENRY LTD based in Coventry, UK.

http://uk.msi.com/page/service-location/#n-tab4
http://www.djhenry.co.uk/

It a lot easier and cheaper sent to Coventry now than it did to Netherlands.

Thanks.
Doesnt solve how i contact them though?

AthlonXP1800 · 26 Jan 2015 at 00:49

Roverno said:
Thanks.
Doesnt solve how i contact them though?

I don't think so but I am not sure.

You bought motherboard on ebay so I think it worth a try to register your motherboard on MSI site to received full warranty service then you can request RMA and check if they will approve RMA for your motherboard regardless if you bought it on ebay. When approved they will sent you RMA instruction to sent motherboard to Coventry for repair or replacement.

https://register.msi.com/

Found MSI Product Register Guide Book that could be useful to guide you through.

https://register.msi.com/uploads/files/guide_book/msi_member_guide_book_en.pdf

Danny75 · 26 Jan 2015 at 03:59

Roverno said:
Currently have not contacted MSI. Bought it second hand about 10 months ago so its probably not worth it. would they want to know about it anyway?

I'd say yes. Because it's not just a dead mobo but a mobo that caught fire. Someone there should be interested to know of this and may even ask you to please send the board to them, despite you not having warranty/being the first buyer. I'd tell them that they might be interested to know what happened with one of their boards, and send them the pics.

russell664 · 26 Jan 2015 at 09:33

I too have an MSI board, but the worrying part is that it is on most of the time.

Roverno · 26 Jan 2015 at 10:01

Thanks Athlon, i have registered my board but the warranty from that page is only for notebooks and systems, not for motherboards etc. however, i finally found an email that i can contact them on. I sent a couple of pictures and a request for replacement, lets see what happens.

ED209 · 26 Jan 2015 at 10:33

Roverno said:
Thanks Athlon, i have registered my board but the warranty from that page is only for notebooks and systems, not for motherboards etc. however, i finally found an email that i can contact them on. I sent a couple of pictures and a request for replacement, lets see what happens.

good luck, hope you get the board replaced or fixed but to be honest they will mostprob replace it after what happened if they go ahead with it