Computer caught fire

Smoogels · 2 Mar 2013 at 13:37

Well, what a event.

A month or so ago I got a Bitfenix 120mm spectre pro fan but never really found a nice place for it. Today I decided to install it. What a mistake.

I screwed it in and plugged in all correctly (from my previous experience of installing fans with no problem) and turned on the power. Instantly, piles of smoke bursted from my computer filling the room and suffocating me. I managed to quickly turn the power supply off before a fire occurred. Looking through the smoke I saw a very menacing red glow, the wire from the fan has somewhat melted.

My computer seems unharmed and appears to work fine. The fan wire dragged over existing cables in my system and now they have burn marks over them along with a tiny mark on my motherboard. I am unsure what caused this problem, i,'m aware on how to install a fan, but I guess it's possible to be a user error or just a faulty fan. Not only am I a fan out, my system has a few scars.

The fans wire has basically melted with the copper wire exposed. I plugged it in the right slot and it was not caught in anything

Considering the fan is a month old, but just plugged in today, would it be worth requesting a refund?

Thanks

Edit: Now when I turn my computer on there is a burning smell (fan is removed, of course). Would this be the left over plastic/wire or the damage it done to my PSU cables or motherboard?

Doomedspeed · 2 Mar 2013 at 13:40

YES deifnately return it and explain to them what the hell happened, that is really bad, no component should spontaneously combust.

Chris-.- · 2 Mar 2013 at 13:41

I would contact BitFenix and tell them what you've said here then send them the product. As above, it shouldn't just go on fire unless something is drastically wrong with how it was made, but I'm sure the other few 100,000.. that they've sold haven't went on fire D:

meh · 2 Mar 2013 at 14:02

sounds like u plugged the fan in the wrong way.

dacads · 2 Mar 2013 at 14:18

hmm similar thing happened to one of my fans I smelt & saw some smoke, although it wasn't directly powered from PSU, was using a spare end from another fan I think. Did you have it setup in a similar way?

Smoogels · 2 Mar 2013 at 14:20

Thanks for the post. I bought this from Overclockers so I think it might be worth checking in the customer service area to see what they say before contacting Bitfenix.

dacads said:
hmm similar thing happened to one of my fans I smelt & saw some smoke, although it wasn't directly powered from PSU, was using a spare end from another fan I think. Did you have it setup in a similar way?

It was plugged directly into the motherboard

The previous fan in this slot was fine though

PhillyDee · 2 Mar 2013 at 17:15

Sounds like a wiring short circuit. What it has done is heated up the fan wires a lot, and caused them to melt the insulation. Has happened to me!

dfarrall · 2 Mar 2013 at 17:53

Sounds like its either shorted, or youve plugged it into the wrong port.

Are you 100% you had it in the right port? If so contact Bitfenix and tell them and see what they say.

Smoogels · 2 Mar 2013 at 18:37

I'm confident I plugged it into the right port. I'm aware where a system fan header is and as soon as I unplugged the old fan, I plugged this one in.

Such short circuits sound dangerous if that's the case :O In the space of a few seconds the wire was 'red' and smoke filled the room

Coolasmoo · 2 Mar 2013 at 18:48

Q: How do I connect my Spectre LED/Spectre Pro LED/Spectre Pro PWM LED cables?
There are two cables attached to the fan.
1) There is a 3 pin or 4 pin cable that will connect to your corresponding power source (molex, motherboard, fan controller). This will provide power to the fan blades and to the LED
2) The 2 pin cable has an attached cable loop. This cable is to turn on/off your LED's at your convenience. Do not plug it into a power source as there will be an electrical short and will burn your fan and cables. You can also attach this loop to our Hydra Pro fan controller for on-the-fly LED on/off.

Im guessing you attached the 2 pin cable

Smoogels · 2 Mar 2013 at 18:54

Coolasmoo said:
Im guessing you attached the 2 pin cable

It does sound similar, however I never unplugged the 2 pin from the "loop" it's plugged in by default. The only part that was plugged into my computer was the 3 pin motherboard connection, which sadly is the wire that burned out

Gibbo3771 · 2 Mar 2013 at 20:55

Most modern tech has stuff in place to prevent this, I have never seen a short circuit cause combustion before and I am the kind of person that loves to set **** on fire.

Sounds like some sort of fault, probably internal cable or bad build.

Most things just tend to burn a little, go bang and thats it. Never ever ever does anything just "catch fire", sure it can happen but the motherboard should have noticed a rapid drop in fan RPM if it was connected to the motherboard and shut it down, if the mobo has a "fan failure shutdown" feature.

Still, sounds like an experience and a half, gotta laugh after it really

as long as no one was hurt ofc :S

labcoattech · 2 Mar 2013 at 21:18

You should have taken a photo while it was still plugged in

dacads · 2 Mar 2013 at 22:13

Here's an "image" I managed to get when I experienced it

labcoattech · 2 Mar 2013 at 22:20

Molex connector, what are the chances of being able to connect that the wrong way round?

Smoogels · 2 Mar 2013 at 22:21

Gibbo3771 said:
Most modern tech has stuff in place to prevent this, I have never seen a short circuit cause combustion before and I am the kind of person that loves to set **** on fire.

Sounds like some sort of fault, probably internal cable or bad build.

Most things just tend to burn a little, go bang and thats it. Never ever ever does anything just "catch fire", sure it can happen but the motherboard should have noticed a rapid drop in fan RPM if it was connected to the motherboard and shut it down, if the mobo has a "fan failure shutdown" feature.

Still, sounds like an experience and a half, gotta laugh after it really as long as no one was hurt ofc :S

I have had a good chuckle now, just can't get rid of that awful smell

I managed to shut down the computer in a few seconds, so maybe the motherboard was a bit slower? I'm not sure, hard to see past all the smoke that arose.

dacads said:
Here's an "image" I managed to get when I experienced it

The fan cable looks pretty similar to that sadly

James J · 2 Mar 2013 at 22:50

labcoattech said:
Molex connector, what are the chances of being able to connect that the wrong way round?

No chance. They are hard to put in the right way, let alone the wrong way.

SpaghettiOs · 3 Mar 2013 at 12:25

If something was caught in the fan it could have cause this kind of problem. Did you notice if it span at all when you turned the system on?

labcoattech · 3 Mar 2013 at 16:51

How much did the fan cost?

jonnyp1993 · 3 Mar 2013 at 18:27

James J said:
No chance. They are hard to put in the right way, let alone the wrong way.

lol, i have spent many 5 minutes per molex when rebuilding my system and when you have 8 fans to plug in, + 2 hard drives it just takes one of them little pins to move slightly and thats it., stress and frustration kicks in!

Jonnyp