Corsair VX550 = BANG!

Pigeon_Killer · 18 Oct 2007 at 22:31

My dad's PC has just been killed by his new PSU. He plugged in the connectors, flicked the switch and it sparked and started smoking. It's definitely killed his ASRock 939 motherboard and my old 7800GS, that I let him borrow, and we're unsure if his CPU is dead because we don't have anything to try it in. The memory, hard drive and DVD drive will get tested tomorrow but he's not a happy bunny.

Best thing about this is he's tried the PSU with another motherboard and it powered it up fine. I thought PSUs committed suicide before taking out components but this one has done the exact opposite

james.miller · 18 Oct 2007 at 22:35

unless he plugged something in wrong. the pc shoudl have shut down before damage was done though

thefishdude · 18 Oct 2007 at 23:01

seems strange it worked on previos mobo. woild think something was pluged in wrong but you cant really do that as wrong parts dont fit in. dont know if they have a voltage switch on back do they hope wasnt nocked to 110v.

either way hope others parts ok.

very strange

Pigeon_Killer · 18 Oct 2007 at 23:08

Cheers. No voltage switches on the back, it's all done automatically. The connectors can only go one way unless you force them.

Yellowbeard · 19 Oct 2007 at 18:28

The voltage switching is done internally and automatically. Just so I am clear, are you saying that the PSU was tested in another system before or after the failure with the Asrock 939 board you noted above?

Your quickest option for replacement is thru your retailer since you are in the UK. However, if you prefer to replace with Corsair directly, you will need to ship it to California, USA.

Cyber-Mav · 19 Oct 2007 at 18:36

hmmm, deffo not recommending corsair psus now, gonna have to stick to enermax and seasonic i guess.

this is not good news at all, although, is the 550w corsair not made by seasonic and made by CWT now?
i feel sorry for you mate, not good when you loose all your hardware thanks to 1 component.

Pigeon_Killer · 19 Oct 2007 at 19:43

Yellowbeard said:
Just so I am clear, are you saying that the PSU was tested in another system before or after the failure with the Asrock 939 board you noted above?

After. He tried it with his current 939 motherboard first and and then an old Abit KG7-Lite after his 939 died.

I've told him to RMA it but he's worried the retailer will just send it back and say it works fine.

MumboJumbo · 19 Oct 2007 at 20:23

I think its totaly wrong that psu warrenties dont cover that which the psu destroys. Its not fair tbh.

Did the psu smoke for certain or could it have come from another component?

dr. sarf · 19 Oct 2007 at 20:52

Surely if the PSU has short circuit protection it would have just tripped out without dmanaging anything?

Cyber-Mav · 19 Oct 2007 at 23:53

8igdave said:
I think its totaly wrong that psu warrenties dont cover that which the psu destroys. Its not fair tbh.

Did the psu smoke for certain or could it have come from another component?

you got a point there, its gonna be guaranteed damn good psu if they gaurantee the equipment attached to it, like surge suppressors have guarantee up to certain cash limit.

MumboJumbo · 20 Oct 2007 at 00:03

They have a garrantee on what they protect hey... so if i managed to cause a big surge down my plug into this pc i could get money for it if it died considing im building in a month mmm... now how can i blow up my pc without setting my house on fire?

Pigeon_Killer · 20 Oct 2007 at 19:08

UPDATE

Tested the memory and DVD drive and both seem to work but the HD is dead. It doesn't power up so that's even more damaged done by the ****** PSU. I've been very happy with my HX520 but I won't be touching another Corsair PSU after this

decto · 20 Oct 2007 at 22:02

Was it definately the PSU that failed?

I had a DVDRW fail recently which emitted a lot of smoke exhausted out of the PSU but after replacing the DVD everything else is fine.

AD

Pigeon_Killer · 20 Oct 2007 at 22:06

Yep. My head was almost in the case when my dad turned it on and it sparked and started smoking instantly.

iviv · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:03

Could have been static from your hair?

MumboJumbo · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:14

Bad breath perhaps?

Raikiri · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:17

If the PSU still works I don't see how it possibly could be the problem.

MumboJumbo · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:20

Raikiri said:
If the PSU still works I don't see how it possibly could be the problem.

Thats what i thought and wondered if it was somthing else that took them all out. How can it have been smoking and fryed everything but not died?

Perhaps it was a power surge through your plug that caused it and the psu survived but the surge went through it to the rest of the stuff? is that possible?

Pigeon_Killer · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:29

iviv said:
Could have been static from your hair?

I've got a skin head and don't make a habit of putting my other head near the internals of a PC. Stopped doing that after I got it stuck in the floppy drive

Raikiri said:
If the PSU still works I don't see how it possibly could be the problem.

The only other component that my dad changed was his graphics card for my 7800GS. Unless that developed a fault in the two weeks it was out of my system and subsequently fried the motherboard and his hard drive it must've been the PSU.

A power surge could've been the cause but I don't see how that would've killed some components and not the PSU itself. I'm more inclined to believe it overvolted and fried some components before shutting down.

Just bad luck at the end of the day. Could've happened to anyone.

Wiggins · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:38

Keeping your components from frying is like using safe sex. You need to cover the components with a surge protector like you need a condom for your old boy