PC blew up - sparks

Hiijinx

Hiijinx

Hiijinx

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Joined
11 May 2009
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1,040
Hey all,

So here is what happened.

I was gaming last week and my PC decided to shut itself down mid game and refused to turn back on.
I quickly narrowed it down to the PSU as the light on the back of it no longer functioned.

To be sure, I replaced the CMOS battery, checked all the cables, tried a new power cord, looked for anything amiss - nothing.
I even tried the paperclip test (which I never knew existed) on the PSU and alas, no fans, no lights.

Case closed I thought, so I ordered a new PSU (1200w Corsair).

Upon arrival, before fitting the new unit, I gave it a test with just the mobo and cpu plugged in - and the PC sprung to life, lights turned on, fans spun.

Great I thought, lets get it fitted.

Everything in place, cables double checked, properly seated etc I flipped the switch and BANG - a bright flash coming from inside the open PC case along with the horrid smell of burnt electronics.

I quickly unplugged it.

I was on the PSU side when I turned it on so know the spark did not come from that (its a corsair 540 double compartment case so its completely shielded from the main mobo), and after some inspection and sniffing, I tracked the offending smell to one of my GPU'S, a 980 ti.

In hindsight, I can only guess when my PC shutdown the first time, the PSU and GPU must have both gone kaput - something I had not considered.

Now I have been itching for an upgrade for a while now so have ordered new parts anyway but I am left with a PSU I do not know whether to trust or not.

Rather than risk blowing up a whole new system, I have purchased a new one but the question remains - what to do with the other?

Is there any way of testing its safety without risking anymore components?

I seriously doubt the warranty would cover it - what would you do?

Over 15 years of PC building and this is the first (and hopefully last) time I will experience this!

Thanks in advance

TLDR: New PSU/ GPU blew up, is it still safe/what to do with it?
 
Did you change all power cables when changing PSU?
If not then it's possible something got "miswired".
 
@EsaT is right! it could be a dodgy cable, but there is nothing strong enough on a mainboard, to take current that would back fry a PSU! the board has thousands of parts that would ping before a PSU melt. There's a dead short somewhere, I think the GPU may have been a casualty, rather than a cause, because it would have taken out board components first before hitting the PSU. Does the PSU still fire up?
 
Hiijinx said:
In hindsight, I can only guess when my PC shutdown the first time, the PSU and GPU must have both gone kaput
Click to expand...

It's likely that the GPU went then the PSU failed-safe thereby saving the other components. I will echo @EsaT about the cables but
for a different reason: one of the GPU power cables may have become damaged.

Hiijinx said:
Is there any way of testing its safety without risking anymore components?
Click to expand...

Give the motherboard a thorough visual inspection on both sides. You are looking for damaged traces and damaged chips and blown or leaking capacitors.
 
Hey all thanks for the replies.

@EsaT I took the chance of giving the case a dedusting before I attached the new PSU so I removed all the cables and replaced them with the new ones that came with it.

That plus the new one had different shape plugs from the older unit so had no choice.

So all the cabling was from the new PSU.

One thing I noticed was it had 2 settings on the PSU for power output, Single or double rail - I left it on double like it came out the box.

@JollysH1

TBH I have been too nervous to try it, I will attempt another paperclip test later today and get back to you on that one.

@Quartz

Nothing visible so far, will be taking the mobo out of the case today so will give it another look. As far as capacitors, I have checked all that I can see and all appear flat and undamaged.

The only smell was from the GPU board near the power sockets.

@ChrisLX200

Will do, as above though, so far everything appears normal.

@JasonM

The original PSU was a cooler master 1200w silent gold which was just under 10 years old - out of warranty sadly.

The new one, which may or may not be safe - is a Corsair HX 1200w platinum.



So you recon without any more visible signs of damage on the board and providing the PSU still powers up, it would be safe to use/resell?
 
At this point you have little to lose, just remove the faulty GPU and see if what's left turns on. As others have said it's likely that the GPU caused the initial failure, the new PSU just revealed this in a slightly dramatic way.
 
Had a similar problem A couple of years ago, that time was definitely the PSU, it blew with A BIG BANG. took put the motherboard. It had lasted well and was time for an upgrade. **** happens.
 
Many moons ago, upgraded from a celeron 650 (I think) to a T-bird 1200, and very quickly discovered the PSU was no where near man enough to cope, that went off like a firecracker as soon as I pressed the power button,since then the PSU is always the first thing I look at when upgrading...
 
BTW what rig are you using to require a 1200w PSU? I had a 1000w in my last build, but it was rocking an FX9590 and an R9 390X! which are half a kilowatt on their own! you must have some beefy parts for 1200w
 
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