psu smoked on new build, help on next step

[ir0nman]

i just made my first build in a long time and when i first booted it up nothing came up on the monitor for a good 30-45 seconds, so i turned it off and then noticed some smoke drifting out from the psu fan. all fans were running and MB/case/optical lights were on. i'm not sure if i set it up wrong ( i tried to follow the PCmech tutorial correctly).

i did put in a spare higher end graphics card from another system than the one i was going to use for this build because the lower end one hadn't been delivered yet. i'm not sure if that could've caused the problem.

so here are the components i used to test:

Abit AN52 MB
AMD Athlon X2 4200+ AM2
2 GB Corsair DDR2-800 SDRAM
Antec 500W Smartpower 2.0 (Max: 35A on +5V, 32A on +3.3V, 17A on +12V, 19A on +12A)
Hitachi 250GB SATA HDD
NEC 7550A DVD/RW
nvidia Geforce 7800 GT 256MB

I planned the system for use with a Geforce 7600 GT though.

I guess my question is: is it dangerous to try taking everything out except the core components and testing it again with the 7600 GT (when it arrives). do i risk frying the CPU, RAM, and MB? The PSU smoked a little, and it took a while, it wasn't a puff of smoke or anything, so i'm not sure if it is totally fried since i turned the computer off myself. I don't have any spare PSUs.

Thanks

[liambl]

Did you select the right voltage on the psu? The 7800gt should not have fried the psu, but smoke usually means a completely dead psu. The psu could have had a manufacturing problem that caused it to short somewhere. If the psu shorted there is the possibility it took some other components with it.
Try to obtain onother psu and test with that.

[freakitchen]

Once you 'let the smoke out', there's very little hope for that component, and the power supply is no exception. My experience with Antec Smartpowers has shown that they're more liable to failure than other 'quality' brands, but usually do not take any components with them when they die.

My suggestion would be to set the system up as per the instructions in this thread. You could try again with your current power supply, but personally, I'd condemn it and arrange an RMA with your retailer, then wait for the replacement before you start things up again. With a quality 500w unit, it doesn't matter which of those video cards you use.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

[ir0nman]

yeah, i selected 115V being in the U.S.

Could something else like the MB being fried cause the PSU to fry? I just want to make sure I'm replacing the right parts.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by ir0nman Could something else like the MB being fried cause the PSU to fry?

I guess it's possible but I don't think I've ever actually seen that happen before.

I had a Antec Smart Power go out on me not long ago where there was white "smoke" coming out of the back along with a whistling sound...turns out one of the capacitors on the PSU PCB had started to bulge and when it got hot enough the electrolyte inside started to boil (I think) and turned to steam which forced it's way out of the top of the capacitors at the center of the score lines. Pretty freaky incident...made me jump.

Cricket

[ir0nman]

ok well i reluctantly pulled the mess of cables out of my other system and used its PSU and the BIOS finally booted up correctly and no other components seemed damaged

i did try the new psu one more time to see if it might work and the problem was temporary, but right before i turned on the system i noticed smoke coming from the psu again just from it being plugged in and switched on. so even though its not completely fried (yet), something is slowly burning just from having power.

the funny part is that the spare psu i used that worked was an Aspire atx500 that i bought before i knew anything about PSUs and aspire is on the "bad list." i bought it for $25, it feels somewhat light, and it was marketed as having 580W even though it only had 500W, all not good things, but its been working fine for about two years now.
Then i try this brand new Antec (on the good quality list), and it's a much heavier $70 PSU...and it fails on its first power up!

[Gen.Ben]

I wouldn't keep that Aspire in there for too long, It'll blow up sooner than later.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by ir0nman Then i try this brand new Antec (on the good quality list), and it's a much heavier $70 PSU...and it fails on its first power up!

Antec has had quality control problems over the years and have shipped power supplies that were either DOA, died shortly after being installed or died after a few months in use. Although they are on the "good list" they have had their share of problems over the years...this is why I try not to use Antec power supplies when I build new computers and I don't use Antec power supplies in my own computers...I use Fortron Source or Sparkle Power.

Cricket