New Build Help - Where there is smoke...

[tracallahan]

Hello,

I was feeling very successful building my first PC (specs are below). I am a newbie at this, and figured something had to go wrong. I followed David's book page by page, and was quite surprised that I got it running and was installing XP and my Windows Updates.

I have an Antec P180 case running three fans. I left the sides off the case while installing updates to view all the fans working properly including the CPU fan, and video card fan.

Then, the computer abruptly shut down. I pressed the power button again, and then I heard a sizzling noise. Knowing this can't be good, I quickly looked into the case to see smoke coming from the CPU area although it could have been from somewhere else as there is a fan on the top blowing air downward. When I tried to boot up again after the sizzle, I saw the CPU fan spinning for a short while and then the whole system lost power again. Now the computer will not power on at all and I have this "wonderful" burnt smell in my office which I cannot discern if it's plastic or metal.

Can someone please tell me what happened? Did I fry my CPU, MB, video card - all three? Has anyone had this happen to them? I would like to go back and try and fix this, but I am not sure where to start.

I took apart the heat sink, fan and CPU. I did notice a build up of the rubber compound on the CPU but otherwise, everything seemed to look OK. I checked the video card and hard drives as well, but I do not see any singed areas or burnt areas. I'm not sure if it generated enough heat to produce this and/or if I'm looking for the right indicator.

Any advice would be appreciated.

All parts were purchased at NewEgg.com
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX6400CZBOX
Item #: N82E16819103228

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4
Item #: N82E16820145034

2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST380815AS 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148231

Rosewill RTK-045 45 Piece Premium Computer Tool Kit
Item #: N82E16899261003

SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT 550W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817151027

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131013

ASUS EN8600GTS/HTDP/256M GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Item #: N82E16814121069

Thank you,
Tracy

[minsonngo]

It may be a defective PSU. Seasonics are solid PSUs but you may have recieved a dud.

Did you make sure your CPU heatsink/fan installed properly? You may want to try another known working PSU first.

[shadowpr]

Try this out of case build to see if you can get it to post: PROBLEMS with a NEW BUILD? Try This!!

While it's out of the case, look for burnt or damaged wires. Also check the motherboard to see if anything looks like it popped or is burnt. Sniff it too if you have to.

[tracallahan]

Hello,
Thank you for getting back to me. ASUS has agreed to replace my MB so I am shipping it back.

I thought I may have installed the heat sink improperly also, and double checked that. The CPU unit, heat sink and fan looked fine from what I could tell. It was difficult at first locating where the smoke was coming from as I had three fans going that were circulating the smoke.

When I took the MB out of the case, there were some cinged areas towards the bottom of the unit that actually burned into my case. I didn't realize that it came from that end and was thinking it came from the processor end. The entire bottom or side of the MB in that area is all burnt, bubbly and peeled. The only things that are down there (that I can recall) are all the front panel items like the sound, power led, power switch, etc. Does anyone know what fried it?

Shadowpr - given this info, does it still sound like the PSU?

Thanks again for all your help!
Tracy

[shadowpr]

I would probably try the power supply again with the new motherboard. But just know if the power suppl;y was the cause, then it will happen again. You might also want to consider returning it and getting a new one just to be safe.

Try the out of case build when you get the new board.

Also, inspect all the other parts to see if they look damaged.

[tmathews]

Did you have the standoffs installed correctly? A short to the case could result in a burnt mobo, but unless that was a serious fire it shouldn't be close enough to damage the case. If the standoffs were installed correctly, overtightening the screws can crush the mobo internally and cause it to short and burn as you've described. Otherwise, a manufacturing defect can cause the mobo to short out internally.

[Chris Linder]

Order this power supply tester and see if its giving all the right power.



http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...108&CatId=1107

[tracallahan]

Hello,

Thanks again to everyone that replied.

Tmathews - Yes, I thought maybe I missed a standoff somewhere and shorted the board. I double checked this and this was in fact not the case. There are several brown burn marks on my case, signaling to me that it was a serious fire. I think the three fans (while the were running) put it out and left it smoking. I will consider the tightening factor when I try my next MB. I just RMA'd it to ASUS as I found a lot of posts on the NewEgg forum about this board and fires.

Hopefully, the next one will go OK and it didn't damage any other parts.

Thanks again,
Tracy